KEENE VALLEY — “OurStoryBridge: Connecting the Past and the Present,” released at www.ourstorybridge.org on Sept. 29 as an outreach of the Keene Valley Library, has received national interest beyond the original expectations of its creators.

Based on this interest, OurStoryBridge organizers hope to help New York state libraries and other organizations use this model to create their own audio story projects in 2021.

In all, 450 librarians from across the country recently attended sessions introducing OurStoryBridge. Jery Y. Huntley gave presentations to the annual meeting of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, Tech-Talk (a national resource for librarians, library staff, and patrons to upgrade their technology and communication skills), and the Northern New York Library Network. Librarians across the state expressed interest in creating their own community story projects using the recently released materials.

“We want to hear from interested libraries and other organizations in New York state,” Huntley said in a press release. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the reaction to the release of OurStoryBridge would be so overwhelming. Across the country, librarians have been thanking the Keene Valley Library for their work and are planning their story projects on our model.”

OurStoryBridge, a free resource and tool kit for producing a crowdsourced, community story project, is now available. Emphasizing audio history collecting and sharing, the website is designed to help libraries and other organizations create their own story projects using “Adirondack Community: Capturing, Retaining and Communicating the Stories of Who We Are” as a model. Huntley is the volunteer manager for both projects.

Over the past month, more than 260 people have viewed the new tool kit and 68 have downloaded the “OurStoryBridge User Guide,” which serves as an instructional reference as organizations consider launching OurStoryBridge projects for their communities.

Driven by the ongoing success of Adirondack community (www.myadirondackstory.org), the audio story project launched by the Keene Valley Library, OurStoryBridge brings into focus all the moving parts needed to make community story projects successful. Additionally, one-on-one assistance to communities considering or starting an OurStoryBridge project using the website’s tools will be provided at no cost.

For more information on Adirondack Community and OurStoryBridge, email createyourstoryproject@gmail.com or call 410-353-6372.