A review of the opening of the Digital Public Library of America | opensource.com

"The aim of the DPLA is to provide a large-scale, national public digital library of America's archives, libraries, museums, and cultural institutions into one portal. Leaders from 42 of America's institutions have contributed to the project, from ARTstor to the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Virginia Library. The idea of a national digital library harks to the early 1990s and the desire to provide a single portal to make cultural and scientific information available to all. It was conceived as a non-commercial alternative to Google's proposed digital library or an American equivalent to the European Union's Europeana digital library.  To date, the DPLA has over 2.4 million records that include books, manuscripts, photos, and videos. Users may browse exhibitions or search by place, date, or subject. They can also explore collections by maps or timeline. They can also discover, download, remix, reuse, share, and build tools too. So far, the response to the DPLA has been enthusiastic. The Open API and open data offered with DPLA enable websites to interact with each other and access the collections smoothly. And, rarities to the public, such as a 1919 home movie of an African-American backyard baseball game, have been made more accessible and available through the DPLA. Parts of the DPLA need much work though ...  At present, the site exists in a beta version. It is still limited, such as with precision and recall for instance ... At present, the site exists in a beta version. It is still limited, such as with precision and recall for instance ...   There are other shortcomings with the DPLA that pose issues too. First, it seems weighted towards scholars and researchers, the humanities, and primary source materials. The US National Library of Medicine, by contrast, was founded in 1836, is the world's largest medical library, and already has more than seven million books, journals, manuscripts, and images in its collection, some of which are already freely accessible and available online. Both the US National LIbrary of Medicine and the DPLA are aimed at adults or older teens. I am unsure whether a child would find DPLA's content or approach as engaging or accessible as a Horrible Histories book or video or playing with MIT's Scratch program. Second, and more thorny, there are accessibility issues for those with disabilities or impairments; the DPLA will hopefully address them soon. Third, it remains to be seen whether the public will embrace DPLA and find it relevant as some hope ... "