Documenting the GCC community during COVID-19 Due to the retrenchment of our archivist, the GCC library is no longer supporting this project. We are all living through a historic crisis, and facing new challenges. While all of us in the GCC community are living through these events at the same time, our individual experiences of the COVID-19 crisis are unique to our own circumstances. Future historians (including student historians in GCC classes) will want to know how the coronavirus pandemic affected the daily lives of everyday people. The GCC library and archives staff invite you to contribute your story to this important historical record in whatever format feels most authentic to you: in the form of a journal, poetry, photographs, screenshots of your social media posts during this time, etc. You could also choose to interview a family member or friend, provided that they understand that their interview will be housed at the GCC archives (this will also require an additional permission form). If you are interested in participating, please fill out the form below. We encourage students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other members of the local community to contribute. Participation form If you have questions or comments, please email GCC librarian and archivist Claire Lobdell at *protected email*, or check out the F.A.Q.'s below. Q1. What is an archives? A1. An archives is a place that stores historical materials, both physical things that you can touch and digital records that exist only on computers. Q2. What does it mean to donate materials to an archives? A2. If you donate your COVID-19 stories–in whatever format you choose–those physical or digital records will have a permanent place in GCC’s archival collections. They will be owned by and stored at GCC and cataloged so that researchers can find them. They may be displayed online or in an exhibit at GCC. Q3. Who will be able to read or look at my donation? A3. Your donation will be available for any researchers to read and look at. At GCC, we do not have any restrictions on who qualifies as a researcher. Because your donation may be digitized (if not already in digital format) and made available online, some researchers may not have to come here in person. College classes at GCC sometimes use our historical materials for research. Q4. Can I donate my story anonymously? A4. The archivist will ask you to fill out and sign a donation form, which will have your name on it and which will be stored at GCC for administrative use only. If you choose, we can leave your name off of public displays of this project, whether online or in person. You can also choose a pseudonym for us to use. Q5. If I want to interview someone for this project, does that person have to be affiliated with GCC? A5. Nope! As long as one of the people (interviewer or interviewee) has a connection with GCC, that’s fine. The interviewee will also need to sign a release form. Q6. Can I have my students participate in this as an assignment? A6. No, participation in this project is fully voluntary. While you can ask your students to reflect on their current experiences as an assignment, the decision to donate that story to this project or not must be fully up to them.