We are once again pleased to team up with libraries, archives, and museums across the country and around the world for #ColorOurCollections week, a celebration of public domain reuse and proudly coloring in your free time, taking place February 5 through February 9, 2018.

There shouldn’t have to be special days to reflect upon the importance of women in our society, but today’s “A Day Without a Woman” presents a good opportunity to highlight just how critical women have been and are to our organization, our community, and the broader public we serve together.

2016 was another exciting and busy year at the Digital Public Library of America, with extensive growth of our national network, the launch of an important projects to standardize rights statements, provide greater access to ebooks, curate our materials for education, and improve the technical systems our community relies upon.

On July 1, 2016, the Digital Public Library of America had several transitions on its Board of Directors. Two of our original board members rotated off the board at the end of their second terms, and two new board members joined in their stead. We wish to salute the critical roles that Paul Courant and Laura DeBonis played in our young organization, and give a warm welcome to Denise Stephens and Mary Minow as we continue to mature.

Two weeks ago we were thrilled to join The New York Public Library, First Book, and Baker & Taylor in announcing the launch of Open eBooks, an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children from low-income households. You may be wondering: what was DPLA’s role in all of this?

Join the adult coloring craze and put your colorful spin on these illustrations from our collection.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is very pleased to announce the release of its second group of Primary Source Sets about topics in US history, literature, and culture, along with new features for navigating our growing project.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is very pleased to announce the release of its first group of Primary Source Sets about topics in US history, literature, and culture. These sets were developed and reviewed by a new Education Advisory Committee for use by students and teachers in grades 6-12 and higher education. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to additional resources, and a teaching guide. This project was generously funded by the Whiting Foundation.

Over the past fifteen months, representatives from the Europeana and DPLA networks, in partnership with Creative Commons, have been developing a collaborative approach to internationally interoperable rights statements that can be used to communicate the copyright status of cultural objects published via the DPLA and Europeana platforms.

Sunday night there wasn’t a cloud in the sky in Boston, and so we were fortunate to get a clear view of the rare supermoon eclipse. I took a telescope out to the backyard with my kids and we worked to line up the equipment, and then we chatted about astronomy, optics, and physics, umbras and penumbras. A moment of science? Yes, but ultimately much more.

The Digital Public Library of America is looking for excellent educators for its new Education Advisory Committee. We recently announced a new grant from the Whiting Foundation that funds the creation of new primary source-based education resources for student use with teacher guidance. We are currently recruiting a small group of enthusiastic humanities educators in grades 6-14 to collaborate with us on this project.

Over the past twelve months representatives from Europeana, the DPLA and Creative Commons have been exploring the possibilities for a collaborative approach to rights statements that can be used to communicate the copyright status of cultural objects published via our platforms. This work is close to the heart of both Europeana and the DPLA as we both seek to share clear and accurate information about copyright status with users.

In my social media feeds yesterday, I saw some friends and acquaintances say that they were reconsidering their attendance at DPLAfest, scheduled to be held in Indianapolis, IN, April 17-18, in light of the recent signing of SEA 101, or the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” into law by Governor Pence of Indiana. I must admit that as an openly gay employee at DPLA, I had an immediate and strong negative reaction. I was unhappy about my organization spending money in a place that would allow businesses not to serve me simply because I am gay. However, after more thought and a night of sleep, I have come to a different conclusion. The passing of this law should make us all want to attend DPLAfest even more than we might have before.

Looking back, 2013 was characterized by a start-up mode: hiring staff, getting the site and infrastructure live, and bringing on a first slate of states and collection. 2014 was a year in which we juggled so much: many new hubs, partners, and content, lining up additional future contributors, and beginning to restructure our technology behind the scenes to prepare for an even more expansive collection and network. Beginning this year, and with the release of our strategic plan for the next three years, we will show how DPLA is hitting its stride. We encourage you to read the plan to see what’s in store, but also to know that it will require your help and support; so much in the plan is community-driven, and will be done with that same emphasis on widespread and productive collaboration.

University of Washington MLIS graduate Greg Bem writes about his experience developing a new exhibit for DPLA—”From Colonialism to Tourism: Maps in American Culture”—as part of the Digital Curation Program. The new exhibit is now available on dp.la/exhibitions.

It’s hard to believe that a year has already gone by since our launch last April. It’s been a whirlwind here in the Boston headquarters of DPLA, and across DPLA’s ever-expanding national network of libraries, archives, museums, and cultural heritage sites. The surging numbers in our collection—6.7 million items from over 1300 contributing institutions, up from 2.4 million and 500 a year ago—attest to the tremendous momentum we’ve achieved.

We got such a terrific response to our first call for applications for the DPLA Community Reps program that we’ve decided to do it again! Today, we’ve opened applications for a second class of Reps that will close April 30.

As our current users know, the depth of the riches in the DPLA sees no bounds. So, today we’re launching http://digitalpubliclibraryofamerica.tumblr.com/ to bring these riches to new audiences on tumblr.

Although we’re a digital project, we obviously consist of human beings with a distinctly non-virtual existence, and we are very lucky to have a daily presence in the first municipal public library in America, the Boston Public Library.

We are so pleased to announce our first class of DPLA Community Reps–volunteers who engage their local communities by leading DPLA outreach activities. We received an overwhelming response to our call for applicants and were able to admit 100 people into the the first class.