The DPLA Board of Directors will hold an open call on Monday, June 15 at 3:00 PM Eastern. Agenda and dial-in information can be found below. This call is open to the public.​

In this post, Anna Neatrour describes one of her typical days as the Mountain West Digital Library metadata librarian aggregating data on a regional level and as a Service Hub with DPLA.

Earlier this month it was announced the President Barack Obama’s Presidential Library will be built on the south side of Chicago. It will be our 14th Presidential Library. The idea originated with FDR who in his second term “on the advice of noted historians and scholars, established a public repository to preserve the evidence of the Presidency for future generations” Then in 1955, Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, establishing a system of privately erected and federally maintained libraries. Here’s a sampling of images from the Digital Public Library of America related to our presidents and their libraries.

It’s been just about a month now since the conclusion of the second annual DPLAfest in Indianapolis, where about 300 people gathered to discuss the current and future state of digital collections and digital publishing. Those in attendance included librarians, archivists, publishers, authors, developers, and other interested members of the community. My own participation at the conference was generously made possible by a DPLA + DLF Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant, which allowed me share with and learn from DPLA community during the two-day event.

This guest post was written by Benjamin Armintor, Programmer/Analyst at Columbia University Libraries and a 2015 DPLA + DLF Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant awardee.

We are excited to announce that DPLA is officially on Pinterest! Check out some of our favorite images from the DPLA collection that are available to share, with some fun themed boards—whether you are a fashion fiend, a nature lover, a bookworm, or anything in-between, there’s something new for you to discover. Make sure to follow DPLA’s account so you don’t miss any of the other exciting content to come. Then, like it, pin it, share it, and be inspired by it!

While the United States was in the midst of the Civil War, the country was also making one of its greatest breakthroughs in transportation—the Transcontinental Railroad. From the railroad’s war-weary beginnings, to the last Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah on May 10, 1869, the railroad’s development forever changed American travel and communication. It also had long-reaching and irrevocable impacts on the lives of Native Americans and Chinese immigrant laborers, who bore the brunt of the treacherous tunneling and track-laying across the country. Our newest exhibition “Building the Transcontinental Railroad” explores the railroad’s construction and its impact on American culture and westward expansion.

Hot on the heels of the massively successful second DPLAfest, we’re looking for the next great site to host next year’s interactive, productive, and exciting event. DPLAfest is an annual event that brings together hundreds of people to celebrate the Digital Public Library of America, our many partners across the country, and our large and growing community of practitioners and members of the public who contribute to, and benefit from, DPLA.

This guest post was written by Laura Wrubel, a 2015 DPLA + DLF Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant awardee. These grants provided active DLF community contributors with funding to participate in DPLAfest 2015 in Indianapolis this past April. In this post, Laura recounts her experiences at the fest.

Washington, DC—Today President Obama announced a major new program, with the Digital Public Library of America as a core partner, that will provide children from across the country with greater access to thousands of ebooks. The initiative will include ebooks from DPLA’s extensive collection of openly available content as well as contemporary titles from publishers, which are being generously donated as part of the effort and available for free to students from low-income families. The publisher commitments include $250 million in ebook donations. DPLA’s national network of librarians will help coordinate books for inclusion in the program, and to connect to children and libraries across America.

Our newest exhibition, “Torn in Two: Mapping the American Civil War,” tells the story of the American Civil War both nationally and locally in Boston, Massachusetts, through maps, documents, letters, and other primary sources.

Happy National Poetry Month! Here’s a taste of just some of the poetry goodness that lives within the confines of the Digital Public Library of America. From the postcard featuring an excerpt from a poem by Alex Caldero proclaiming ‘Poetry is wanted here!’, to a sampling a of dust jackets, to a lunch poem from second graders, poetry is alive and well at DPLA.

DPLAfest 2015 was one for the history books! Bringing together more than 300 people from across the country (and world!), this year’s DPLAfest was two-days worth of excellent conversations, workshops, networking, hacking, and more. Missed the action, or just looking for a one-stop summary of the event? Look no further — this post contains all media, outputs, and other materials associated with the second annual DPLAfest in Indianapolis.

New York is home to nine library and research councils that comprise the NY3Rs Association, Inc. (NY3Rs). While it occupies its own dark blue circle in the image above, Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), home to our Service Hub, is one of the nine regional councils that make up the NY3Rs. In addition to myriad digital content hosted at individual organizations statewide (the small gray circles in the diagram), New York is also home to four large-scale collaborative digital projects. These projects are all supported and facilitated by the NY3Rs regional councils.

On the second anniversary of the Digital Public Library of America’s launch, DPLA announced a number of new partnerships, initiatives, and milestones that highlight its rapid growth, and prepare it to have an even larger impact in the years ahead. At DPLAfest 2015 in Indianapolis, hundreds of people from DPLA’s expanding community gathered to discuss DPLA’s present and future.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), Stanford University, and the DuraSpace organization are pleased to announce that their joint initiative has been awarded a $2M National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Nicknamed Hydra-in-a-Box, the project aims foster a new, national, library network through a community-based repository system, enabling discovery, interoperability and reuse of digital resources by people from this country and around the world.

There’s lots to do in the Indianapolis area during DPLAfest. Here is just a sampling of some of the excellent options.

As World War I raged in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and Northern Africa in the spring of 1918 to early 1919, a fierce enemy landed on American shores in the form of the influenza virus. The outbreak would decimate entire regiments and towns, kill civilians and soldiers alike by the millions, and rapidly turn into a global pandemic. No aspect of life remained untouched for Americans at home or on the front. Our newest exhibition, “America during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic,” explores the pandemic’s impact on American life and the legacy that would forever alter our understanding of epidemiology.

The DPLA Technical Advisory Committee will lead an open committee call on Wednesday, April 8 at 2:00 PM Eastern. To register, complete the short registration form available here.

The DPLAFest schedule is packed with interesting sessions–everything from Ebooks, to project management, to digitization, and education, has a space in the lineup. A set of those programs is related to the DPLA Hubs and the work that they do. In addition to showcasing the incredible work being done by institutions that are part of the DPLA Hub network, it’s a great way for attendees from aspiring Hubs to find out more about the application process. Here are some Hub Highlights from this year’s fest: