Press: Digital Public Library of America Launches April 18

“I’m very excited about the Digital Public Library of America, which launches April 18. It promises much, and at launch date it will bring in the best open access and digitized materials.”

“Here’s what the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) hopes to do at launch:

In its first iteration, the DPLA will combine a group of rich, interesting digital collections, from state and regional digital archives to the special collections of major university libraries and federal holdings. The DPLA will demonstrate how powerful and exciting it can be to bring together our nation’s digitized materials, metadata (including catalog records, for instance), code, and digital tools and services into an open, shared resource.

[....]

The platform will serve as the central nexus for a group of “hubs.” These hubs are nationwide organizations that provide essential services and content for the DPLA. Presenting a geographically and historically diverse look at our nation’s archives, the seven initial service hubs span the United States: the Mountain West Digital Library (Utah, Nevada, and Arizona), Digital Commonwealth (Massachusetts), Digital Library of Georgia, Kentucky Digital Library, Minnesota Digital Library, South Carolina Digital Library, and Oregon Digital Library. Each of these organizations assists an even greater number of local and regional libraries, museums, and archives with digitization efforts, creating a broad network of contributors and a vast range of content that users can access.

(Read the rest at their site, dp.la)”

“On April 18, I plan to check out some of the archives and materials the DPLA offers. As open access digital libraries become a reality, here’s what I’d like to see:

• DRM-free ebooks — a range of them, not just academic or archival works
• Quick access to cutting-edge research and academic publications for non-academics
• Archives of art, music and other cultural artifacts — stuff that has yet be rediscovered
• Local public library access for patrons doing research”

“I’m sure there’s a lot more to expect from the DPLA, and I hope to see more in the coming weeks.”

“When I was a graduate student, access to digital archives was still a difficult process. Even though digital tools were available, there were few central locations to access them. But as sites like the DPLA come on board, I hope that access is no longer an issue.”

From Kevin Eagan’s article for Critical Margins, Digital Public Library of America Launches April 18