Teaneck Public Library Documents Coronavirus In New Project

TEANECK, NJ — The Teaneck Public Library is doing their part to document what life is like during the coronavirus pandemic. In a new project titled "Documenting Teaneck History: The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic", the library is collecting submissions from residents to share what their experience has been like.

Still in the early stages of collecting entries, Patch asked Library Director Allen McGinley over email to explain how the project will be compiled, and how the idea became reality.

How did the idea to document this moment come into fruition?

McGinley: The Township of Teaneck, and Bergen County as a whole, has been hit particularly hard by the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. As of this writing, the Township of Teaneck has recorded more than 1,000 presumptive positive cases, and sadly lost the lives of 95 residents. With Holy Name Medical Center located within the Township, the impact of this disease has not only been relegated to those it infected, but also extended to the first responders and frontline healthcare workers tasked with caring for the sick.

After seeing similar efforts to document the crisis at Union (NJ) Public Library, and other places, we realized the critical importance of recording the stories of both heartbreak and resilience in Teaneck. Teaneck Public Library has a lot of experience with preserving local history records physically onsite in the library's reference department, and electronically through the library's digital archive (archive.teanecklibrary.org), so this project was a natural fit.

How quickly did the decision makers at the library realize the importance of this moment?

McGinley: The outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus quickly had a significant impact on the lives of residents in Teaneck. But after just a few weeks of this public health crisis, library staff realized this was not just a major event in our daily lives, but would likely be an event of great historical significance.

The library reached out to community partners the Teaneck Historical Society and Age-Friendly Teaneck who were both eager to collaborate on the project.

What is the goal of collecting these stories and images? What does the library hope to share with the people?

McGinley: The goal of this project is to document the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak on the lives of residents of Teaneck, from the halls of Holy Name Medical Center to the homes of children navigating remote learning. We hope to document our community's collective response to the tragedy, and in sharing these experiences, unite the township of Teaneck in hope.

Is there a plan for how this information will be displayed in the future?

McGinley: All submissions will be preserved physically in the library's onsite archive, and electronically in the library's digital archive (archive.teanecklibrary.org). Selected submissions will also be highlighted on the library's website at: https://teanecklibrary.org/category/documenting-covid-19/

Who will sort through the responses and submissions? Will everything be shared or is there a level of curation?

McGinley: Librarians (Weilee Liu, Supervisor; Paul Hirch, Senior Librarian; and Cynthia Zimmerly, Senior Librarian) will process, preserve, and curate all eligible submissions in the library's print and digital archives.

Is there an early estimate of how many submissions have been received?

McGinley: It's very early, but the library has already received 10 submissions to the "Documenting Teaneck History: The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic" project.