A guide to the assembly of local, oral history information for future historical research is provided. Since the relatively new field of oral history is the tape recording of reminiscences about which a narrator can speak from firsthand knowledge, it is necessary for the interviewer to have background knowledge of the subject matter and considerable social skill in interviewing techniques. Topic areas in the booklet include discussions on what is meant by oral history, reasons for oral history, ways to start an oral history program, equipment and tapes, the interview process, who should interview, tips for interviewers, indexing tapes, agreement on use of the tapes, ethics of oral history, deposit and preservation of tapes, when to transcribe or not to transcribe, encouraging the use of oral history materials, developing expertise, and a bibliography. Oral history interviews differ from journalistic or specific historical research interviews in that they are intended for use by a wide variety of researchers; therefore their scope should be broader than what would be covered for immediate or specific use. (Author/DE)