Oral history, a branch of historical research, is defined as a method of gathering and preserving historical information in the spoken form and preserving these spoken words with modern technology. This booklet chronicles the development of oral history and describes the role of the Onondaga County (New York) Public Library's Betts Branch as custodian of the Onondaga Valley (Syracuse, New York) Oral History Project. This project's guidelines are presented in terms of: (1) preliminary steps; (2) required equipment and materials; (3) public awareness; (4) interview preparation; (5) interview process; and (6) methods of transcribing the interviews. A sample of the project's release form and a nine-item bibliography are included. (JHP)