DigiVol: Volunteers making a difference

The DigiVol blog series features stories about our Volunteer Digitisation program that includes volunteers in the lab and online.

DigiVol recognises the hard work and professionalism shown by a masterful group of volunteers

In the windowless fluorescent lit old paleo lab in the Australian Museum, 30 volunteers have honed their digitisation skills over three years, with each volunteer clocking up approximately 600 volunteer hours. This extraordinary effort underpins DigiVol’s status as a major contributor to the Museum’s efforts to digitise its vast collections.

Collection Managers in Entomology, Malacology, Archives, Pacific and International Collections, Marine Invertebrates and Icthyology presented a ‘DigiVol Certificate of Appreciation’ award to these volunteers to show their appreciation for this invaluable work done on behalf of the Australian Museum staff and research scientists.

This diverse group of volunteers have put the hard-yards in by turning up weekly to do a variety of interesting work which demands long hours of concentration and dexterity. As each collection has its own digitisation processes and rules, these volunteers move confidently between the different collection workstations to digitise the work at hand.

These volunteers are the heart and soul of DigiVol. They are leaders, and have trained new volunteers over the years to build up their confidence in handling specimens and archival records. They are passionate about the proejct, and have helped to build our DigiVol community by drawing on comprehensive knowledge and skills in photography, producing videos, data bases, computers and guideline documentation.