This is a presentation I created about the Digital Public Library of America. DPLA is a virtual library that seeks to preserve and share our nation's cultural heritage. Besides offering digitized books, the DPLA is a great resource for manuscripts, pamphlets and other objects that are physically located in libraries and museums across the nation. What a great way to introduce students to primary documents they would otherwise never get to see!

1. Brigitte Smith
Spring 2016
LM 520

2. The Digital Public Library of America
is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization.
It is registered as a library in the
state of Massachusetts.
DPLA is a Library
A photo of the Boston Public Library, 1896. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library via Digital Commonwealth.

3. For most of American history, the ability to
access materials for free through public
libraries has been a central part of our
culture, producing generations of avid
readers and a knowledgeable, engaged
citizenry.
DPLA is free
WorksProgressAdministrationposter,"Informationatyourpubliclibrary:anAmericanprivilege."Courtesyof
theNorthCarolinaDepartmentofCulturalResourcesviaNorthCarolinaDigitalHeritageCenter.

4. DPLA offers
educational
services
Part of the mission of the DPLA is
to offer resources that educators
can use in the classroom.
FirstStepsinAmericanization;AHandbookforTeachers,1918.CourtesyofHathiTrust.

5. The Digital Public Library of America
uses social media to engage with
its users and partners, to promote
and build community around its
collections, and to share information.
DPLA
seeks
to engage.
Children checking out books at the Rockingham County Library bookmobile, 1955. Courtesy of the North Carolina
Department of Cultural Resources via North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

6. The Digital Public Library of America is different.
But DPLA is NOT an ordinary library….
ACarnegieLibrary,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,1902-1903.CourtesyofThe
NewYorkPublicLibrary.

7. This is the Digital Public Library of America….

8. “ It extends what the
Library does and changes it
for today’s world ! ”
Ginnie Cooper, Chief Librarian of District of Columbia
Public Library and DPLA Convener.

9. The Digital Public Library of America is an online portal to more than 2.5 million
resources physically held at libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions

10. These resources have been digitized and can now be accessed by
anyone with internet.

11. “Kids today use Google when they are
looking for information, and if its not
on Google, it doesn’t exist. Instead of
fighting this, let’s make it happen.
Let’s make it available online!”
David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States

12. DPLA contributes to several efforts to increase access to online books, including Open eBooks,
an initiative aimed at putting thousands of ebooks into the hands of school children.

13. “We view this initiative as a
critical next step in DPLA’s
overall mission to maximize
access to our shared culture.”
Dan Cohen, Executive Director of DPLA

14. DPLA is searchable
Anyone can search the Digital Public Library of America from the search bar on the Home Page:
http://dp.la/

15. A search from the Home page takes one to a results page that looks very much like that of
many other databases and online catalogs.

16. This is a wonderful image I found when I
searched for “The Scarlet Letter”.
It is a publicity photo for a theater production
starring Jean Lander in the role of Hester
Prynne, with a child actress in the role of Pearl.

17. There is a “Subject” link in the black bar at the bottom of the page that allows you to also
browse by subject headings.

18. Changing to the “Bookshelf” mode gives the user an experience closer
to browsing the shelves of a physical library.

19. Visual representations
The hight and width of the
book icons symbolize the actual
size and number of pages in
the physical books.
The publication date is also
shown on the icon.

20. Changing to the Map mode gives the user the ability to choose records by
location.

21. Choose a Location
Click on an orange circle to
see all records (or those
that meet your search
parameters) that contain
the name of that state in
the bibliographic information.

22. Searching in the Timeline mode gives the user the ability to choose
records related to a specific time period.

23. Great idea, but….
I can imagine using this mode of searching for
records about a specific time period in history,
including the many, many oral histories
that can be found through DPLA. There is a
wonderful sound recording of an interview with a
woman who grew up during the Depression years .
However, it was created in 1984 and is only
discoverable on the timeline in that year, not by
looking at the year 1929 or the decade of the 1930s.

24. Click on the Exhibitions tab to explore thirty collections on subjects as diverse as
“Race to the Moon” and “Quack Cures and Self-Remedies: Patent Medicine”.

25. You’ll find primary documents like letters and pamphlets & pictures of “ephimeral” - the kinds of
things you would see behind glass at a real exhibit--from an actual space suit to a toy rocketship.
This Patrol Ship spaceship toy from 1934 was merchandise for Buck Rogers, the popular space-based adventure series. Courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

26. The items in these collections are physically housed at libraries and museums
across the country but come together in the virtual exhibit at DPLA.
CourtesyoftheUniversityofNorthCarolinaatGreensboro

27. Click on the Education tab and then select “Primary Sets” for sixty
more collections assembled with teachers and students in mind.

28. The Primary Source
Set for The Crucible
contains a map
from 1692 and several
17th Century
documents,
as well as documents
from the Anti-
American Hearings that
inspired Miller to write
his novel.

29. Each Primary Source Set
includes a
Teaching Guide
that includes Discussion
questions and a variety of
activities.

30. Look under “Additional Tools” to find these Worksheets to help students
understand primary documents.

31. This is an example of a
worksheet students can use
to help them analyze a
political cartoon they might
use in a History unity.
Studying Primary documents
can promote Higher Order
Thinking Skills.
https://www.archives.
gov/education/lessons/worksheets/cartoon_analysis_worksheet.pdf