PurposeThis paper examines how bonded design (BD), a participatory design methodology, was influenced by the transition to working in a virtual environment necessitated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachAbiding by the participatory design tenets of creativity, learning-by-doing and mutual learning, the BD methodology was created for the specific purpose of fostering meaningful communication and interaction between two disparate groups. Previous iterations of BD are discussed, including its naissance with intergenerational teams, its adaptation to provide a framework for a university-wide initiative, the Faculty Information Technology (IT) Liaison Program that brought together faculty members and IT professional staff, and its current use in helping public librarians to develop with older adults, targeted library programming and services.FindingsAnalysis of the findings from the assessment of the BD methodology in different physical contexts demonstrates that the flexibility in the makeup and order of design techniques (discussion, evaluation, brainstorming, prototyping, consensus-building) makes BD potentially adaptable to online spaces. Recommendations for implementing the BD methodology online are outlined. It is argued that BD’s adaptability makes it an ideal method for creating meaningful and productive collaborations within both physical and virtual environments.Originality/valueThe proposed iteration of the BD methodology responds to a need for innovative practices to foster collaborative work in a virtual environment. BD is a unique, inclusive and cost-effective methodology to encourage meaningful interaction and communication between disparate groups in physical or online contexts.

This article bridges the fields of Catholic history, Women's history, and American religious history to propose a new perspective for studying the development of the American Catholic Church, termed by me as the consolidation controversies. Previous historians have focused on the development of the local parishes and the dioceses, focusing on the power conflicts between the lay trustees and the local bishops that accompanied this institutional growth. However, an often‐forgotten aspect of Catholic history is the simultaneous rise of religious congregations and orders. As these communities developed, their leaders clashed with the local bishops over questions of property and authority over members of the communities. Often at the centre of these power struggles were the women religious. Rather than allowing themselves to be manipulated, women religioudemonstrated their own autonomy, navigating larger institutional politics. Should these women fail, they faced losing their place in the diocese as well as their position and vocation as women religious.

The history of the West Las Vegas Library and its inception by the welfare rights group Operation Life, and the organization’s founder Ruby Duncan, has largely been unstudied and overlooked in the historical record. The library was considered a branch of the Clark County Library System but was initially run by Operation Life in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the mid-1980s the Clark County Library System built a new library, dismantling all the work done by Operation Life and Duncan. An examination of the West Las Vegas Library places Duncan and Operation Life as social actors within a community that had been forgotten by the dominant White culture. By analyzing this history, this work adds to a vibrant conversation on the history of race, poverty, and libraries.