Newton Public Library looks to capture COVID-19 pandemic for history

The Newton Public Library invites residents to help create an archive for people to look back into history to see the changes that occurred while the world navigated everyday life through the pandemic.

The NPL is currently looking for people to send them photos of how life has changed since the beginning of the pandemic. Whether that be how daily life has been altered or how businesses have changed, the library wants a record for people to look back on in the future.

“It is difficult to understand the long-term impact of current events while we are navigating them,” public services librarian Becca Klein said.

The photos will be put into an online archive for people to access. Klein said they drew inspiration from some academic research libraries that were requesting written essays on peoples experience during the pandemic.

“We liked the concept of focusing more on photographs because they are easy for people to take and share. There is not a big time commitment there and people in general just really enjoy looking at images,” Klein said.

The photos don’t have to be professional grade or have a big event in them, they can just be from daily life. Whether it is pictures of students of doing school online or people are wearing masks, however people have felt a change is welcome.

“We are really just looking for casual quick snapshots of your daily life,” Klein said.

There is a form on the NPL website for people to submit their photos. Klein said they do ask for a brief explanation of the photo, including when it was taken and what is happening. Photos can be credited to the photographer if they would like or be anonymous.

“There is no limit on the number of submissions people can share,” Klein said.

One thing she said was sometimes with smaller communities, there is less archived information. The NPL is trying to proactively document these things for Jasper County and for future generations to understand the pandemic and its impact on Iowans.

“Community support is really important in doing this ... We have already had a decent handful of submissions,” Klein said.

Submissions will be accepted as long as people continue to send them in given the unpredictable nature of the future.

“Hopefully there will be interest in the project for quite a while to come,” Klein said.

For those who would like to participate by sending photos and are searching for inspiration, photos already submitted are available to view at newtongov.org/1009/Documenting-COVID-19.

“We are doing this project with an eye on the long-term benefit of course but I do think people will appreciate observing the shared experience,” Klein said.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com