DPLA Launch Press Roundup: Tech Publications

By Vicky Zeamer, April 25, 2013.
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The Digital Public Library of America: adding gravitas to your Internet search

“The founders of the DPLA made good on their promise this week. The organization launched a website on Thursday that allows users to browse more than two million archived books, images, records, and sounds. The content comes from the libraries of institutions like Harvard University, the Internet Archive, and the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Public Libraries. The DPLA also makes an API available to anyone who wants to add access to this treasure trove to a third party application.”

From Megan Guess’ article for Ars Technica, The Digital Public Library of America: adding gravitas to your Internet search

The Massive Digital Library of the Future Just Opened Its ‘Doors’

“The DPLA is still very much a beta, and as it adds more partner institutions and builds out its technology the potential for the utopian project is huge. But beyond the impressive use of technology, we should note that this work is important. Information portals like the DP.LA will be an essential public service as people increasingly consume images and text digitally and online. Godspeed.”

From Mario Aguilar’s article for Gizmodo, The Massive Digital Library of the Future Just Opened Its ‘Doors’

How the Digital Public Library of America hopes to build a real public commons

“Unlike Google Books, the DPLA doesn’t hoover up institutions’ documents to be stored on its own servers. Its primary goal is to support coordinate scanning efforts by each of its partner institutions, and to act as a central search engine and metadata repository. Most of these libraries and museums have been slowly scanning and cataloguing their collections for years; the DPLA helps make those materials aggregatable and interoperable. At least initially, it’s not nearly as focused on printed books as Google has been, but rather gathers an eclectic mix of texts, photos, data, and art, especially rare documents. It also provides a sophisticated frontend portal for discovery and research.”

From Tim Carmody’s article for The Verge, How the Digital Public Library of America hopes to build a real public commons

Digital library launches without Boston celebration

“An event planned for today to launch the new Digital Public Library of America has been postponed, due to the bombings in Boston earlier this week. But the ambitious online archive will go live as planned.To see some of the 2.4 million archival materials going online today, you once would have had to go to a special collections room at a research library and don a pair of white cotton gloves.”

From Amy Scott’s radio spot on American Public Media, Digital library launches without Boston celebration

Digital Public Library of America Opens Access to Resources

“With so many resources at their fingertips, researchers have a treasure trove of rich data to fuel their projects. They can find maps, diaries and photographs from a specific place and build learning objects around them. And geneaology researchers can track down newspaper clippings, archival records and diaries across states much more quickly.”

From Tonya Roscorla’s article for Government Technology, Digital Public Library of America Opens Access to Resources

Digital Public Library of America’s online doors open for business today

“”The project unleashes access to a volume and variety of historical and cultural assets through a dynamic, digitized information platform,” said Jorge Martinez, vice president and chief technology officer at Knight Foundation. “It offers an invaluable opportunity to reanimate this information and further strengthen the roles of libraries as centers for engagement-bringing communities together, fostering deeper understanding and connecting people with traditional culture – by leveraging the power of new technology.”

From Joseph Volpe’s article for Engadget, Digital Public Library of America’s online doors open for business today 

Digital Public Library Of America Beta Web Portal Launched

“The portal is in beta mode right now but it does offer users access to apps that have been created using DPLA’s API, and various tools that can be used to search for items visually.”

From Adnan Farooqui’s article for Ubergizmo, Digital Public Library Of America Beta Web Portal Launched

Digital Public Library of America moves to gather public documents into one database

“But the advantage of a national online library is its ability to offer primary sources on historical topics, including manuscripts, images, and audio. In that sense, it’s similar to the Library of Congress, but with links to smaller, disparate institutions instead of its own massive collection.”

From Jared Newman’s  article for TechHive, Digital Public Library of America moves to gather public documents into one database

Digital Public Library of America Offers a Wealth of Historical Photos

“In addition to making this content available, the DPLA has also worked hard to make it extremely searchable and user-friendly. You can browse their already massive archive by location, by date and, of course, by exhibition. They even made sure that the website plays nice with smartphones and tablets.”

From DL Cade’s article for PetaPixel, Digital Public Library of America Offers a Wealth of Historical Photos

The Digital Public Library of America Opens its Doors

“The complexity and difficulty of such an undertaking should not be underestimated, as our feature article “The Library of Utopia” by Nicholas Carr, published almost exactly a year ago, explains. The effort has been beset by legal, technical, and logistical difficulties from the outset. The biggest of all was the onerous nature of U.S. copyright law—an obstacle that, together with legal wrangling with publishers, torpedoed Google’s original Book Search project.”

From Will Knight’s article for MIT Technology Review, The Digital Public Library of America Opens its Doors