The Denver Public Library is set to unveil a social networking website on March 20, which will allow users to upload their own photos and recollections of Colorado's history.

The Creating Your Community website lets residents mix their own materials with nearly 900,000 items in the library's digital archives, establishing online communities around a wide variety of topics related to the state's history.

"Rather than us being the storytellers, we want communities and the public to tell their stories," said Jamie Seemiller, program administrator in the library's Western History and Genealogy Department.

The program grew out of a previous effort, Creating Communities, which focused on the history of seven Denver neighborhoods: Auraria, Barnum, Capitol Hill, Five Points, Park Hill, University Park and West Colfax. During the project, Seemiller said, library officials discovered that some residents wanted to share their materials with the library without donating the originals.

On March 20, the library's digital archives will begin incorporating those materials from the site, creatingcommunities.denverlibrary.org. Library officials are planning a series of free scanning days, beginning at 1 to 4 p.m. April 15, on the fourth floor of the Central Library, 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway.

"We need people's stories about living here," Seemiller said.

The library has partnered with several local organizations, such as the Beck Archives and the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, to begin uploading content and creating communities on the site.

"We think this is an innovative way of using new social media to help people capture their history," said Jeanne Abrams, professor at Penrose Library and the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver.

Read the complete story at YourHub.com.