Electronic resources: Digital Public Library of America Launched

Digital Public Library of America was launched in April, 2013.

Starting with over two million items, each with its own special story and significance, the Digital Public Library of America will now begin to assemble the riches of our country’s libraries, archives, and museums, and connect them with the public.

There will be three key elements to the DPLA, according its executive director Dan Cohen:

- First, an easy-to-use portal where anyone can access America’s collections and search through them using novel and powerful techniques, including by place and time.

- Second, a sophisticated technical platform that will make those millions of items available in ways so that others can build creative and transformative applications upon them, such as smartphone apps that magically reveal the history around you.

- Third, along with like-minded institutions and individuals the DPLA will seek innovative means to make more cultural and scientific content openly available, and it will advocate for a strong public option for reading and research in the twenty-first century.