The Beginnings
In Spring 2013 a survey was sent to organizations in Indiana that were known to already be creating digital collections related to Indiana history. Responding were libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. The overwhelming feedback indicates that Indiana cultural heritage institutions are highly interested in continuing to talk about a Digital Public Library of America Service Hub in Indiana.
What is DPLA?
The Digital Public Library of America is a national digital library made of digital cultural heritage content from across the United States. One of DPLA’s functions is to aggregate digital content created by libraries, museums, historical societies, etc. into a single, searchable, browsable, freely available online interface. DPLA’s content is a result of the contributions of DPLA Digital Hubs. These Hubs come in two forms: Content and Service. Content Hubs are entities that have agreed to contribute content to DPLA. Service Hubs are entities that have agreed to contribute content but have also agreed to take on service responsibilities including:
- Representing their community (state, region, etc.) as the metadata aggregation point for the DPLA, and having the community buy-in to do so;
- Actively addressing issues of metadata quality;
- Providing outreach to their metadata providers, including working in partnership with the DPLA to educate partner institutions on open data, data quality, data consistency, data standards, rights, and other relevant subjects;
- Maintaining technology or technologies (such as OAI-PMH, Resource Sync, etc.) that allow for metadata to be shared with the DPLA on a regular, consistent basis; and
- Actively engaging with the broader community of data creators, providers, and users.
Presently all DPLA Service Hubs are geographically based and Indiana is developing strategies to join the ranks of DPLA Service Hubs such as: Kentucky Digital Library, Digital Library of Georgia, and Mountain West Digital Library.
Visit: www.DPLAIND.wordpress.com to find out what's next, follow the DPLA IND blog, and sign up to be a part of making DPLA in Indiana a reality.