Events and Webinars
DPLA webinars are online learning opportunities highlighting subjects central to our community, such as education, metadata, technology, copyright, and more. These events are open to the public (registration required) and will be recorded unless otherwise noted. Questions? Email us.
Upcoming Events and Webinars
DPLA Coffee Chat: Recollection Wisconsin Funding Success
Thursday, September 28, at 1p ET
Join us for an enlightening lunch event as we discuss the successful collaboration between DPLA Service Hub member Recollection Wisconsin and EveryLibrary in their recent legislative advocacy efforts. Discover how these two organizations strategically united their efforts to advocate for and secure crucial state funding. We’ll discuss tactics, successes, and opportunities for improvement, and where Recollection Wisconsin hopes to go next with this foundational funding source.
Collaborating for Access: Librarians and Independent Publishers
Thursday, October 5, at 2p ET
What do librarians REALLY want from publishers, and how can smaller and independent publishers create a better ecosystem? In our sixth Collaborating for Access webinar, COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst are partnering with the Independent Publisher Caucus to bring together librarians and smaller and independent publishers to explore how they can work together to provide greater access for patrons. Topics will include: Opportunities for independent publishers in the library market; licensing options that are most attractive to libraries; and ways that libraries and independent publishers can work together to mutual benefit.
Speakers will include:
Mallori Bontrager, Independent Publishers Group
Sandra Breedlove, Sonoma County Library
Agustina Casal, Ingram Content Group
Pamela M. Graham, Columbia University Libraries
Micah May, Palace Marketplace
Carmi Parker, Whatcom County Library System
Lisa Sallee, Ocean State Libraries
Michael Reynolds, Europa Editions
Moderated by Claire Kelley, Seven Stories Press
DPLA Open Board + Community Meeting
Monday, October 16, at 2p ET
The next Open Board + Community meeting, which will include an update on our strategic visioning process, will be held on Monday, October 16, at 2p ET.
DPLA Coffee Chat: Curating Digital Content
Thursday, October 19, at 1p ET
DPLA Digital Curation Task Force representatives will share their work to create guideline documentation for digital curation with content from the DPLA Hubs. Along with the guidelines, we’ll cover tactics, challenges, successes, and examples of digital curation work within our hubs and within the larger work of cultural heritage institutions. Come share your work in this area with us!
Helpful resources for this meeting include our digital curation guidelines and our digital curation matrix.
DPLA Coffee Chat: A Wikimedia Case Study: Columbus Metropolitan Library and Ohio Digital Network
Wednesday, October 25, at 1p ET
In this DPLA Network Coffee Chat, representatives from the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), Ohio Digital Network, and DPLA will discuss their recent collaboration to share over 350,000 images from CML’s digital collections to Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia in July. In the first two months, these images received over 3 million page views in Wikimedia’s sites. The project relied upon Ohio Digital Network aggregation and Digital Public Library of America’s pipeline to Wikimedia Commons and was initiated after an inquiry from an interested member of the library’s community. This is a new, developing project, and we’ll discuss how it has unfolded from inception to final execution, to give others a sense of what participation in DPLA’s Wikimedia project is like.
In the second hour, attendees are invited to stay for an optional guided group editing session with Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, DPLA’s Data & Partnerships Strategist, to add images, captions, and depicts statements to Wikipedia. In this interactive workshop, you’ll be exposed to Wikipedia editing skills in a relaxed setting (no experience necessary!) while contributing to the impact of CML’s project!
Teaching and Learning with DPLA Resources
Thursday, October 26, at 1p ET
Are you “hungry” for resources that will inspire rich discussion in your classes? Join the DPLA Outreach & Assessment Working Group and Joanna to explore the Primary Source Sets from DPLA, including this example – “Feeding the Hungry with Food Stamp Programs.” In this session, we’ll chat about the structure of the existing Primary Source Sets and use framing questions to see what might be missing. Joanna will provide an OER Commons template for you to curate additional resources and provide feedback on what else could enrich these sets. Bring your appetite because we’ll be providing a lot to consume.
Joanna Schimizzi is a Biology teacher in North Carolina and a Professional Learning Specialist with ISKME. While getting her Master’s in Education from Northeastern University, she became extremely interested in classroom culture and student identity. This led her to work with ISKME and OER Commons to support educators in finding Open Educational Resources (OER) so that resources can be modified and remixed to include a wider variety of perspectives and experiences. Joanna is mom to two boys and lives with her husband in a little town outside of Charlotte, NC.
DPLA Coffee Chat: Metadata Best Practices Report
Thursday, November 16, 1p ET
In 2022-2023, the Metadata Working Group analyzed metadata guidelines and best practices across hubs, summarizing them in the Metadata Best Practices Report. The Report included a list of recommendations, which was then distributed to the hubs network for their input to help inform the direction of our future work. Please join us to discuss the Report and how we might use the findings to improve metadata practices across DPLA hubs.
