photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

A volume of the Lawrence Public Library's pandemic zine is seen in the library on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2021. The zine is a collection of stories and drawings submitted by Lawrence residents remembering their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the stories are funny. Others are sad.

But the experiences local residents are sharing with the Lawrence Public Library about their lives during the coronavirus pandemic all have value and should be remembered, said children’s librarian Jenny Cook.

The library is currently collecting stories from the Lawrence community about their experience during the pandemic and life in quarantine. The stories will then be shared through the publication of zines, which are generally small do-it-yourself magazines.

“We’ve all had our own experiences, and a lot of them have been isolated,” Cook recently told the Journal-World. “Having those opportunities to connect and share seems really important.”

Cook recently told the Journal-World the idea for the project came from author Celia C. Pérez, who told Cook when she was visiting Lawrence over the summer about how she was sharing pandemic-related zines with friends. Pérez, who wrote the children’s book “The First Rule of Punk,” also has a background with zines, which thrived in punk music culture.

Cook said she liked the idea of sharing experiences through zines and focusing on the pandemic as a powerful subject matter. She felt collecting the stories would be a good way to help local residents connect with one another amid a universal, but often isolating, event.

It can also be a therapeutic or cathartic exercise, she said.

“Putting it down, even now, is a helpful way to process what has happened because it’s been a very hard time,” Cook said.

photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Pages of the first volume of the Lawrence Public Library’s pandemic zine show examples of how residents are sharing their experiences through drawings and collages.

To collect the stories, visitors to the library have been invited to share their experiences in whatever way they would like on a single piece of paper. While many adults sharing stories — such as a volunteer who helped with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Douglas County — have used writing as their mode of communication, younger participants have made collages and drawings to share those experiences.

Hazlett Henderson, an information services assistant for the library who is a co-leader of the project, said collecting the stories would also be a good way to make a historical record of what it was like to live through the pandemic. She said it’s part of the library’s project “You Are Local History,” which focuses on the everyday lives of regular Lawrence residents who otherwise might not have been recognized in historical documents.

Cook said she’s found the stories to be a good reminder of what it was like for others during the pandemic, specifically children. She said in one of the stories provided to the library, a child explained that they felt isolated and alone during the pandemic, but that they still knew the world was going on outside because they could hear the birds singing and see the sun rising.

She said there has also been a common theme of individuals noting that time seemed to lose meaning during the pandemic. Others also focused on a reconnection to nature and the feeling of missing others, she said.

So far, the library has collected enough stories for about three volumes of the zine. Henderson said copies of the zines will be included in a collection of other Lawrence zines that will be on display in the library. She said the library plans to have them on display by the beginning of the new year.

The library will also continue collecting submissions for the pandemic zines until the end of the year. Those interested in participating may create a page to be submitted while visiting the library or make one at home to bring to the library.