As the events of Friday August 11th and Saturday August 12th, 2017 unfolded, Library staff at the University of Virginia actively watched the news and began capturing information from websites and social media. When Library administration met the following Tuesday morning, we were asked if we could create a site that allowed community members to contribute their photos and videos online. While the UVA Library had some experience documenting and collecting digital content after a major news event, this was the first time we attempted to create a collecting site so quickly after the events occurred.

We consulted with other institutions who had created similar sites, and built on their previous work. We set up workflows to ensure that no malware or viruses were upload in the process. It took us a little over three weeks to launch the online collecting tool, far longer than we had initially hoped. The lessons learned from this site launch has led to further workflow and tool development to help future collecting efforts for ourselves and others.

The content submitted through this online collecting tool is part of a larger collection of digital and physical materials, MSS 16386, "The University of Virginia Collection on Events in Charlottesville, VA, August 11-13, 2017"  Descriptive information, dates, and locations were supplied by the donors. For the ArchivesSpace record, click here.