For the first time in the history of the Games, the stories of individuals and communities in the host country are being captured in a unique community archive project to reflect the impact on the UK of hosting the 2012 games. It is the first time a host country has created such a comprehensive record, which aims to inform, entertain and inspire future generations. The participation of Loughborough University Library in the People’s Record is particularly relevant in view of the University’s internationally recognised sporting profile and tradition.
At the end of September 2008, the Library trained and co-ordinated a number of the University’s students as they spent a week collecting postcard responses to three Olympics-related questions. These were:
• PAST: What do you remember about past Olympic and Paralympic Games?
• PRESENT: How do you feel about the celebrations for the Handover from the Beijing Games and the Launch of the Cultural Olympiad?
• FUTURE: What effect on your life (you, your community, the UK) do you feel the London 2012 Games will have?
The aim was to capture the 'Olympic' mood of the University's students and staff, as well as the wider local community. The students did a fantastic job and over a thousand postcard responses were collected. Selected responses to the first question will be displayed on the BBC's Memoryshare website.

More recently, the Library has continued its involvement with the People’s Record. On Sunday 14th June the Library helped Loughborough University celebrate its centenary by organising and staffing an exhibition stand entitled ‘Peoples Record: capturing the Olympic mood’. The stand showcased photographs of Loughborough’s Beijing Olympians on the one side and transcribed memories from the original postcard activity on the other. A laptop on the desk had the Memoryshare website running throughout the event. People were again given an opportunity to record their memories of past and future Olympic Games as well as entering an Olympics-related competition. The sunshine brought the local community flooding in with an estimate of well over 6000 visitors and the stand attracted lots of people, with many happy to enter the competition and record their memories. The Library is now awaiting the launch of Phase 2 of the project.