Join our mailing list for announcements of future learning opportunities
Member Webinars / Education / GIF-Making / Genealogy / Rights Statements / API
Past Events and Webinars
Introducing the Banned Book Club
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
On Tuesday, August 8, 2023, we held the first in a series of events around the launch of The Banned Book Club. We talked about the development of the project and its roots in our mission of free access to knowledge; heard more about the most frequently targeted content from our colleagues at PEN America and EveryLibrary and from librarians about how projects like this can be utilized to ensure readers can access the books they want to read.
Book Talk: Recoding America, with author Jennifer Pahlka in conversation with Lilian Coral
Monday, July 24, 2023
On July 24, 2023, we hosted author Jennifer Pahlka to talk about her important new book, Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Pahlka will be joined by Lilian Coral, Senior Director of the Open Technology Institute (OTI) and Head of Technology and Democracy Programs at New America.
Book Talk: Burning the Books, with author Richard Ovenden
Monday, June 5, 2023
On June 5, 2023, we hosted a book talk with author Richard Ovenden, director of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, about his book, Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge. Ovenden was joined by former DPLA board member, film producer, journalist, and Plympton co-founder Jennifer 8. Lee.
Collaborating for Access: Digital Success Stories
February 7, 2023
With libraries across the country striving to deliver robust and cost-effective digital content offerings to patrons, the fifth in our series of Collaborating for Access webinars, presented with COSLA and ReadersFirst, looked at digital access success stories. We’ll hear short presentations from a variety of our colleagues who have found innovative ways to increase access for patrons, followed by a Q&A session moderated by Michael Blackwell of ReadersFirst.
Speakers will include:
Lila Bailey, Internet Archive
Brad Bullis, Connecticut State Library
Maria Bustillos, Popula
Anne Fonteneau, Blackstone Publishing
Jamie Joyce, Internet Archive
Amy Mikel, Brooklyn Public Library
Miriam Tuliao & Georgia Westbrook, DPLA Curation Corps
Palace 101: An Introduction to The Palace Project
In January 2023, The Palace Project team and librarians using the platform presented a webinar on The Palace Project app: what it is, how it works, and how librarians across the country are using it to increase access for patrons and maximize their acquisition budgets. The recording includes a walk-through of the patron-facing app; the unique licensing models and content available in Palace Marketplace; the free open-access Palace Bookshelf collection; as well as implementation, hosting, and real-world examples from Palace libraries about how they are using and marketing Palace to their communities.
The Palace Project app and platform is a new way for libraries to purchase, manage, and deliver e-content to readers. Funded by a $5 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Palace Project is a division of Lyrasis working in strategic partnership with Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Find out more at thepalaceproject.org.
Speakers:
Migell Acosta, Library Director, San Diego County Library
Michele Kimpton, Global Senior Director, The Palace Project
Micah May, Director of Ebook Services, DPLA
Stephen Spohn, Executive Director, Ocean State Libraries
DPLA’s ebook work is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
DPLA Open Board + Community Meeting: Leveraging the Power of Wikimedia
January 9, 2023
At our first Open Board + Community meeting of 2023, we talked about the recently announced growth of our Wikimedia work, and heard from representatives from Wikimedia and the DPLA community about the vast potential of Wikimedia and Wikipedia to dramatically increase the visibility and use of library collections.
Speakers included:
John Bracken, Executive Director, DPLA
Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, Data Fellow, DPLA
Michael Della Bitta, Director of Technology, DPLA
Leigh Jeremias, Digital Collections Coordinator, Colorado Virtual Library and Plains to Peaks Collective
Ben Vershbow, Director, Community Programs, Wikimedia Foundation
Shaneé Yvette Willis, Director of Community Engagement, DPLA
Curated Digital Content: Tools for Teaching
November 1, 2022
The Outreach and Accessibility Working Group of DPLA presented “Curated Digital Content: Tools for Teaching.” Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) Metadata Librarian Greta Bahnemann presented an overview of digital content resources that she has developed for MDL, including the Primary Source Set program (modeled after DPLA’s Primary Source Sets) and the exhibit “History Day Resources” which provides teachers, students, and parents with information about the National History Day program. She also highlighted DPLA resources that are relevant to digital content research and shared ideas on how educators and students can find, save, and share content for projects in the classroom.
As Metadata Librarian for the Minnesota Digital Library, Greta’s work encompasses both metadata initiatives and projects that enhance the user experience. She is currently the co-lead on MDL’s Traditional Knowledge Label project. Previously, Greta served on the DPLA Metadata Working Group (2018-2022) and was both a co-chair and instructor with the Summer Educational Institute program. Prior to working with the Minnesota Digital Library, she was Curator at the Knight Visual Resources Center at Cornell University. She holds an undergraduate degree in history and art history from the University of Minnesota, Morris, an M.A. from the Winterthur Program in American Culture, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
A recording is available here.
