University of Pittsburgh Library System

The University of Pittsburgh Library System’s University Archives is working to document the impact of COVID-19 on the university community, as well as Pitt’s response to the pandemic. In addition to the websites and emails we are currently collecting, we are asking Pitt students, faculty, and staff to consider collecting records that document their experiences and depositing them in the University Archives. We intend to make the resulting archive of reflections and files available for research.

While records documenting all aspects of your experience will be considered for inclusion, some topics of particular interest include:

Students

• communications relating to university housing (how were you notified to vacate?, changing messages and notifications, etc.)
• messages from faculty about how classes would continue online
• material showing how student organizations handled the pandemic (Did they stop or adapt for the remainder of the semester?)
• photographs and video documenting move out, student life during the campus closure and stay at home order, etc.
• journals, artwork, or other ways in which students documented their personal experiences  

Faculty and Staff

• course syllabi and teaching materials created for online learning (if you created class projects or assignments relating to COVID-19 please contact us to discuss possible deposit options)
• departmental and school planning documentation and other communications
• guidelines and personal reflections on adjusting to teaching or working from home
• communications sent to your students (for courses, advising, etc.)

Submitting electronic documents

Please submit all electronic documents via this Box folder.  When possible, documents should be saved as PDF (text), WAV (video), or TIF or JPG (photos). If you have physical items to donate to the collection, please contact us.

By uploading files to the University of Pittsburgh COVID-19 Archive, the Donor certifies that they created and own the copyright in the submitted material. While they will continue to retain copyright, the Donor hereby grants to the University of Pittsburgh Library System a license to add the material to its archival collections and preserve it for future generations of students, scholars, and researchers. The Donor gives the library permission to organize the materials according to accepted archival principles; to create metadata, finding aids, and full-text search interfaces required for the preservation and discovery of the materials; to make the materials accessible to researchers and staff; and to use the materials in exhibits and displays, both physical and online. They agree that the University of Pittsburgh Library System may make this material available online under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which will allow others to share and adapt the material, as long as the Donor is given appropriate credit.

Survey

If you do not have electronic or physical documents to deposit, but would still like to share your experiences, please complete our survey.

If you have any questions about this process or the project, please contact us.