Griffith City Library is on a mission to preserve and document the stories of 2020 and 2021

The library is pushing for residents of the area to note down their experiences and stories around the pandemic and submit them to the library where they will be preserved and added to the library's local history collection for future researchers.

Library manager Karen Tagliapietra explained the project.

"These stories will be added to our Local History collection, where they will provide valuable insight for future researchers," she said.

In addition to written stories, the library is keen to collect photos and videos of the time. It's hoped that the advent and popularity of smartphones with high-quality cameras should provide a wide range of people with the opportunity to document their lived experiences to the catalogue.

"It may not seem like it, but this information will be historically significant and provide a snapshot of what Griffith and the wider Western Riverina lockdown was like and provide information and images for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren."

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Barry Steer from the Griffith Genealogical and Historical Society is strongly in favour of the idea and added that it's not just historians who would benefit from the records.

"I think local stories are always important ... We get people coming in trying to find out about their earlier ancestors and their relation to happenings at the time. The wars are a fine case in point, people are often trying to find out what their ancestors were doing in the war," he said.

"It may well be people trying to find out what their ancestors were doing during the COVID pandemic."

Mr Steer added that while local stories may not initially seem as historically vital as their national and international counterparts, they can often paint a better picture when combined.

"These big events do have an impression on local things. We do live locally, there's that expression of 'live locally and think globally' and I think that's right."

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