California Listens

The California State Library empowers the people of the nation's most diverse and populous state by supporting local library branches with funding  and support designed to enrich the lives of current and future generations. The Library’s work is motivated by fairness, honesty, respect, and the value of each person and their contributions– it helps to ensure that libraries across the state can connect patrons to the information and resources they need.

From 2016 to the present, StoryCenter worked in partnership with the California State Library, to document the true stories of people who call the state home. We traveled to 60 libraries, supporting local community members in creating some 500 digital stories, and conducting more than 100 interviews. As part of our efforts, we developed a unique new tool for oral history capture, editing, and management, the Listening Station Kit. The stories capture countless significant personal and historic moments, revealing the depth and breadth of California’s diversity.

The work of California Listens has been permanently archived by California Revealed, at archive.org/details/storycenter. In 2017, we completed a short documentary about the project, which can give you a great sense of our activities in the digital storytelling workshop model, and how libraries found use of the project for their community engagement and programming efforts. Visit the California Listens website, to view stories and learn more about the project.