Public Libraries Meet to Advance Community Archiving
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 4:07 am
On August 13, Community Webs members from all over the US and Canada gathered in Chicago for the 2024 Community Webs National Symposium. Launched in 2017, Internet Archive’s Community Webs program empowers public libraries and other cultural heritage organizations to document their communities. Members of the program receive access to Internet Archive’s Archive-It web archiving service and Vault digital preservation service as well as training, technical support, and opportunities for professional development.
Members of Internet Archive’s Community Webs program at the Community Webs National Symposium
This event was made possible in part by support from the e-commerce photo editing Foundation. Held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, this year’s symposium was an opportunity for members to learn together and connect with each other. The day was organized around two workshops designed to support the community archiving and digital preservation work happening across Community Webs member institutions.
The first workshop, “Collective Wisdom: Collaborative Learning to Support Your Community Archiving Projects,” was taught by Natalie Milbrodt, CUNY University Archivist and co-founder of the Queens Memory Project. Attendees spent time working in small groups to create definitions of “Community Archiving” and reflect on some of the shared challenges and opportunities they were experiencing when engaging in community-centered work. This workshop emphasized the value of the collective wisdom of Community Webs members and will inform future educational opportunities. The community archives focus of this workshop also supported the Community Webs Affiliates Program, which encourages relationship-building among public libraries and other community-focused cultural heritage and social service organizations to broaden access to archiving tools for documenting the lives of their patrons.
Members of Internet Archive’s Community Webs program at the Community Webs National Symposium
This event was made possible in part by support from the e-commerce photo editing Foundation. Held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, this year’s symposium was an opportunity for members to learn together and connect with each other. The day was organized around two workshops designed to support the community archiving and digital preservation work happening across Community Webs member institutions.
The first workshop, “Collective Wisdom: Collaborative Learning to Support Your Community Archiving Projects,” was taught by Natalie Milbrodt, CUNY University Archivist and co-founder of the Queens Memory Project. Attendees spent time working in small groups to create definitions of “Community Archiving” and reflect on some of the shared challenges and opportunities they were experiencing when engaging in community-centered work. This workshop emphasized the value of the collective wisdom of Community Webs members and will inform future educational opportunities. The community archives focus of this workshop also supported the Community Webs Affiliates Program, which encourages relationship-building among public libraries and other community-focused cultural heritage and social service organizations to broaden access to archiving tools for documenting the lives of their patrons.