Library Stuff

The nine-member Board of Directors of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Amy Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library, as its next chair, beginning in July 2015 and effective for two years. Ryan will succeed the current chair, John Palfrey, Head of School at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. “In an ever expanding world of information, the Digital Public Library of America occupies the intersection of how people learn, read, write, teach, access information and come together as a thinking community.” said Amy Ryan. “I am honored to participate in the leadership of the DPLA as we advance in making our cultural and intellectual heritage easily discovered and readily used by people of all ages and from all walks of life.” (via DPLA)

“We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Digital Public Library of America. Launched in April 2013, the DPLA brings together millions of digitized books, artworks, and rare documents from American libraries, archives, and museums. Our collaboration has begun with nearly 100,000 records for digital images and texts from the Getty Research Institute’s Library and Special Collections, which contain a vast trove of rare and unique materials for the study of visual culture. In this work we join 20 other partners including the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian, and our own Los Angeles colleagues the USC Libraries. Via a beautifully designed, easy-to-use search, the DPLA makes available digital resources that would otherwise be findable only through individual institutions’ catalogues and specialized search portals. Results link to the digital items directly through partner institutions’ online catalogues as well as to shared repositories such as the Internet Archive (also a DPLA partner).” (via The Getty Iris)

“The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) announced today that it has received $300,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its Knight News Challenge, an open contest seeking ideas that strengthen the Internet for free expression and innovation. Selected from more than 650 applicants, DPLA’s “Getting it Right on Rights” project will create a simplified and more coherent rights structure for digital items, making access to, and use of, items found in large-scale digital collections like DPLA easier and more straightforward for users.” (via DPLA)

“The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is pleased to announce that it has received an $81,000 grant from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation to explore educational possibilities for its growing collection. The grant will allow DPLA to convene in-person meetings for educators from a wide variety of institutions, including K-12 schools, community colleges, small liberal arts colleges, and research universities, this fall in Boston. The purpose of these meetings will be to define what DPLA and other large­-scale digital collections can do to better adapt their resources to address educational needs at the secondary and college level.” (via Digital Public Library of America)

“This week marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Digital Public Library of America (http://dp.la), a groundbreaking all-digital library that brings together millions of items from America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. In celebration, DPLA is proud to announce the addition of six major new partners and other significant milestones that attest to the tremendous momentum the project has as it enters its second year. The New York Public Library (NYPL) this week expanded access to the full breadth of its digital collections through its partnership with DPLA, a major increase over its initial contribution of 14,000 records at DPLA’s launch. Over 1 million digitized items from throughout the Library’s research holdings are available, significantly increasing DPLA’s offerings by nearly 20%.” (via Digital Public Library of America)