UC Libraries Become Hub for Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world online. An online library into the United States’ historical and cultural heritage, DPLA aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more.

The UC Libraries have recently joined the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) as a Content Hub. In our role as a DPLA Content Hub, the California Digital Library will be sharing metadata records from Calisphere, a website containing approximately 250,000 digital primary source objects contributed by libraries, archives, and museums across the state of California– including unique content from across the UC Libraries. Because of the increased exposure, the UC Libraries’ digital resources will have a broader, nationwide audience that will be able to find and discover unique collections maintained across the UC Libraries.

Browse and search DPLA’s collections by timeline, physical location via a map, a virtual bookshelf, and faceted search. You can also save and share customized lists of items; explore digital exhibitions; and interact with DPLA-powered apps in the app library. Never has our cultural heritage been so easy to explore!