Stanford University Libraries
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Astrid Smith
Production Coordinator / Rare Book & Special Collections Digitization Specialist, Library Technology
Current Role at StanfordMy name is Astrid Smith and I am the Rare Book and Special Collections Digitization Specialist with Stanford University Libraries’ Digital Production Group (DPG). I create high quality images of such things as the rare “gems of the collection” books, and various materials from our library’s archives. In this role, I manage a steady flow of digitization requests from faculty, staff, and other branch libraries, as part of our mission to support teaching and scholarly research. In addition to one-off requests and small projects, I also image a certain percentage of materials from larger projects, typically the fragile outliers that require specialized handling and custom setup, which I scope out while helping with project estimates. I also help to produce the images needed for exhibits, such as the “Monuments of Printing Exhibits,” including examples from Gutenberg through the book arts revival, and "Scripting the Sacred," featuring secular and sacred medieval texts. Coming from a fine art background with an emphasis in bookarts, painting and drawing, and printmaking, I am thrilled to work with such a beautiful and culturally significant selection of materials on a daily basis.
Part of our departmental agenda is to make Special Collections and other Stanford University branch library materials accessible online for use by the greater community, with digitization projects of all sizes. We strive to balance curator needs and wants with our departmental capacity and resources, and continually work to refine our process. It is important to us that the physical aesthetics of the object are honored as much as possible, while keeping in mind various project purposes -- for example, images that are needed for object character recognition of the text versus those intended for exhibition enlargements, meant to showcase special items. We work closely with curators, conservators, library staff and stakeholders in an effort to successfully meet all these needs. -
Ralf-Martin Soe
2023 Global Digital Governance Fellow, Library Technology
BioRalf is an Assistant Professor of Smart City Studies at Tallinn University of Technology and Founding Director of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities (www.finestcentre.eu). In 2023, he is also a Global Digital Governance Fellow at Stanford University, co-hosted by Freeman-Spogli Institute's Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance and Stanford Libraries' Estonian and Baltic Studies.
His previous positions include being a Development Manager at the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications, an ICT Counsellor to the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology in Estonia, a Supervisory Board Member at the Estonian Internet Foundation and a Government Fellow at the United Nations University’s e-Government Unit (Portugal). During 2009-2013, he was a Financial and Digitalization Consultant working with the UK Embassy, PwC, Praxis and United Nations University (Netherlands). From 2006-2009, he was an Investigative Journalist at the Business Daily Äripäev and was selected as the Best Young Journalist in Estonia by the Estonian Newspaper Association in 2008, after several nominations.
Ralf has a Bachelor degree in Psychology (Tallinn University), two Master’s degrees (MSc in Public Policy and Human Development, Maastricht University / United Nations University MERIT (Netherlands), and MBA in Financial Management, University of Tartu) and has a PhD degree in Technology Governance from the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance at TalTech.
He has been selected as the Best Junior Researcher of the Year 2019 in TalTech and as the Most Influential Person of the Year 2019 in Estonia by the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
See academic CV: www.etis.ee/CV/Ralf-Martin_Soe/eng
See a mid-report on Stanford's network of smart cities: https://finestcentre.eu/media-and-events/news/inside-stanfords-network-of-smart-cities-movement -
Edward Hugh Summers
Digital Library Software Developer, Library Technology
Current Role at StanfordSoftware Developer on the Infrastructure Team in the Stanford University Library. I develop and maintain data management services for Stanford University Library. I am a full stack developer and specialize in designing and implementing API service layers.
