Last week, DPLA held our inaugural new year kickoff meeting. Over 100 people joined us to begin what promises to be a significant year for all of our work.  Our goal was to review the progress we made in 2024, and to invite people to be part of launching the next phase of our work […]

A Year-End Note from the Staff of DPLA Here at DPLA, we are capping off an eventful 2024 and looking forward to an even more momentous year to come. We’re reflecting on all we’ve accomplished this year. Here are some highlights: Turning the page on ‘24, writing our new chapter in ‘25 Look for a […]

This is a guest post by Ben Lee, Assistant Professor, University of Washington Information School. In the context of public libraries, artificial intelligence (AI) has elicited a wide spectrum of responses. On the one hand, it brings excitement surrounding new possibilities for public programming, collection development, and staff usage. On the other hand, it elicits […]

DPLA honored for its partnership with the Indiana State Library Today — October 4, 2024 — was declared by Indianapolis mayor Joseph H. Hogsett to be “Wikipedia Day,” recognizing Wikipedia as the most well-read reference work in the world. DPLA is honored to be mentioned in the mayor’s proclamation. Through DPLA’s partnership with the Indiana […]

Readers across the country can now access banned books for free via the Palace app Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and our partners at Lyrasis have made over 1,300 titles that have been removed from schools and libraries available to all Americans for free through The Banned Book Club, available on the Palace app […]

This is a guest post authored by DPLA Curation Corps Team Leader, Georgia Westbrook. Librarians and other information professionals are key to keeping the doors to knowledge – both in person and on the internet – open for all. That’s why DPLA created the Curation Corps, a group of 12 former and current librarians and […]

Digital Public Library of America and Independent Publishers Group have partnered to rewrite the future of providing ebooks to benefit libraries, authors and readers alike Chicago, August 13, 2024 – The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and Independent Publishers Group (IPG) have announced a groundbreaking agreement that will transform how American libraries provide access […]

DPLA is in San Diego this week for the 2024 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition. Here is where you can find us.

DPLA will be at the ALA Annual Conference in San Diego later this month and we hope to see you there.

DPLA’s Metadata Working Group is proud to announce Practical Approaches for Reparative Description, a workshop series designed for people working with cultural heritage data looking to deepen their understanding and practice of reparative description. Reparative description focuses on remediating or contextualizing potentially outdated or harmful language used in descriptive practices, ensuring accuracy and inclusivity (definition derived from Yale’s Reparative Archival Description).

Please join us for the first IndieLib Forum, an exciting new event that will bring together libraries and independent publishers. In recent months, DPLA has been working closely with the Independent Publishers Caucus to explore ways that libraries and independent publishers can work together for mutual benefit.  To further this work, we will co-host IndieLib […]

Last week, the Outreach and Assessment and Metadata Working Groups presented “Introduction to OpenRefine,” a well-attended webinar led by Helen Baer, Digital Projects Librarian at Colorado State University. We are grateful to Helen for giving tips on how to get started with OpenRefine, a powerful metadata cleaning tool that can transform your DPLA metadata workflows, and for demonstrating many of the software’s most useful and relevant functions in an accessible manner.

Did you know that DPLA provides free access to more than 49 million cultural heritage artifacts from 6,000 organizations across the country? Check out how our free resources can benefit students, teachers, researchers, history buffs, genealogists, and more. Reach out to us at info@dp.la to share this infographic with your school or library.

It has been a busy fall at DPLA, with a variety of informative events organized by our working groups. And it is not over yet: On November 16, at 1p ET, the Metadata Working Group will host a Network Coffee Chat to talk about their work to create the Metadata Best Practices Report, based on conversations and information from organizations across the DPLA Network. You can register for that conversation here.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of Chicago Library to expand The Banned Book Club. We launched The Banned Book Club in July 2023 to ensure that every reader in communities where books have been banned can access ebook versions of banned titles for free via the Palace app. This new collaboration between DPLA and the University of Chicago Library will expand access to The Banned Book Club to all readers in Chicago and the state of Illinois and underscores our shared commitment to ensuring intellectual freedom for all.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched The Banned Book Club to ensure that all readers have access to the books they want to read. The Banned Book Club makes e-book versions of banned books available to readers in locations across the United States where titles have been banned. The e-books will be available to readers for free via the Palace e-reader app.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce the release of End of Affirmative Action: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, a free, easy-to-read ebook version of the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action decision. At DPLA, we believe that open and convenient access to information is an essential service core to the role libraries have played in democratic societies for generations. Part of our commitment to maintaining access to information for all is the publication of free, easy-to-read ebook versions of important government documents.

Late last month, we had the pleasure of working with Knight Foundation to bring together 50 library leaders from across the country. Our conversations focused on how libraries are meeting the needs of this moment in our history and the evolving and essential role libraries play in our communities and our nation at large. We will extend this conversation at our Open Board + Community Meeting on April 10, 2023, at 2p ET; this meeting is open to all and we invite you to join us. In the meantime, we asked several of our colleagues to share their reflections on and takeaways from last month’s gathering with us:

A single point of access to the riches of America’s cultural heritage stewarded by libraries, archives, and museums across the nation. Ten years ago, that was the audacious founding vision of DPLA. To more fully realize that vision, DPLA has pioneered a program that connects our nation’s cultural heritage to Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. Late last month, DPLA presented more about this work at ALA’s inaugural LibLearn X in New Orleans. 

Digital Public Library of America is pleased to announce the launch of a new independent author catalog in Palace Marketplace. Palace Marketplace now offers more than 1.2 million ebooks and audiobooks from all of the “Big 5” publishers, Amazon Publishing, Audible, hundreds of mid-sized and independent publishers, and independent authors. The addition of these new titles will help libraries expand access to diverse content at reasonable licensing terms while supporting independent authors.