AI Digital Library
A first for California municipal government
In 2023, the City Council authorized exiting the Calabasas Library memorandum of understanding to pursue a Hidden Hills–specific resident service. The result is the Hidden Hills AI Digital Library, billed as the nation’s first AI-powered municipal library and launching June 2026.
What this is. A free, City-supported resource giving residents access to commercial-grade AI tools (writing, research, learning), digital-literacy programming, and quiet study space. Operated by the City rather than a regional library system. Available to all Hidden Hills residents.
Try the AI Library demo
A preview of the resident-facing search experience. Type a civic question or click an example to see how the embedded assistant returns answers grounded in City documents.
Try one of these
Live, grounded answers. Each question is sent to a Claude-powered API endpoint (stoa.works/api/ask-hh) that reads the City’s 90-record civic corpus and synthesizes an answer with inline citations like 3. The assistant is grounded to City records only; it won’t invent answers. If your question isn’t in the corpus it will tell you so and point you to City staff. Cost in production: roughly $0.015 per query (Claude Sonnet 4.5).
Search every council action since 2020
A working preview of the City’s records search engine. Type a topic, name, or question. The engine ranks the City’s records by semantic relevance, not exact word matches. Click any result to see the source document.
Or try one
Powered by Stoa Civic Search. Real, live search engine. The query in the box above is sent to a Stoa-operated API endpoint (stoa.works/api/search-hh) which indexes 90 Hidden Hills council, ARC, and subcommittee items. The same engine runs in production over 6,720 meeting records from eleven Bay Area cities. With OpenAI embeddings enabled, results are ranked by semantic similarity; otherwise the engine uses a synonym-aware civic-term keyword scorer so the experience stays good either way.
What the AI Library will offer
AI access for residents
Commercial-grade AI tools for writing, research, learning, and creative work. Available free to Hidden Hills residents through a resident-only access portal.
Programming & classes
Adult and youth digital-literacy classes, AI-assisted writing workshops, and quarterly speaker events. Schedule published on the community calendar.
Curated reading list
A small, City-curated collection of high-quality non-fiction in areas the community has flagged as priorities. Local history, equestrian heritage, fire science, civic design.
A place to use it
A small, quiet space at City Hall with wifi, comfortable seating, and printing. Available during regular City Hall hours and by appointment.
A short history
- 2013. Hidden Hills withdraws from the Los Angeles County Library system.
- 2014–2023. Residents access library services through a memorandum of understanding with the City of Calabasas.
- February 2023. City Council adopts Resolution 2023-04, authorizing exit from the Calabasas MOU to pursue a City-operated resident service.
- 2024–2025. Council subcommittee defines scope, evaluates platform partners, secures Council appropriation for a phased launch.
- June 2026 (target). Public launch.
Resident access (coming June 2026). Sign-in opens in late June. Residents will receive a mailed welcome packet with their access credentials. Sign up to be notified.