How to contribute a treasure

Before you can contribute your treasure, you first need to register. Please remember that both images and text must be your own work. And don't forget about our site rules.

Step 1 – Log in

• Enter your email address (username) and password into the login boxes in the top right-hand area of your screen.

Step 2 – Go to the contribution page

• Click the ‘Make a contribution’ link in the black navigation bar.

You will now see the ‘Make a contribution’ form and can begin the process of contributing. There are two stages in the process:

1. Create your contribution.
   
2. Check your contribution and submit it for review.

Step 3 – Create a title

• Enter a title for your treasure in the ‘Title of your treasure’ field.

Keep your title short – it should be no more than 10 words. Ideally, it should describe exactly what your treasure is.

For example: WW2 helmet, French powder compact, Photograph of Aunty Ethel, etc.

Step 4 – Describe your treasure

• Write a description of your treasure in the ‘Description of your treasure’ field.

You may want to draft something in a word processing program like Microsoft Word first, or you can type directly into this box. If you do draft your text first, you’ll need to cut and paste it into a text editor program (such as Notepad), and from there cut and paste it into the description field.

It’s a good idea to think about what you want to tell people about your treasure. Why you think it’s a treasure? What’s special about it? Do you know where it was made, when, and by whom? If you’re stuck for words, look at our writing tips for inspiration.

Step 5 – Say when your treasure was made

• Fill in the ‘Date your treasure was made’ field.

If you know the exact date or even roughly when your treasure was made you can enter it here.
Use one of these date styles: 16 January 1854, about 1965, between 1950 and 1954, 1750s, c1975, 1933-34.

Step 6– Add tags

Tags are either single words or short phrases that allow you to label your treasure according to how you see it. Because you write your own tags, you can use whatever words or phrases you think are most appropriate for your treasure. There is no need to follow what other people do, just make up tags as you need them.

For example: If your treasure is a photo of your great grandmother’s blue rattan sewing basket, you could add: sewing, basket, artist, heirloom, blue, “my granny’s sewing basket”. More information about tags is available on the What are tags? page.

• Enter your tags in the ‘Tags’ field. Single words should be separated by a space and phrases should be enclosed by double quotation marks. For example: restaurant “New York City” food dinner “My 50th birthday”.

When your contribution has been published on the live website, all your tags will appear in lower case, and phrases, such as “New York City” or “my granny’s sewing basket”, will look like this: ‘newyorkcity’ and ‘mygrannyssewingbasket’.

Step 7 – Choose a category

This is where you select the category for your treasure.

• Click on the down arrow next to the box to see a drop-down list of categories.
  
• Choose the category that best fits your treasure.

If you’re not sure where your treasure should go, choose ‘Other’ at the bottom of the list.

Step 8 – Add a photo of your treasure

A photograph of your treasure should already be saved on your computer (in jpg format and less than 2mb in size). If you’re unsure about how to create and save a digital photograph, see our Tips for photographs.

• Click the browse button next to the ‘Photo of your treasure’ field.

You will now see a dialogue box that allows you to find your photograph on your computer and attach it to your contribution.

Step 9 – Write a photo caption

• Type your caption in the ‘Caption for your photo’ field.

Your caption should be no more than 50 words and should describe what you see in the photograph.

For example: If you have a photograph of a powder compact containing original face powder and applicator, your caption could read ‘Open powder compact showing mirror, original face powder and applicator’.

Step 10 - Continue to stage 2

• Click the ‘Continue to stage 2’ button.

In this stage you’ll have the opportunity to add a link to an item in the Library’s collection, as well as check your contribution before submitting it to our moderator for review.

Step 11 – Add a link to a collection item

You may have looked through our catalogue and found something in the collection that is related in some way to your treasure. Perhaps you have visited the Library and used material to find out more about your item, its history or manufacture. If so, why not let others know what you’ve found in the Library’s collection by adding a link to the item in the catalogue.
To add a link, you’ll first need to find the item in the catalogue.

• Click on the text link to access the Library’s catalogue. This will open in a new window.

You are no longer in the Your Treasures website and are now in the State Library of Victoria website. The Your Treasures form you were filling out will remain under the new window.

• Click on the catalogue you want to access.
  
• Find the record for the item you’re looking for.
  
• Go to the Detailed View.
  
• Copy the url in the browser address window.

• Close the catalogue by clicking the box marked with a cross in the top right-hand corner.

You should now be back at the ‘Make a contribution – stage 2’ page.

• Paste the url into the catalogue record field on the form.

Step 12 – Explain why you chose this link

• Write a short sentence telling people why you chose this particular item in the Library’s collection.

For example: ‘I found this book very helpful in working out when my treasure was made” or “This photograph is almost identical to mine’.

Step 13 – Check your contribution

This is where you get the chance to check all the different parts of your contribution – title, description, date, tags, category, photo and caption.

• Check that you are happy with your title and description. Make any changes by deleting or adding information in relevant fields.
  
• Check that the date showing when your treasure was made is correct.
  
• Read the tags you have written. You’ll notice they look different to the way you wrote them, particularly if you’ve used capitals or written tag phrases.
  
• If you’re not happy with any of your tags, click the box beside individual tags to delete them. If you’d like to add more tags write them in the ‘Add more tags here’ field.
  
• Check that you’ve selected the right category.
  
• Look at your photograph to make sure you have selected the right one.
  
• Re-read your caption.

Step 14 – Save draft or submit for review

Congratulations, you’ve made it! You can now choose to save your contribution as a draft or submit it to the moderator for review. If you choose to save it as a draft, you can look at it again later and make additional changes. If you choose to submit it for review, you will not be able to make any further changes to your contribution.

Once you’ve submitted your contribution for review, our moderator will ensure it doesn’t break any of our site rules. When your contribution has been reviewed, you will receive an email letting you know that it has been published to the live site.