SACRAMENTO   - Over 18,000 of California’s historic photos and print artifacts are now on one website, accessible to users worldwide. The California State Library, through a program called the Local History Digital Resources Project, is helping people in California libraries learn how to make their collections part of this virtual window on California’s history.   

The California State Library’s Local History Digital Resources Project assists staff in California libraries from Modoc to Calexico to digitize their manuscripts, photographs, and works of art like Marin County Free Library’s postcard of a 1905 Kentfield real estate office. The California State Library pays for library staff members to attend trainings on digitizing artifacts.  It gives libraries access to a cataloging tool.  It provides scanning services for 200 images and it allows $5000 for costs related to the library’s project. 

Because more than 40 public, academic and special libraries have participated in the Project since 1999 anyone, from student to journalist to genealogist to web surfer, can view, save, and print California rarities that libraries normally hold in special collections.

Susan Jones of the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research says, “The experience gained by participating in the Local History Digital Resources Project has proven essential to our efforts in moving forward in this digital direction.” And Anji Brenner of Mill Valley Public Library says, “Our [Mill Valley Public Library] Foundation is using our [digitization] project as a springboard for securing an endowment to assure … funding for digitizing the [library’s] entire collection.”

Library users can access California libraries’ digitized items through a single interface on Calisphere which the University of California’s California Digital Library (CDL) hosts.  CDL collaborates with the California State Library to provide technical assistance to libraries on digitization, and to publish and preserve the digitized collections.  The Calisphere web site is available at: http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/institutions.html.

The Institute of Museum and Libraries Services provides the funds for the Project through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant administered in California by the State Librarian.

For more information about the Local History Digital Resources Project, please contact Ira Bray, Technology Consultant, Library Development Services, California State Library at 916-653-0171 or ibray@library.ca.gov.

About the University of California, California Digital Library

The California Digital Library supports the assembly and creative use of the world's scholarship and knowledge for the University of California libraries and the communities they serve. In addition, the CDL provides tools that support the construction of online information services for research, teaching, and learning, including services that enable the UC libraries to effectively share their materials and provide greater access in digital content.  For more information please visit: http://www.cdlib.org/

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute helps create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. It works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to enhance learning and innovation; sustain heritage, culture and knowledge; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov/.