Heritage Resources is Documenting the University’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Western Libraries Heritage Resources is creating a digital archive to preserve documentation about Western Washington University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Material that is collected will be preserved and available for future generations to access and use. The COVID-19 documentation project will collect the experiences of Western students, staff, and faculty who have adjusted to working, teaching, and learning from home in response to the current public health crisis.  

Western Libraries Heritage Resources consists of University Archives and Records Management, Special Collections, and the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, which work together to document the culture and history of Western, the community, state, region, and world. Over the next few months, Western Libraries Heritage Resources will be seeking stories, photographs, recordings of WWU-sponsored programming, official university memos and directives, art and poetry, and other documentation that chronicles the COVID-19 pandemic through the voices of the university and community. A project page with information about early collecting efforts is available at the following link: https://library.wwu.edu/hr/COVIDproject. 

Interested individuals are invited to write a paragraph or two describing their personal COVID-19 experiences. Questions to consider: How are you transitioning to online classes? How is social distancing impacting your life and work? How has the pandemic changed your daily routines, and the ways you engage with your community and campus? What are some key challenges for the university community during the crisis? What do you miss the most about your lives on campus? What activities have you engaged in to help others, and how have you been helped during this time?  

When ready, pieces may be submitted online via the form provided on the project website, which can be found at this link. https://library.wwu.edu/hr/COVIDproject. For more information, or to  learn about possible donation of other digital or physical records related to COVID-19 experiences, please contact Elizabeth Joffrion, director of Heritage Resources, at Elizabeth.Joffrion@wwu.edu or (360) 650-3283.