Contribute to History at the Belmont Library

After seeing success at the Half Moon Bay and Pacifica libraries, the statewide “California of the Past Digital Storytelling Project” has recently touched down at the Belmont Library.

The purpose of the project, which began two years ago in San Mateo County, is for local residents to share their stories on camera, and each story will be archived and serve as teaching tools, as well as history lessons, for future generations.

They also allow current generations to get a feel of how their communities came about, and the California State Library has expanded its efforts to make the technology available at numerous libraries across the state.

“People are videotaped talking about a three or four minute story from their life that is really special, that is emblematic and that ties in with the local history in some way, shape, or form,” said Kathleen Beasley, director of the Belmont Library.

So far, the technology has been in place at Belmont Library since April, and Beasley said she is hoping to receive as many stories as possible, considering they will only lay claim to the technology for a year.

Belmont has since achieved 10 oral history stories, including a few on the development of the library, and will look to complete 26 more in the time remaining.

“We scrambled to get histories from some of the people who were involved in the building of the Belmont Library,” Beasley said of one particular completed project. “So we got some of the stories and put it all together, and on the fifth anniversary of the library, we had about a half an hour show where we spliced all the stories together. It was sort of the story of how the Belmont Library came together.”

Stories that have been shot at the library so far include everything from bird-watching in Belmont to the art history of the local community, and, according to Beasley, the chief concern of the state is to create a California history dependent on its residents.

“It’s a joint effort of local historians and the State Library to gather the stories of the community members,” Beasley said. “That’s important because that’s what makes municipalities; community members and their stories that really create a viable community.”

In addition, Beasley has extra incentive to make the project a success in Belmont, considering some issues regarding library space.

A large majority of the local history collection at the Belmont Library was given to the Belmont Historical Society in order to make way for computers, which are used and needed by kids, teenagers and adults in the community.

But with the digital storytelling project, Beasley is confident that a new form of history can be created and will be just as beneficial.

“I think libraries are still a place where you want that local history and the way to do it in the computer age is this way, with the digital stories,” Beasley said. “Digitally, we have the space for all kinds of local history. We don’t have the space for the paper anymore…but we do have the space for the digital history.”

She believes she project will have a lasting mark.

“I think it’s going to be really powerful,” Beasley said.