DPLA Book Talk: Brown Neon, with author Raquel Gutiérrez and Lou Cornum
October 18, 2022
On October 18, 2022, DPLA welcomed author Raquel Gutiérrez for a conversation with Lou Cornum about Gutiérrez’s debut essay collection, Brown Neon.
Part butch memoir, part ekphrastic travel diary, part queer family tree, Raquel Gutiérrez’s debut essay collection Brown Neon gleans insight from the sediment of land and relationships. For Gutiérrez, terrain is essential to understanding that no story, no matter how personal, is separate from the space where it unfolds. Whether contemplating the value of adobe as both vernacular architecture and commodified art object, highlighting the feminist wounding and transphobic apparitions haunting the multi-generational lesbian social fabric, or recalling a failed romance, Gutiérrez traverses complex questions of gender, class, identity, and citizenship with curiosity and nuance.
DPLA Member Meet Up: Digital Readiness Toolkit, hosted by Recollection Wisconsin
September 29, 2022
This DPLA Member Meet Up, hosted by Recollection Wisconsin, introduce our community to Recollection Wisconsin’s recently released Digital Readiness Toolkit. This set of tools, guidelines, examples, templates, and other resources is a complete guide to tending a digital collection, designed specifically for the needs of small cultural heritage institutions. Representatives from Recollection Wisconsin walked us through the toolkit, shared some examples and insights about how it can be used and shared, and answered questions.
Collaborating for Access: The Outlook for Library Ebook Legislation, presented by COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst
September 27, 2022
In the fourth in our Collaborating for Access series of webinars hosted by COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst, we looked at the recent push for ebook legislation, and what it could mean for patron access to digital content.
Speakers:
Kyle Courtney, Copyright Advisor, Harvard University and Co-founder and Board Chair, Library Futures
Alan Inouye, Senior Director, Public Policy and Government Relations, ALA
Briana McNamee, Director of Government Relations and Advocacy, New York Library Association
Irene Padilla, Maryland State Librarian
Moderated by Michael Blackwell, ReadersFirst
DPLA + the MIT Press Book Talk: Buy Now: How Amazon Branded Convenience and Normalized Monopoly with author Emily West
September 14, 2022
In the third of our Book Talks with the MIT Press, we hosted author Emily West in conversation with Cindy Aden, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Information School at the University of Washington. They discussed West’s book Buy Now, which explores how Amazon combined branding and relationship marketing with massive distribution infrastructure to become the ultimate service brand in the digital economy.
DPLA Digital Equity Project Information Session
July 19, 2022
DPLA is beginning a three-year Digital Equity Project, which will become the basis for how DPLA approaches support of community archival projects in the future and will have the potential to broadly inform practices throughout the field.
Over the next three years, DPLA, thanks to support from the Mellon Foundation, will invest in community-based and community-serving partners to increase their capacity to lead high-impact projects that advance racial justice in their work. DPLA will provide grants for underrepresented, under-resourced archives and create network-building opportunities to ensure these organizations can become equal participants in sharing historic collections.
The Digital Equity Project will support 7-8 community archival projects through 1) providing subgrants for Digital Capacity Building Projects; and 2) forming a Community of Practice through which DPLA and the collective of subgrant recipients will build relationships, share knowledge, develop solutions to common problems, and grow our collective capacity.
At The Digital Equity Project: Advancing Racial Justice in American Archives Project Information Session, we shared the early-stage plans for this work.
DPLA + the MIT Press Book Talk: Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work, with author Ruchika Tulshyan
July 13, 2022
In the second of our series of Book Talks with the MIT Press, moderator Jenny 8. Lee will talk with author Ruchika Tulshyan about her transformational approach to organizational inclusion.
Few would disagree that inclusion is both the right thing to do and good for business. Then why are we so terrible at it? If we believe in the morality and the profitability of including people of diverse and underestimated backgrounds in the workplace, why don’t we do it? Because, explains Ruchika Tulshyan in this eye-opening book, we don’t realize that inclusion takes awareness, intention, and regular practice. Inclusion doesn’t just happen; we have to work at it. Tulshyan presents inclusion best practices, showing how leaders and organizations can meaningfully promote inclusion and diversity.
Tulshyan centers the workplace experience of women of color, who are subject to both gender and racial bias. It is at the intersection of gender and race, she shows, that we discover the kind of inclusion policies that benefit all. Tulshyan debunks the idea of the “level playing field” and explains how leaders and organizations can use their privilege for good by identifying and exposing bias, knowing that they typically have less to lose in speaking up than a woman of color does. She explains why “leaning in” doesn’t work—and dismantling structural bias does; warns against hiring for “culture fit,” arguing for “culture add” instead; and emphasizes the importance of psychological safety in the workplace—you need to know that your organization has your back. With this important book, Tulshyan shows us how we can make progress toward inclusion and diversity—and we must start now.
