[Genealib] Indexing Projects

[Marge Reid]

Good morning from Snohomish County, Washington -

The Sno-Isle Genealogical Society has created and uploaded indices to 
our website.  Some of these are -

1.  http://rootsweb.com/~wasigs/WSRSCRAPBOOKSindex.htm     This is a  
SURNAME/GivenName index to a collection of three scrapbooks full of 
newspaper clippings (mostly from the Everett, Washington area).

2.  http://rootsweb.com/~wasigs/1900EvtDirectoryIntro.htm  This is an 
expanded index to a 1900 Everett City Directory (not a transcription)

3.  http://rootsweb.com/~wasigs/INDEXAMHAsurnamesWEB.htm   The Images of 
America - Alderwood Manor (published by our local historical society) 
didn't have any sort of index.  We created one, inserted a print version 
in our library's copy of this book and uploaded an HTML version to our 
website.

These three online files were created by using Plain Old Works for 
Windows data base application (a.k.a. "Works for Wimps").  Once all the 
data entry is done, it's easy to create columns to hold the HTML code.  
Go to the URL listed for #3 and click on the VIEW tab, then click on 
SOURCE.  This will give you an idea of how easy it is to do a simple 
table without using a fancy HTML generating application.

The "Why" question is easy to answer...  some resources, like our 
Winifred Saltmarsh Raines collection (#1) are quite useless without an 
index.  Sometimes a decision is made that a given resource NEEDS to be 
online for all to use.  An expanded index is often the best way to do 
this...  there's enough information to identify the person involved, and 
the searcher can then either visit our library to check the resource OR 
make arrangements to have the reference photocopied.

If anyone has questions, PLEASE email me privately -

Regards,

Marge Reid - web manager, Sno-Isle Genealogical Society (and obsessive 
data base creator)
                        http://rootsweb.com/~wasigs/indexsite.htm