Our mission at DPLA is to maximize access to our shared history, culture, and knowledge. One of the ways we do this is through our ebooks program, which is an important and growing area of our work. Our ebooks work includes our management of Palace Marketplace, the only non-profit digital content marketplace for libraries; Palace Bookshelf, our ever-expanding collection of more than 15,000 open-access ebooks; and DPLA Publications, our collection of free, easy-to-read ebook versions of public documents. 

A $750,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to the Digital Public Library of America will fuel a multi-year effort to connect America’s cultural heritage institutions with Wikipedia, the world’s free online encyclopedia. This grant will offer an opportunity to make millions of cultural treasures from hundreds of American libraries, archives, and museums freely available online, including Renaissance manuscripts from Philadelphia’s Science History Institute; historic photos of the Pacific Northwest from Seattle Public Library; and portraits of 18th-century actors from the University of Illinois.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce the release of January 6th on the Record: The Investigation into the Attack on the U.S. Capitol, a free ebook compendium of materials related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the subsequent hearings held by the House Select Committee investigating the attack. 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.

We are pleased to share that the DPLA Board of Directors elected Felton Thomas, Jr., executive director and CEO of Cleveland Public Library, as its new chair at its annual  meeting last month. His term as chair will extend through June 2025. Thomas will replace Denise Stephens, the Peggy V. Helmerich Dean of University Libraries at the University of Oklahoma, whose term of service has ended after six years, the last three of which she served as board chair. 

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce the release of our latest publication, an ebook version of the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce an $850,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support its effort to advance racial justice in American archives. This funding will enable DPLA to launch a digital equity project to develop community-based partners and increase partner capacity to lead this work. The three-year project will provide support for underrepresented, under-resourced archives and expand DPLA’s capacity for supporting and partnering with diverse archival projects.

Today, we are pleased to share that DPLA has received a new $150,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to further DPLA’s work to advance The Palace Project. This funding will allow us to expand Palace Marketplace, the only not-for-profit ebook and audiobook marketplace, as well as Palace Bookshelf, our collection of more than 11,000 open-access ebooks curated by the DPLA Curation Corps of librarians.

Dear Friends of DPLA, We are looking forward to being back at ALA Annual in just a couple of short weeks, and hope to see many of you in person for the first time in far too long. We are pleased to share that there will be several opportunities to gather with DPLA colleagues and […]

Last summer, we shared the news that we and our partners at LYRASIS were launching The Palace Project, a transformational library-centered platform for the delivery of digital content, made possible by a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment by the Knight Foundation. Today, we are pleased to announce that The Palace Project platform and app have launched, and more than 100 libraries already are using Palace.

Last week, the DPLA community gathered to explore two topics critical to our mission of advancing equitable access to knowledge for all.  On Monday, April 11, at our quarterly Open Board + Community Meeting, Kelvin Watson, DPLA board member and executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, moderated a conversation with two librarians […]

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce that more than 85,000 titles from Penguin Random House (PRH) and PRH distribution partners are now available in Palace Marketplace (formerly DPLA Exchange), the only not-for-profit library e-content marketplace. Palace Marketplace now offers more than 1 million ebooks and audiobooks from more than 1,000 publishers, […]

DPLA board member Felton Thomas, President and CEO of Cleveland Public Library, reflects on our latest Open Board and Community Meeting.

serve content from any vendor to their patrons. The Palace Project is now seeking five public and five state libraries to take part in a two-year pilot program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

As 2021 draws to a close, all of us at DPLA wish to extend our gratitude for all of your efforts to advance our work this year. As we look back on the progress we’ve made in 2021, we know none of it would be possible without the talent and dedication of our community. We […]

Earlier this week, DPLA hosted Addressing Health Misinformation Through Community, a conversation with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy and Knight Foundation. The gathering brought together a set of library, civic, and philanthropic leaders to discuss practical ways to counter health misinformation.  The scourge of misinformation is not an abstract issue, it is an urgent […]

We are pleased to invite you to join Digital Public Library of America and Knight Foundation on November 9 at 2 pm ET for a virtual discussion on health misinformation with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) today welcomes four library and civic leaders to our board of directors: Joshua Frazier-Sparks, Director of Culture, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Walmart; Joseph Lucia, Dean of Libraries at Temple University; Marcia Walker-McWilliams, Executive Director of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium and Kelvin Watson, Executive Director of Las Vegas-Clark County Library District

DPLA is pleased to welcome the NJ/DE Digital Collective as DPLA’s newest service hub. The NJ/DE Digital Collective is a collaboration launched by the New Jersey State Library (NJSL) and Delaware Division of Libraries (DDL) that serves libraries and cultural heritage institutions throughout New Jersey and Delaware. More than 20 organizations are currently contributing to DPLA through the NJ/DE Digital Collective including NJSL, DDL, Rutgers University, the University of Delaware, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University.

Access to knowledge for all Americans is at the core of what we do at the Digital Public Library of America. As the nation continues to reckon with the Covid-19 pandemic, we recognize that the spread of health misinformation is a national crisis. In response, we are proud to join with the U.S. Surgeon General in working to combat health misinformation in America’s communities.

Last week, we partnered with Knight Foundation to host a gathering of more than 100 of our library colleagues from across the country, to discuss how libraries can contribute to solving one of the most pressing issues facing our field—securing equitable internet access for everyone. We heard from a panel of library leaders about the ways in which libraries are building access in their communities, the available resources to fund this work, and the essential role libraries must play if we are to succeed in creating a path toward digital access and literacy for all Americans.