DPLA Member Meet-Up: DPLA Metadata Quality Guidelines Revisited
June 29, 2022
At this DPLA Member Meet Up, the DPLA Metadata Working Group (MWG) discussed our most recent project, an updated version of the DPLA metadata quality guidelines and whether the Network and DPLA staff believe the MWG charge meets their expectations and addresses future DPLA plans. We also talked about potential future projects.
DPLA + The MIT Press Book Talk: The Digital Closet: How the Internet Became Straight with Alexander Monea
DPLA and The MIT Press kicked off our new series of Book Talks with The Digital Closet: How the Internet Became Straight with Alexander Monea.
In The Digital Closet, Monea argues provocatively that the internet became straight by suppressing everything that is not, forcing LGBTQIA+ content into increasingly narrow channels—rendering it invisible through opaque algorithms, automated and human content moderation, warped keywords, and other strategies of digital overreach. Monea explains how the United States’ thirty-year “war on porn” has brought about the over-regulation of sexual content, which, in turn, has resulted in the censorship of much nonpornographic content—including material on sex education and LGBTQ+ activism. In this wide-ranging, enlightening account, Monea examines the cultural, technological, and political conditions that put LGBTQ+ content into the closet.
Monea looks at the anti-porn activism of the alt-right, Christian conservatives, and anti-porn feminists, who became strange bedfellows in the politics of pornography; investigates the coders, code, and moderators whose work serves to reify heteronormativity; and explores the collateral damage in the ongoing war on porn—the censorship of LGBTQ+ community resources, sex education materials, art, literature, and other content that engages with sexuality but would rarely be categorized as pornography by today’s community standards. Finally, he examines the internet architectures responsible for the heteronormalization of porn: Google Safe Search and the data structures of tube sites and other porn platforms.
Monea reveals the porn industry’s deepest, darkest secret: porn is boring. Mainstream porn is stuck in a heteronormative filter bubble, limited to the same heteronormative tropes, tagged by the same heteronormative keywords. This heteronormativity is mirrored by the algorithms meant to filter pornographic content, increasingly filtering out all LGBTQIA+ content. Everyone suffers from this forced heteronormativity of the internet—suffering, Monea suggests, that could be alleviated by queering straightness and introducing feminism to dissipate the misogyny.
This book talk was moderated by Angel Ysaguirre, executive director of the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago.
Collaborating for Access: Book Challenges in a Digital World
June 7, 2022
In this third in our Collaborating for Access series of webinars hosted by COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst, we looked at what the current political environment of increased book challenges means for digital content. What opportunities are available for libraries to use digital materials to maintain access, and in what ways are digital content and the libraries providing it open to unique attacks across the political spectrum? A panel of librarians and thought leaders discussed the ramifications of challenges in the digital world and look at potential solutions digital access may provide.
Speakers included:
Kathleen Riegelhaupt, Director, eReading, The New York Public Library
Christian Shroll, Director, Bracken County Public Library (KY)
Mary Soucie, North Dakota State Librarian
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director, Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association
Moderated by Michael Blackwell, ReadersFirst
Researching Genealogy with DPLA Resources, Part 2
May 25, 2022
The Outreach and Accessibility Working Group of DPLA was excited to present part two to April 2021’s Genealogy webinar. Our working group reviewed the most asked questions about records and searching in DPLA and Allison Ryall provided a diverse range of examples using available primary source sets found in DPLA. Attendees became familiar with the various DPLA resources that are relevant to genealogy research and gained insight into genealogical search strategies.
Allison Ryall is the Genealogy Specialist for the Orange County Library System (OCLS) and an instructor in Boston University’s Genealogical Research Program. In addition, Allison works with a variety of law enforcement agencies assisting them in solving cold case violent crimes using genetic genealogy. Previously, Allison worked with the National Genealogical Society as their Advertising and Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer and served as a grader for the National Genealogical Society’s Home Study Course. Allison also served as the conference tri-chair, program chair, and Ancestors Road Show Chair for the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and as the conference chair for the Association for Professional Genealogist’s annual conference. Prior to pursuing her passion for genealogy, Allison was a media executive and has extensive experience in the areas of research, media relations, program management, and marketing. She holds degrees in U.S. History and Russian Studies and a master’s degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine.
Collaborating for Access: Creating More Inclusive Ebooks
April 12, 2022
In this second in our Collaborating for Access series of webinars hosted by COSLA, DPLA, and ReadersFirst, we’ll bring together a variety of experts and thought leaders to discuss the potential to bring easy, enjoyable reading experiences to all through the development of more inclusive ebook design. What might a truly inclusive ebook look like, and how can we all work together to bring forth a future of reading that is truly accessible to everyone?
