Web Indexing - A Great Way to Pay It Forward!

Have you heard of the indexing project on FamilySearch? Do you know what the indexing project is? It is a volunteer based project established and run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that aims to make a digital index of scanned historical documents of all sorts from several languages and from countries all over the world. Volunteers are needed so let's take a look at what is involved and how to help out.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Anybody that can create or already has an account on FamilySearch can participate in indexing.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Indexing can be done from a computer or tablet. Unfortunately, the program cannot be supported on any type of mobile phone.

Volunteers "find a batch" to index from a beginner, intermediate or advanced level in English, Spanish or a variety of other languages. A batch can be indexed in 5-15 minutes depending on how many records are in each batch and how old the records are.

✍TAKE NOTE: A batch is anywhere from 1-10 scanned documents of a particular type such as birth, marriage or death records/indexes, immigration applications, etc. Volunteers transfer the information from the scanned image to a digital fillable form to make searching for records easier.

Two volunteers index the same batch of records. Once two volunteers have indexed and submitted a batch of records, a third person - known as an arbitrator - will review the batch that has been indexed and checks for any errors. Once the arbitrator has submitted the batch that has been review the records will be uploaded and searchable.

✍TAKE NOTE: An arbitrator is a third person that reviews a batch that has been indexed by two separate individuals and checks for any errors or discrepancies in what the volunteers have submitted.

A volunteer can "check out" a maximum of 10 batches of records at a time. After 7 days the records will be "returned" to the system for another volunteer to index. Types of records to be indexed are constantly changing which keeps it interesting and educational.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: If you can read or speak another language, please consider being an index volunteer. There is a great need and records are being added daily that need to be indexed!

Now that we have a basic foundation of what indexing is and what it involves, let's take a look at how to learn more about the project.

Go to FamilySearch and log in or create an account.

✍TAKE NOTE: Simple information is needed to create an account such as: a valid email address, name, etc. There is NO COST to create an account with FamilySearch.

Put your mouse over indexing and hover to show the drop down menu.

Log in to FamilySearch and click on Indexing or hover over it to produce the hidden menu

Click on the "OVERVIEW" button or click on the "INDEXING" button shown on the main frame.

Click on "OVERVIEW" or the "INDEXING" button

Click on "Learn More" to take an 8 step tour of indexing that will take you frame by frame through how to index a record.

✍TAKE NOTE: If you ever have any questions regarding indexing, you can select the "Overview" tab and review what steps you need to take.

Click on Learn More to take a frame by frame tour of indexing

FamilySearch has created an 8 step frame by frame break down of how to index a batch of records.

Click on "Try It Out" for an 8 step frame by frame how to on indexing

Click on "Start Tour" to take the FamilySearch Indexing Guided Tour.

Start indexing tour by clicking "Start Tour" button

The "Examine the Imagine" box will explain what the volunteer needs to do to complete indexing the batch. The "Project Instructions" box explains what information is in the batch that needs to be indexed by the volunteer.

Both boxes have instructions for the volunteer of needed information to move to the next screen and what information needs to be indexed.

✍TAKE NOTE: If you have any questions at any point in time while indexing, each box has a small purple ? that you can click on and it will help you gather the information needed to fill in the box. 

Once you have completed the tour you are ready to begin indexing. Click on the "Web Indexing" button and click "Find Batches" to select a batch to index.

Select the "Find Batches" button under "Web Indexing" to select a batch of records to index

A "Find Batches" screen will come up so we are going to look at all of the information in sections to break it down.

Find Batches Box broken down by sections

Difficulty Level - Indexing is broken down into three difficulty levels of beginning, intermediate and advanced.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: If you are just starting out with indexing, click the box next to "Beginning"

Location - If you would like to see if records are available in a particular location, you can type it in. Generally, I just leave this box blank.

