“If that moment was the Digital Public Library of America’s conception, then today is its birth, with the launch of DP.LA, the effort’s online home. I asked executive director Dan Cohen about what the DPLA had become in those intervening 20 months, and how he saw its role in American public life going forward. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.”
Not only is this week the official launch of the DPLA, but it’s also National Library Week! In celebration, HistoryPin will be featuring an image from the DPLA’s channel as it’s Pin of the Day.
The Digital Public Library of America will launch at noon ET on April 18, 2013.
![[April 18] DPLA Launch Meet Up in Cambridge, MA](http://blogs.harvard.edu/dplaalpha/files/2012/12/6771226677_13c5444b2e_b-1-150x150.jpg "[April 18] DPLA Launch Meet Up in Cambridge, MA")
For those of you in the Boston area, the DPLA staff will be in Cambridge tomorrow afternoon (April 18, 2013) to meet with those who would like to chat about the new DPLA site, which goes live tomorrow.
The DPLA is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members to its Board of Directors and the creation of new committees.
From all of us at the Digital Public Library of America, our hearts go out to those affected by the terrible events in Boston on Monday.
The Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is joining with the DPLA to provide online access to thousands of historical materials archived at Illinois.
“WASHINGTON: A new “digital public library” set to launch this month aims to provide an alternative to Google for those looking for American cultural information online. Visitors will be able to view, for example, letters penned by George Washington, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson, and ambrotype and daguerreotype images of Abraham Lincoln.”
“Soon, people across the country will have access to a multitude of historic photos taken around central Virginia.The Digital Public Library of America launches next week and the University of Virginia is contributing the Holsinger Studio Collection to it. The collection is a photographic record of life in Charlottesville and Albemarle County from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”
“I’m very excited about the Digital Public Library of America, which launches April 18. It promises much, and at launch date it will bring in the best open access and digitized materials.”