Jason Broughton, National Library Service Director, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
Darren DeFrain, Ph.D., Co-creator, Vizling App and Wichita State University
Reginé Gilbert, User Experience Designer and Author, Inclusive Design for a Digital World
Aaron Rodriguez, Co-creator, Vizling App and Ph.D. student, Florida State University
Moderated by Michael Blackwell of ReadersFirst
Please note that technical difficulties have prevented us from sharing a recording of this webinar.
DPLA Member Brown Bag
Escaping Our Fishbowl: A Case Study on Expanding Participation by the Connecticut Digital Archive
February 10, 2022
The Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA) is the DPLA Service Hub for Connecticut. Recently we conducted a self-examination of the CTDA and an analysis of its peers in the Hub network to discover where we inadvertently limited our value to typically underrepresented groups. Our research findings tended to confirm our anecdotal ideas about how the Hubs in general and the CTDA in particular interacted with and served current and potential participants. From our analysis we came up with a four-point program for change in ourselves, some parts of which may surprise you. In this brown bag we presented our research findings and began a discussion about the role of Hubs in opening the field to include non-customary participants.
Speakers included:
Greg Colati, CTDA
Mike Kemezis, CT Humanities
Rachael Nutt, Syracuse University
Heather Owen, Syracuse University
DPLA Member Brown Bag
Accessibility and Harmful Content Statements: Analyzing Lexile Levels
February 3, 2022
In this brown bag, Sheila McAlister, director of the Digital Library of Georgia, and Nicole Lawrence, DLG assistant director and co-chair of the DPLA Metadata Working Group, will discuss how the DLG crafted its harmful content statement to be easily understandable by the general public. The speakers will discuss the methods DLG used to simplify the statement’s language and plans to make public-facing text clearer.
Pan Am Aviation Portal Launch Event
January 26, 2022
Duke University, HistoryMiami Museum, University of Miami Libraries, and DPLA were awarded a “Digitizing Hidden Collections” grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to digitize some of their holdings of Pan American World Airways. The project culminated in the creation of the first-ever commercial aviation portal in DPLA. Guest speakers Julia Cooke, author of Come Fly the World and John Luetich from the Pan Am Museum joined this presentation.
ReadersFirst, COSLA and DPLA Present: Collaborating for Access: Licensing Models that Benefit Readers, Libraries, and Publishers
January 19, 2022
On January 19, 2022, at 1 pm ET COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library Agencies), Digital Public Library of America, and ReadersFirst partnered to present Collaborating for Access: Licensing Models that Benefit Readers, Libraries, and Publishers. We brought together library leaders and publishers to talk about the current ebook landscape and discuss publishing models that work for libraries, publishers, and readers and help further equitable access to ebooks.
Speakers:
Michael Blackwell, Director, St. Mary’s County Library and ReadersFirst
Mallori Bontrager, Digital Services Manager, Independent Publishers Group
Charles A. Sherrill, Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist
Adam Silverman, Senior Director, Digital Business Development, HarperCollins Publishers
Kelvin Watson, Executive Director, Las Vegas – Clark County Library District, DPLA board member
Book Talk: Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet
On Thursday, December 9, at 11 am ET, Digital Public Library of America partnered with Unfinished, a new organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in the digital age, for a live, virtual book club event. Author Tim Hwang joined us for an engaging conversation about his book Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet, which investigates the Wild West that is the online programmatic ad industry. Hwang calls it the “beating heart of the internet”—one that’s increasingly vulnerable thanks to a set of structural failures that call to mind the housing bubble of 2008.
The conversation was led by Unfinished Media Editor in Chief Damon Beres, with an introduction by DPLA Executive Director John Bracken.
Addressing Health Misinformation with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2021
On Tuesday, November 9 we will join with Knight Foundation to host a virtual discussion on health misinformation with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy. This timely meeting — featuring library, civic, philanthropic, and health leaders — will focus on community-based solutions to address health misinformation, which Dr. Murthy calls a “serious threat to public health.”
Dr. Murthy announced the second installment of his office’s efforts to combat health misinformation with the launch of a community toolkit for addressing health misinformation. The toolkit provides guidance to understand, identify, and stop the spread of health misinformation in communities, including summaries, illustrations, short activities, and helpful tips.
We believe that bringing together librarians, educators, community, and health leaders is important to help tackle the proliferation of misinformation during the pandemic. That’s why we’re co-hosting this second event, as part of the annual Knight Library Directors convening, to bring together these key stakeholders to discuss important issues and the digital transformation of our libraries.
Following the conversation with Dr. Murthy, you’ll learn how you can use the toolkit to help combat the spread of health misinformation in your communities.
Book Talk: The State Must Provide with Adam Harris
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2021
DPLA’s October 2021 Book Talk featured Adam Harris, a staff writer at The Atlantic covering national politics and a National Fellow at New America. We talked about his book The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal–and How to Set Them Right, a narrative history of racial inequality higher in education. This book talk was moderated by Marcia Walker-McWilliams, DPLA board member and executive director of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and Adam Bush, co-founder and provost of College Unbound.
