Prior to the pandemic, the library had not developed the technology or policy infrastructure to launch a participatory digital archive. Staff designed and established a model for future community projects. With much of the personal experiences about COVID-19 being shared online and through social media, the library used web archiving tools to capture and preserve the most ephemeral historical content. This was a fully bilingual project with all promotion and marketing in Spanish and English.

Sonoma Responds featured:

• English and Spanish online portals, including anonymous submission option
• Reflective prompts about life during COVID
• Upload feature for photographs, videos and documents
• Ability to submit websites/blogs to the web archive
• Creative Commons licensing option to allow for broad (re-)sharing of materials

Through a partnership with Sonoma State University’s Center for Community Engagement, the library launched a parallel project to document student experiences, with over 700 submissions.

• Over 1,000 submissions, including reflections, videos, photos, art, and COVID-related songs and novels set locally.
• Community members enjoyed viewing their content and exploring the work of others.
• Participant feedback:
  • “[Sonoma Responds is] really a visionary program.”
  • “I'm so proud to be a part of this project.”
  • “Thank you so much for your time, as well as your safekeeping history. It's incredibly appreciated.”
• Participants varied in age, including traditional library users and non-library cardholders.