APLA Conference 2022

Public Libraries have long served as vital sites of preservation and activation for the stories of their communities, often helping to diversify the historic record and preserve the voices of those excluded from or misrepresented in larger institutional collections. With many records now published on the web, preserving community-based web content - such as online community newspapers, local blogs, websites, social media, and other platforms - and making collections accessible online are increasingly important skills for librarians wishing to continue fulfilling their roles as caretakers of local history collections.

Community Webs, an initiative of Archive-It and the Internet Archive, aims to advance the capacity for public libraries to build archives of web-published primary sources and other digital objects documenting local history and underrepresented voices. The program achieves this mission by providing its members with free access to web and digital archiving tools, technical support and training, as well as resources to support a local history web and digital archiving community of practice.

Leveraging the experiences and expertise of participating organizations and their communities, Community Webs is working to make web and digital archiving more inclusive in Canada and beyond. This presentation will discuss how the Community Webs program is bridging the gap between local history collections and online community content, while opening new paths for public libraries to dialogue with their communities to redress the silences often found in both traditional and digital collections.