This project will investigate how library needs and best practices related to the development of community archives vary across urban and rural library systems.
The project will ask the following research questions:
(1) How do understandings of community archives, and their desired role within communities, vary between public library staff in differently sized rural and urban systems?
(2) How do urban and rural systems differ in terms of the challenges they must navigate to effectively build community archives?
(3) How do these systems differ in terms of best practices for implementing impactful community archives?
The project is led by principal investigator (PI) Dr. Marika Cifor, Associate Professor, Information School, University of Washington. The project team includes faculty from the iSchool, including Dr. Sandy Littletree and Cindy Aden; and research scientists Dr. Jason Young and Chris Jowaisas. In addition to the UW team, the project team includes staff at Tacoma Public Library, including dindria barrow and Gina Peone, and at the Internet Archive, Anna Trammell.
The full proposal is available on the IMLS website for additional information.
This project builds upon a prior collaboration between Tacoma Public Library and the University of Washington in another IMLS funded project, “The Community Archives Center for Tacoma” (LG-250126-OLS-21) which focused on bringing community members and organizations together to carry out a fully participatory process to broaden participation and inclusion within cultural heritage collections. The full proposal for that project is also available.
The Community Archives Center Toolkit created from that project is available for use either through the web or as a PDF download.