Language - If you are fluent in reading and speaking another language, feel free to add it in here. Remember that batches are added daily so if you don't find something in that particular language, check back later and see if anything has come up.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: If you are just starting out, type in English in the language box.

Search - Click on "Search" after you have checked your difficulty box and language.

✍TAKE NOTE: A volunteer can "reserve" 1-10 batches at a time. You are given a 7 day period to index the information and submit it. If the batches are not completed in that time frame, the program will automatically release them to another volunteer to be completed.

Batches to Check Out - In the upper right hand corner of the "Find Batches" box you can reserve 1-10 batches at a time. The program automatically sets at 1 batch per reservation.

In the mainframe of the "Find Batches" box a list of batches that fit your criteria will be shown. For this example we are going to select the top result of "U.S. Wisconsin - Birth Records."

Type of record to be indexed and short explanation of privacy issues

Once a batch is selected, a brief explanation reminding you to follow instructions and respect the privacy of the information that you are indexing is always given at the beginning of each batch. 

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Some batches include recent events of people that may still be living - treat it as you would your own personal information. Respect their privacy.

2 Records are included in this batch to be indexed

Verify that the information on the 2 documents is different

Before advancing to the indexing screen you need to verify that the information is not duplicated, blank/damaged or doesn't pertain to the project. Select "YES" and click "NEXT IMAGE" and verify that the name is different than the first image or is readable and then click "NEXT IMAGE" to get started.

First fields of indexing the document

We know this is a certificate of birth as stated below the title of "Wisconsin State Board of Health" so we type "certificate" in the form type box.

✍AMENDMENT INDICATOR: The answer to this field is generally "NO" unless you see that information was crossed out or overwritten

The file number is almost always included in the upper right hand corner of the document. The numer before the hyphen do not need to included in the file number. (In this case 148- does not need to be included.)

We enter the child's name and surname as well as the birth date and time.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Remember the SURNAME is the last name.

Adding time, gender and birth location from certificate

The time of birth, gender, whether multiple (single, twin or triplet) and location of birth including city or town, county and state.

Name of hospital and mother's information

The name of the hospital the child was born at is listed as well as information regarding the birth mother.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: For the mother her MAIDEN name is listed which is her name before she was married. If she is married, you then include her married last name for the current surname.

Information regarding the mother's residence and the father's information are indexed

Residence for the mother, on this record, is listed in the upper right hand corner. Information on the father is listed above the mother.

File date, birth weight and mother's marital status in recorded

✍TAKE NOTE: The file date is the day that the record was received by the local recorder. Do not record the any date that may be stamped on the upper portion of the document unless there is no information listed for the date it is received.

The birth weight and length are recorded together usually as well as the marital status of the mother.

Completing all fields on the record

✍TAKE NOTE: Any field that has an asterisk * after it is required information. If the field is blank, make note by holding down the control button and typing B.

Once all fields for the first record are completed, click on "Next Image" and repeat the steps listed above.

When both records have been indexed, you submit your batch

When both documents have been indexed, you click the "Submit Batch" button.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: Batches can have up to 10 documents to index in each batch. Some batches may only have one record.

Quality Check looks for any misspelled or unfamiliar terms

Quality Check looks for misspelled or unfamiliar words. In most cases, there aren't any errors to be corrected. If there is an error, simply correct it in the field box that comes up. If the marked error is spelled correctly just simply hit accept and it will move on. When you are finished, click "Submit Batch".

Congratulations! Confetti party for completion!

Congratulations and thank you for indexing! FamilySearch showers you with a digital confetti party for helping out with the indexing efforts. You are invited to index a similar batch - if any are available. If you downloaded more than one batch, you are invited to work on the next batch in your reserve. If you would like to try something new you can click "Find Batches" and it will take you back to the main screen to select a batch to work on.

💎GENEALOGY GEM: If you need to shut down the program or walk away from your batch the work that you have done will be saved and you can pick up where you left off.

Thank you for paying it forward and helping to create a digital index for another record!