Digital scholarship initiatives and movements for library and other archival holdings to reflect diverse voices have created new pathways for community collaboration, restorative narratives, and the leadership of individuals and groups represented.  At Western Michigan University, public programming highlighting digital storytelling and community-driven archives has led to a successful collaboration between a librarian and anthropologist.   This presentation discusses how a request for guidance to store time-based media led to a partnership that safeguards and disseminates invaluable cultural heritage materials and created a new service area in the libraries using digital library technology to support community partners.

The Detroit Muslim Storytelling Project is a community based participatory research initiative documenting Black Muslim Leadership in Detroit, Michigan historically and today. The project is based on a partnership between Dream of Detroit, a Muslim-led non-profit neighborhood revitalization organization and Western Michigan University.  From WMU, Alisa Perkins serves as project manager for The Detroit Muslim Storytelling Project, and Amy Bocko has worked with her to create a permanent public archive housing oral history interview components of the project. This inter-generational and community-led research has received significant grant funding to continue and expand its work.

Join Bocko and Perkins to learn more about how their partnership has led to a larger initiative in the WMU Libraries to amplify the voices of outsider communities, and how their efforts to put the power of narrative and ownership into community-driven archives has resulted in productive digital storytelling partnerships bridging divides between the campus and wider communities.