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Library Volunteers Still Needed
The new City of Ottawa Archives has been open for a while but the hours of operation have increased and we need more people to help visitors and researchers. Branch volunteers serve as monitors, giving advice about the collections to visiting researchers and re-shelving books. When things are quiet, you can work on your own projects or assist with the indexing of documents for The Ontario Name Index (TONI). We can always use additional volunteers. Anyone willing to provide this valuable but not onerous service for a few hours per month should contact the librarian or past chair.
The Archives are open Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 4pm and, from September to May, Saturday 10am to 5pm. Volunteers are not needed for the full day, so we have one volunteer for the morning, 10am to 12:30pm, and another in the afternoon, 12:30 to 3:30pm. Similarly 11am to 1:30pm and 1:30-4pm on Saturday.
Many of us only work every second week but I am open to more frequently if you want. The vacant shifts are currently Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but there are other opportunities to fill in as well. If you would like to volunteer to help in the Archives, contact me at pastchair@ogsottawa.on.ca. There will be an orientation session before your first shift. It is a remarkable facility and all visitors have been very impressed with it.
What Can I Do?
It’s sure nice to hear that at a meeting. What can I do to help the Branch?
Last fall we warned that the Branch was on thin ice and we were rescued by a few who came forward. The situation is far from safe, though. It’s time for a new slate of officers to run the Branch for another year.
Most of us have on the Board for many years. I hear complaints that it is a small clique running things but nobody wants to step in and fill the jobs, or even the vacancies. You can check the list in the latest issue of The Ottawa Genealogist to see what positions are vacant. Most of us would be quite happy to relinquish our duties and all would be more than happy to spend the next year training a replacement. Most of these jobs require a mere couple of hours a week and I am sure that most of us could afford to skip a couple of TV shows. The descriptions of the Board positions are at Job Descriptions.
Not ready to contribute to running the Branch? There are other smaller tasks to be done. Many of them add to the load of the existing Board members as nobody else will do them. How about bringing a bottle of juice and a couple of bags of cookies to the monthly meeting? Or show up half an hour early to start the coffee pot brewing? Spend a couple of hours volunteering to help researchers in the City Archives? Or even just coordinate the existing volunteers? How about indexing some of our holdings for The Ontario Name Index? See Ottawa Branch Job Descriptions for more opportunities to help.
It is your Branch and every one of you is responsible for its future. You decide.
Mike More
Co-Chair Ottawa Branch OGS
chair@ogsottawa.on.ca
Ottawa Branch
Ottawa Branch is one of 30 Branches of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS). The Ottawa Branch is “responsible” for Carleton, Lanark, Renfrew, Prescott and Russell Counties in Ontario. The Branch consists of members who seek and share information about family history searching. Its mission is “To encourage, assist and bring together all those interested in the pursuit of family history.” If you want to discover more about your family origins, or how and where to locate information about your ancestors, hundreds of our members will be there to help you.
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