Volunteer with Us

Earn Volunteer Hours with Making History

These instructions will help you earn volunteer or community service hours with the Library of Virginia’s Making History project. You can participate in our scheduled events or volunteer independently.

Events

We host Making History volunteer sessions, called transcribe-a-thons, twice a month through Community Foundation Engage, a local hub for volunteer opportunities. One session is virtual and hosted on a Wednesday evening; the other is in person and held at the Library of Virginia in the Computer Classroom. Each session will include an introduction to the Library, historical background about a collection, and a website demonstration to help volunteers get started. We will use either the Library of Virginia Collections on From The Page or our historical newspaper database, Virginia Chronicle. Volunteers may work independently or in teams and are encouraged to ask questions. Each event will conclude with a brief discussion.

Rules for Volunteering

• Check that online or virtual volunteering will be accepted in advance.
• We can only verify time recorded on the From The Page website or done under the direct supervision of an LVA staff member during one of our Making History events
• We can only certify volunteer time spent on Library of Virginia collections. Always check for the Library of Virginia logo on the collection page!
• From The Page time reporting is on a 24-hr delay and runs on GMT. Complete your hours the day before you request a timesheet.
• Time spent must reflect genuine effort to transcribe or index documents to the best of your ability. Merely refreshing a webpage for several hours does not qualify as volunteer service. If your work does not reflect sincere effort, we reserve the right to not certify your volunteer time.

Virtual Volunteering

While we use several crowdsourcing platforms, only From The Page tracks user contributions in minutes and can be used to complete virtual community service hours outside of our regularly scheduled transcribe-a-thons.

1. Register for an account on From the Page: fromthepage.com/users/sign_up
2. Log in and navigate to the Library of Virginia collections on From the Page: fromthepage.com/lva
3. Select any collection on the LVA page. Select an item and click on a page to transcribe or index, depending on the collection. Use the “Pages that Need Transcription” button on the right-hand side. Refer to the Help tab for collection-specific instructions.
4. Save your work frequently! This helps demonstrate that you are active and reduces the chance of lost work.
5. Continue volunteering by indexing or transcribing Library of Virginia collections
6. Request your timesheet using the form below, allowing at least 2–3 workdays (M–F, 9–5) for completion. Include your username in this request and any other recipients, such as teachers or supervisors.
   • For Steps 6-8, see below for an update to this process starting in August 2026.
7. Your timesheet will be emailed to you as a signed PDF showing your total volunteer time.
8. A letter of service can also be issued on Library of Virginia letterhead. If needed, please select this option in the form below.

2026 Volunteer Verification Process Update

Improvements to the From the Page platform now allows users to print their own volunteer letters of service on demand, including the amount of volunteer time. Follow the process below.

We will continue issuing timesheets and letters of service using the previous process until July 30, 2026. Our Making History team is always appreciative of volunteer efforts! For any questions regarding the verification process please email makinghistory@lva.virginia.gov.

Request Volunteer Verification

Please fill out the following form to request a timesheet or letter of service for Making History.

Timesheets have a 2-3 business day turn-around-time. If you need something immediately, you can download a letter on your From The Page dashboard by clicking the link that says "Your Hours" on the bottom right of the screen, under your "Recent Activity".