DPLA Genealogy Webinar
Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Join us for a one-hour informational genealogy webinar using DPLA resources, presented by the Outreach and Accessibility working group and Allison Ryall, Genealogy Specialist for the Orange County Library System. The webinar will cover some DPLA basics, such as search techniques and a metadata overview, as well as genealogy tips and tricks. Allison will provide several case studies using DPLA resources and highlighting how to navigate DPLA’s collection and use available primary source sets. Attendees will become familiar with the various DPLA resources that are relevant to genealogy research and will gain insight in genealogical search strategies.
Allison Ryall is the Genealogy Specialist for the Orange County Library System (OCLS) and an instructor in Boston University’s Genealogical Research Program. In addition, Allison works with a variety of law enforcement agencies assisting them in solving cold case violent crimes using genetic genealogy. Previously, Allison worked with the National Genealogical Society as their Advertising and Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer and served as a grader for the National Genealogical Society’s Home Study Course. Allison also served as the conference tri-chair, program chair, and Ancestors Road Show Chair for the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and as the conference chair for the Association for Professional Genealogist’s annual conference.
Prior to pursuing her passion for genealogy, Allison was a media executive and has extensive experience in the areas of research, media relations, program management, and marketing. She holds degrees in U.S. History and Russian Studies and a master’s degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine.
DPLA+ Wikimedia: One Year In + Ten Million Views
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021
Over the last year, DPLA has worked with eight partners, representing more than 200 contributing institutions, to add more than 1.4 million image files of photos, documents, and maps to the Wikimedia Commons digital asset management platform, resulting in more than 10 million new views of these items through inclusion on just about 1,000 Wikipedia article pages—in the first year of the project alone. In this session, we’ll discuss the work DPLA has done to give institutions a pathway to contribute assets to Wikimedia and steps DPLA hubs and institutions can take to get involved with this work, as well as how Wikimedia can be a valuable tool for exponentially increasing discovery and use of archival collections. Speakers will include Leigh Jeremias, Digital Collections Coordinator at the Colorado State Library, who coordinates the Plains to Peaks Collective; Effie Kapsalis, Senior Program Officer for Digital Strategy at the Smithsonian Institution; and DPLA Data Fellow Dominic Byrd-McDevitt.
SimplyE and Digital Resource Solutions for the Second Wave
Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Hosts: Co-presented by EveryLibrary Institute and DPLA
Digital Public Library of America and its partners from Brooklyn Public Library and Alameda County Library will provide an overview of SimplyE, the only e-reading platform built by libraries for libraries, and the DPLA free ebook offering and marketplace. The webinar will include a demonstration of SimplyE, an overview of its benefits to libraries and their patrons; a report from BPL about how SimplyE has been deployed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to increase access; and from Alameda County about how they work with DPLA to provide quality titles to their patrons. The webinar will focus on how libraries can roll out the platform and how getting involved can advance the mission of libraries and improve access for all Americans.
From Black Women’s Suffrage to Black Lives Matter: A Living Legacy
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2020
This webinar, presented in collaboration with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, will examine the legacy of Black Women’s early activism and its connections to the present moment. It will include presentations on voting stories and links to the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as how Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is collecting African American COVID-19 experiences for archiving and using Wikimedia to surface materials relevant to their community.
Speakers:
- Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, DPLA Data Fellow
- Danté Nicole Miller, Community Editor for WFAE/Charlotte Mecklenburg Library/Digital Public Library of America via Report for America
- Shaneé Yvette Murrain, DPLA Community Manager
- Hannah Terrell, Branch Leader, Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
- Alexandra Watts, Reporter, WFAE
- Catherine Welch, Assistant News Director, WFAE
- Martha Yesowitch, Community Partnerships Leader, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
View the slides here and here.
Member Webinar: Guide to Analytics
Date: Wednesday, September 23 at 1:30pm ET
This webinar, intended for representatives of DPLA member hubs, is presented by the DPLA Assessment Working Group. Members of the working group will present the results of the Assessment Working Group’s 2019 survey of hub and sub-hub managers that gauged the impact and usefulness of DPLA assessment tools. They will also provide insight on how best to use Google Analytics and the DPLA Analytics Dashboard with a practical walk-through of these assessment tools. Additionally, working group members will address topics such as collections gap analysis and metadata completeness with a look at specific hub activities.
