Collecting COVID at the California State University: Shared Approaches, Divergent Implementations

COVID-19 is a paradigm-shattering development which will have far-ranging effects, many still unforeseen and unanticipated. Community collecting initiatives provide insight and local-level perspectives to momentous events. Examined with other institutions’ holdings, these collecting initiatives illustrate larger trends and allow for a comparative look at reflections and reactions toward historic happenings like the ongoing pandemic. When the virus first spread, rapid-response collection was at the foremost thoughts of many California State University (CSU) archivists. Thankfully, the CSU’s 23 campuses have a robust community of archival practice, called the CSU Archives and Archivists Roundtable (CSUAAR). CSU archivists engaged each other promptly by conversing, collaborating, supporting, and sharing. We will discuss the community of practice at the CSU, highlight how the CSUAAR facilitated projects and developed some shared approaches to collecting efforts, and illustrate three different rapid-response collecting projects developed at the university level (CSU Bakersfield, CSU Northridge, and CSU San Marcos).