A Free Comprehensive Digital Library Packed Full of Resources for Teachers

July 15, 2014
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an all-digital library that aggregates metadata — or information describing an item — and thumbnails for more than 7 million photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the ​united ​states.The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world.



DPLA is much more than a search engine, it is a  portal that provides innovative ways to search and scan through the united collection of millions of items, including by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, format, subject, and partnerThe Digital Public Library of America also enables new and transformative uses of our digitized cultural heritage through the use of an application programming interface (API) and maximally open data.

 Software developers, researchers, and others can use API to create novel environments for learning, tools for discovery, and engaging apps. One example of a great app that developers have created using API is called FindDPLA. This allows you to to see DPLA's related text and images for any Wikipedia article. FindDPLA is an easy-to-install tool that pulls up relevant content from the DPLA any time you view a Wikipedia article.

Watch the video below to learn more about The Digital Public Library of America.