Race, Power, and Curation: Launching the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection
Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2020
The event featured a keynote by Dorothy Berry, the Digital Collections Program Manager at Houghton Library, Harvard University, on the importance of curating Black Collections and centering Black Stories intentionally during this transitory period of American history. In addition, Elaine L. Westbrooks, DPLA board member and Vice Provost of University Libraries and University Librarian at UNC-Chapel Hill, will provide opening remarks on the impact of curatorial choices, and Yusef Omowale of the Southern California Digital Library will join us to talk about digitizing the Charlotta Bass papers. DPLA Community Manager Shaneé Yvette Murrain will discuss the process of building the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection and give a demonstration of the new website and members of DPLA’s Metadata Working Group will describe the creation of a Harmful Content Statement.
Standardized Rights Statements 101
Date: July 22, 2020
Curious about standardized rights statements? Want to learn how to apply them to your digital collection? Join the DPLA Rights Statements Working Group for Standardized Rights Statements 101. RightsStatements.org statements are a simple, standardized system of labels that more clearly communicate the copyright and re-use status of digital objects to the public. Adding these labels to your digital collections will improve usability and access for users. Presenters for this webinar will include members of the DPLA Rights Statements Working Group, many of whom are currently implementing rights statements for the collections they manage. They will share their expertise and experiences, as well as a wide range of resources for implementation.
Presenters:
Shaneé Yvette Murrain, Digital Public Library of America
Julia Simic, Assistant Head, Digital Scholarship Services, University of Oregon Libraries
Greg Cram, Director of Copyright, Permissions, and Information Policy, New York Public Library
Wendy Gogel, Manager of Digital Content and Projects, Harvard Library
Gabe Galson, Technology Projects Librarian, Temple University Libraries
Molly Huber, Outreach Coordinator, Minnesota Digital Library, University of Minnesota
Race, Gender, Politics, and History: Reconstructing Visibility of Black Women’s Activism
Date: July 16, 2020
In commemoration of journalist, suffragist, and anti-lynching and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s birthday, we will host a community gathering introducing our forthcoming Black Women’s Suffrage collection. The event will feature a keynote by historian Allison Robinson about teaching with digital exhibits, her experience working with the university’s Ida B. Wells collection, and how digital artifacts can help reconstruct visibility. Some of our partners will also introduce the collections that they are digitizing as part of the Black Women’s Suffrage collection and provide some perspective about how these artifacts can help us better understand Black women suffragists and the historical and continuing activism of Black women.
Speakers:
Keynote: Allison Robinson, Doctoral Candidate in American History and American Material Culture, and Instructor at the University of Chicago
Dana Chandler, University Archivist and Associate Professor, Tuskegee University Archives
Christopher Harter, Deputy Director, Amistad Research Center
Aaisha Haykal, Manager of Archival Services, Avery Center for African American History & Culture at the College of Charleston
Sarah Tanner, Head, Archives Research Center, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
Collaborating for Literacy: Exploring Licensing Models that Work for Libraries, Creators, and Readers
Date: July 9, 2020
Presenters:
- Cindy Altick Aden, Washington State Librarian
- Mallori Bontrager, Digital Services Manager, Independent Publishers Group
- John Bracken, Digital Public Library of America
- Michele Kimpton, Digital Public Library of America
- Andrew Medlar, Director, BookOps, The New York Public Library & Brooklyn Public Library
- Lisa Peet, News Editor, Library Journal
- Adam Silverman, Senior Director, Business Development, HarperCollins
- Kelvin Watson, Director, Broward County Libraries
Introduction to SimplyE
Date: April 29, 2020
Presenters: Michele Kimpton, DPLA; Brian Bannon, New York Public Library; Micah May, DPLA; Carissa Egan, Lyrasis; Michael Blackwell, St. Mary’s County Library; Brad Bullis, Connecticut State Library.
DPLA Introduction to Wikimedia: Increased Discoverability & Use
Date: April 21, 2020
Presenters: Dominic Byrd-McDevitt, DPLA Data Fellow & Sandra Fauconnier GLAM-Wiki Specialist, Wikimedia Foundation
Crowdfunding and Community Engagement: Introduction to Kickstarter for Libraries
Date: February 28, 2019
Presenter: Margot Atwell, Director of Publishing, Kickstarter
View slides
Kickstarter’s Director of Publishing Margot Atwell offers an introduction to how libraries and other cultural organizations can use crowdfunding platforms, and Kickstarter in particular, as tools for fundraising, storytelling, and community engagement. Participants will learn tips and best practices for crafting a successful Kickstarter campaign and leave with new ideas for raising visibility for their institutions or projects through Kickstarter campaigns.
DPLA and Ebooks: Expanding Access through Collaboration
Date: February 6, 2019
Presenters: Micah May, DPLA Ebooks Consultant; Tony Ageh, Chief Digital Officer, The New York Public Library; Michael Blackwell, Director of St. Mary’s County Library (MD); Valerie Horton, Director of Minitex; Michele Kimpton, DPLA Director of Business Development and Senior Strategist
View Slides
DPLA staff and partners provide a detailed overview of DPLA’s ebooks initiatives and how this work advances the field and supports libraries. The session will introduce the DPLA Exchange, Open Bookshelf, and SimplyE and the roles of key partners including The New York Public Library and LYRASIS. DPLA Exchange pilot partners and SimplyE implementation partners will provide insight from the field about their experiences and goals in adopting these tools and services.
