The National Library of Medicine Global Health Events web archive, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic collecting

• Main Authors: Susan L. Speaker, Christie Moffatt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2020-10-01
• Series: Journal of the Medical Library Association
• Subjects: coronavirus; sars cov-2; covid-19; pandemic; web collecting; web archiving; public health
• Online Access: http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/1090

Since January 30, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the SARS CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) to be a public health emergency of international concern, the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM’s) Web Collecting and Archiving Working Group has been collecting a broad range of web-based content about the emerging pandemic for preservation in an Internet archive. Like NLM’s other Global Health Events web collections, this content will have enduring value as a multifaceted historical record for future study and understanding of this event. This article describes the scope of the COVID-19 project; some of the content captured from websites, blogs, and social media; collecting criteria and methods; and related COVID-19 collecting efforts by other groups. The growing collection—2,500 items as of June 30, 2020—chronicles the many facets of the pandemic: epidemiology; vaccine and drug research; disease control measures and resistance to them; effects of the pandemic on health care institutions and workers, education, commerce, and many aspects of social life; effects for especially vulnerable groups; role of health disparities in infection and mortality; and recognition of racism as a public health emergency.