Digital Concierge Program

In the Spotlight

Governor Edmund G. Brown pictured taking the oath of office from California Supreme Court Justice Phil Gibson at the State Capitol during the 1959 Inauguration. Both men are holding up their right hands and are standing in front of a draped wall.

Governor Pat Brown’s Inaugural Year: Explore our online exhibit of rare images from 1959 documenting events from Edmund Gerald “Pat” Brown’s first year as California’s 32nd governor

Mission

The California State Library’s Digital Concierge Program (DCP) is a content-creation, digitization, and digital preservation center dedicated to preserving and sharing the collections hidden throughout California state government. Digital Concierge collaborates with state departments to identify and showcase the most culturally significant, sought-after or at-risk parts of their collections and records, in addition to the collections held by the California State Library.

What We Do

Consultation: DCP consults with and advises state agencies regarding best practices and standards for the digitization and digital preservation of historical and cultural materials. We can help if:

  • Your agency possesses unique records, photographs, videos, recordings, reports, manuscripts, maps, or other materials of historical and cultural significance.
  • Your agency’s historical records are at risk of damage or loss.
  • Your department would like to create digital copies of these materials but doesn’t know where to start.

Digitization: DCP facilitates digitization projects on behalf of state agency partners, including:

  • Assisting with the identification, selection, and preparation of materials for digitization and online access.
  • Managing digitization, quality assurance, and quality control workflows and processes to ensure the successful completion of digitization projects.
  • Identifying and coordinating with vendors for outsourced digitization work.
  • In-house digitization of selected materials – particularly rare or fragile materials – by trained program staff.
  • Providing public online access to materials digitized through the Digital Concierge Program.

Collaboration: DCP collaborates with state agency partners to highlight their work and share their stories with the public through platforms such as Google Arts & Culture. Contact us if:

  • Your agency has cultural materials that are challenging to find, access, and share.
  • Your department needs help creatively displaying and exhibiting materials online.

For additional information about the role of the Digital Concierge Program, see the California State Library’s Annual Report and the Digital Preservation Strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • Is there a fee for DCP services? There is no charge to state agencies and departments for consultation or collaboration, and DCP has dedicated funding to facilitate selected digitization projects.
  • What types of collections/materials does DCP work with? Our partnerships involve unique materials in a variety of formats that are significant to the history of California and California State government and warrant long-term preservation and access. Such materials contain critical information about places, people, or events in California history, or help document the operation of state government and its decision-making processes.
  • Can DCP help partners prepare items for digitization? We are happy to provide helpful guidance and resources needed to assess, organize, and describe your materials and collections in preparation for a digitization project.
  • What happens to the content that is digitized by DCP? Partner agencies will have all original physical materials returned upon the completion of the digitization project and will receive all resulting digital files (including high-resolution preservation files and lower-resolution access files) for the new digital objects. DCP will retain a copy of the access files to ensure public use and discovery in our online repository. We will also highlight a selection of images via web platforms such as Google Arts & Culture.

Meet the Team

The small but mighty Digital Concierge Program team at the California State Library works to provide digitization support for California State agencies. A collaboration with us can range from consultation on best practices for digitization and digital preservation, to assistance with highlighting digital collections online, to complete oversight and management of digitization projects. Our collaborative efforts can be customized to fit the specific needs of your department or agency to ensure a successful partnership. Contact us any time to ask how we can help!

Kira Dres, Project Manager

Kira has over 15 years of experience preserving and providing access to analog and digital historical collections in libraries and archives. Prior to joining the California State Library, she most recently served as the Managing Archivist of the Collections Management Unit at the California State Archives, where she supervised a team of archivists, document preservation staff, and interns in the accessioning, processing, and preservation of state records in all formats. As the Project Manager for the Digital Concierge Program, Kira is responsible for the overall direction of the program, including program and project management; execution of contracts and partnership agreements; oversight of education and outreach efforts; and planning, directing, and reviewing digitization and digital collections work.

Kira is a Certified Archivist and holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Arts in Public History from California State University, Sacramento, and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Brian Guido, Digital Specialist

Guido brings 15 plus years of experience in consultation and digitizing archives and museum materials to the Digital Concierge Program. At his former position in the California State Archives Imaging Program, Guido helped oversee the transition from film to digital imaging when creating facsimiles of physical materials for public access and preservation. In addition, he has consulted with state organizations to assist with digitization and developing onsite and online exhibits. As a member of the Digital Concierge Program team, Guido provides consultations for internal staff and other state agencies regarding best practices in handling materials for digitization; digitizes materials and creates metadata; oversees quality control of items that are digitized by vendors; prepares digitized materials for inclusion in the State Library’s digital repository; assists with online exhibit development; and ensures up-to-date compliance with current professional standards, guidelines, and best practices regarding the digitization of historical materials.

Contact Us

Email: Digital.Concierge@library.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 603-7156