About Cambridge University Library’s COVID-19 Collection
The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. As with any historic moment, it is crucial to capture records of the event as it unfolds.
Cambridge University Library wants to collect, preserve, and make accessible materials about the pandemic’s effects on the Collegiate University and the city. The Library is interested in materials that reflect how people are experiencing this time, including how they are coping with changes to daily life and the ways this period has impacted work, social activity, and leisure.
The Library is looking to collect materials in physical and digital formats. Examples of materials include, but are not limited to, videos, photographs and images (including posters and leaflets), audio recordings, creative projects, as well as journals and diaries. The Library is also interested in collecting materials that are published openly online. These websites will be added to the UK Web Archive, which is a collaborative initiative in partnership with the UK’s Legal Deposit Libraries.
These materials might not immediately come to mind when thinking about library collections, but they are valuable primary sources for understanding this period as it happened.
You can help the Library by sharing your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contact digitalpreservation@lib.cam.ac.uk to get involved!
To learn more about how to donate your material, please visit the collection’s Frequently Asked Questions webpage.