there should be a way to add indexing fields

michaelcombrink1

there should be a way to add indexing fields, they could be flagged as suggestions and moderators could choose to formalize expanded entry fields

also there shoudl be a way to add tags to documents, and notes

both could be searchable

eg you are indexing but you see info that could be useful, but isn't listed as an entry field,

you could add tags like

#relatives, #parents, #siblings, #uncle,

or #death-date-place

these tags could be used to notify moderators who could update fields or could be left connected to the document so that even if not indexed, searchers could later look up that document

eg search Lisa Smith, Illinois, 1927-1955, #parents

documents often have

relatives, this info seems super easy to include and super helpful, and incredibly dificult to do afterwards, eg indexer could spend %20 more time to enter 5 names and fill out an entire family, but if not done during index, the searcher would have to sift through hundreds of documents to find which ones mention these relatives as a side note

siblings, parents, children,

locations

employment

residence

port of entry

Dates

witnesses

document id numbers

erutherford

When a researcher pulls up a document that relates to their family member, they will be able to see the extra information that was not indexed. If we were to index every field on every document in every project, projects would take a very long time to complete, especially the more complicated projects (ie City Directories and Naturalization projects). It has been this way since at least I've been indexing (2015).

Melissa S Himes

The owners of the records decide what will be indexed. Alot of these records are not "free", so it wouldn't be advantageous for the owners to give up all the information in a free index. We did index all of the names and relationships on the obituaries. It was really a fun year of obit indexing!

barbaragailsmith1

It isn't necessary to index every fact. It only takes a few fields being in the index to lead the researcher to that document. As was said, the researcher will be able to see all that other info when he pulls up the image on Family Search.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

An index is only a finding aid. We should always look at the original record to learn what it contains. Indexing every field is not warranted.