“Diary Disk” Lands In Library To Preserve Communal Memories Of Rough Year-Plus

​”I remember reading the same book over and over to my kids. Now they are doing the same thing to their kids. Ah, the joy of reading.”

This and other quotations covered a new Covid-era ​“Diary Disk” at main Ives Branhch public library, part of an art installation over the past year where people are given a prompt and they share their experiences by writing them on the disk.

The project began in May 2020 when the City of New Haven approached Design Brigade with the idea of creating a memorial for those affected by Covid-19 ​“through the lens of social justice,” said Ye Qin Zhu, who graduated from Yale’s School of Art in 2020. Diary disks have been placed at spots throughout town. (Click here for a previous story detailing the project.)

Mayor Justin Elicker held a press event Wednesday afternoon to highlight the placement of one of the disks in the foyer of the main Elm Street library branch.

The Ives Library disk, located beside a winding spiral staircase in the foyer, has the prompt ​“I Remember,” leading people to write their memories of the library on the disk.

John Jessen, the library director, said that he hopes that the disk will help the library reconnect with the community, and that people will share their stories relating to Covid on it so that everyone can remember them.

Mayor Elicker said that he was happy to see a Diary Disk present in ​“one of my favorite places in the city.” He also said that the installation should help remind people that the library is back open for business, which was appropriately followed up by a group of people seeking to walk past the gathering into the main room.

Elicker said that ​“the goal is to acknowledge what community members have suffered through, but also what hopes they have for the city.”

Library Deputy Director Luiz Chavez-Brumell said the diary disk fits into the library’s mission to tell stories. The disk will also ​“allow us to keep and maintain local historym” he noted.

The Diary Disks are ​“meant to heal,” said the city’s director of cultural affairs, Adriane Jefferson. She said she hopes the Diary Disks will help everyone remember what was gone through and who was lost over the past year-plus of the pandemic and social justice protests.

Ye Qinzhu is a member of the ​“Design Brigade,” a group of Yale students behind the project. He said that when designing the project, the students interviewed many community members, and from their interviews they decided the Diary Disks would be welcome community fixtures. He also said that the Diary Disks were part one of their plan. Part two is to turn a brownfield into an art garden, where the art would reflect and hear the voices of the people in New Haven.