Library of Congress to become ‘content hub partner’ with the Digital Public Library of America
The
first batch of records will include 5,000 items from three major Library of
Congress maps collections
Washington,
DC – November 29, 2016
— The Library of Congress today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with the Digital Public Library of America to become a “content hub partner”
and will ultimately share a significant portion of its rich digital resources
with DPLA’s database of digital content records.
The
first batch of records will include 5,000 items from three major Library of
Congress maps collections—the Revolutionary
War, Civil War
and panoramic maps collections.
“We
are pleased to make the Digital Public Library of America a new door through
which the public can access the digital riches of the Library of Congress,”
said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We will be sharing some beautiful,
one-of-a-kind historic maps that I think people will really love. They are
available online and I hope even more people discover them through DPLA.”
“We
couldn’t be more thrilled to collaborate closely with the Library of Congress,
to work with them on the important mission of maximizing access to our nation’s
shared cultural heritage,” said DPLA’s Executive Director Dan Cohen, “and we
deeply appreciate not only the Library’s incredible collections, but also the
great efforts of the Librarian and her staff.”
The
Digital Public Library of America is a portal—effectively, a searchable
catalog—that aggregates existing digitized content from major sources such as
libraries, archives, museums and cultural institutions. It provides users with
links back to the original content-provider site where the material can be
viewed, read or, in some cases, downloaded.
The
Digital Public Library of America, the product of a widely shared vision of a
national digital library dating back to the 1990s, was launched with a planning
process bringing together 40 leaders from libraries, foundations, academia and
technology projects in October, 2010 followed by an intense community planning
effort that culminated in 2013. Its aim was to supersede the silo effect many
digitization efforts were subject to. Based in Boston, the board of directors
includes leading public and research librarians, technologists, intellectual
property scholars, and business experts from across the nation. Its goal is to
create “an open, distributed network of comprehensive online resources that
would draw on the nation’s living heritage from libraries, universities,
archives, and museums in order to educate, inform, and empower everyone in
current and future generations.”
The
Library of Congress expects to add a significant portion of its digital items
to the original trio of collections over time, covering other collections such
as photos, maps and sheet music.
Library
of Congress items already appear in the DPLA database. Earlier in this decade,
the Library digitized more than 100,000 books in its collections as part of its
membership in the Hathi Trust and the Biodiversity Heritage Library, both
current partners with the DPLA. As a result, those books are already in the
DPLA’s collections through those partners.
The Digital Public
Library of America strives to contain the full breadth
of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to
records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. Since
launching in April 2013, it has aggregated more than 14 million items from more
than 2,000 institutions. The DPLA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit.
The
Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative
record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both
on site and online. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress
and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference
services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the
official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register
creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
Source | http://www.talkingnewmedia.com/
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
No comments:
Post a Comment