Member Webinar: Easier Metadata Aggregation with the Michigan Service Hub’s Combine
Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Presenters: Rick Adler and Graham Hukill, Michigan Service Hub
The Michigan Service Hub is developing an application named “Combine” (pronounced /kämˌbīn/, a nod to the combine harvester used in farming) to support the aggregation, transformation, analysis, and publishing of metadata in preparation for DPLA. Combine leverages components from DPLA’s Ingestion 3 metadata platform, including the use of Apache Spark to process large record sets quickly and efficiently. Combine is metadata profile agnostic, allowing users to map, transform, and validate metadata records to suit their needs. This webinar provides an overview of Combine’s features and functionality, with the hope that Combine may be useful to other hubs for their own metadata aggregation.
Member Webinar: Grantseeking for Digital Libraries
Date: September 27, 2018
Presenter: Kate Tkacik, Director, Network Engagement at Foundation Center
This webinar will introduce Foundation Center’s Visualizing Funding For Libraries data tool, and show how digital libraries can leverage philanthropic data in grantseeking to support their collections and special projects. Participants will learn how to generate a list of prospective funders, how to use data visualizations to understand funding ecosystems, and get a basic understanding of foundation fundraising.
Member Webinar: DPLA Technology Projects Update
Date: August 21, 2018
Presenters: Michael Della Bitta, Director of Technology and Gretchen Gueguen, Interim Network Manager and Data Services Coordinator
Learn about DPLA’s current and upcoming technology projects and how they will help us serve our Members and improve content discovery and use. In this session, Michael and Gretchen present on recently-released tech projects like our revised data architecture, which allows us to be more flexible, responsive, and efficient in our work, and enhanced functionality made possible by our new website. The webinar also explores emerging initiatives such as our new feature for user-generated item lists and Member analytics dashboards that, for the first time, make data about usage, API statistics, and metadata quality available in one place. Finally, Michael and Gretchen update Members on projects and priorities on the table for the rest of 2018 including DPLA Local and new search features like autocomplete and spell check.
Member Webinar: Introduction to DPLA’s new website and DPLA Pro
Date: May 22, 2018
Presenters: Kelcy Shepherd, DPLA Network Manager, and Gretchen Gueguen, Data Services Coordinator
DPLA Network Manager Kelcy Shepherd and Data Services Coordinator Gretchen Gueguen give a brief overview of new features in https://dp.la and more thorough coverage of our new DPLA Pro site https://pro.dp.la. We’ll also be sharing some information on how we expect to build out the Pro site and other tools to support information sharing and collaboration among the Network.
Making Audio Collections Accessible, presented by Pop Up Archive and Duke University Libraries
Date: December 6, 2016
Presenters: Anne Wootton, Co-founder and CEO, Pop Up Archive; Leda Marritz, Pop Up Archive Community Manager; Molly Bragg, Digital Collections Program Manager, Duke University Libraries; Valerie Gillispie, Duke University Archivist; Katie Ross, Graduate Student Assistant, Chapel Recordings Project
In this one-hour workshop, presenters from Pop Up Archive and Duke University Libraries share an inside look at their collaboration on the Duke Chapel Recordings project, in which they are transcribing and making searchable a collection of audio and video sermons in order to expand access, use, and discoverability of this collection. Along the way, presenters Anne Wootton and Leda Marritz of Pop Up Archive introduce best practices for audio collection accessibility including transcription and searchability. Molly Bragg and Valerie Gillispie of Duke University Libraries also share a behind-the-scenes perspective on their project, including their goals and approach to the project, questions encountered along the way, how they have worked with partners in and outside of the library, and plans for next steps.
Using DPLA to Teach with Primary Sources
Date: October 2, 2018
Presenters: Jamie Lathan and Cate Denial, DPLA Education Advisory Committee members and Samantha Gibson, DPLA Engagement and Use Coordinator
In this one-hour webinar, presenters explore strategies for teaching with primary sources using the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and its Primary Source Sets. DPLA’s Primary Source Sets are collections of instructor-vetted primary sources on 140 topics in history, literature, and more, drawing on diverse resources found in DPLA—from newsreel footage to historical maps to oral histories. Presented by DPLA staff and members of DPLA’s Education Advisory Committee, this webinar offers student-centered primary source instruction techniques, shares proven strategies for teaching with the Primary Source Sets, and allows participants to generate implementation ideas customized for their students and curricula. If you already use DPLA in your instruction, gather new approaches to try this academic year. If you are new to DPLA, you will leave with hands-on experience navigating and using DPLA as well as concrete ideas to experiment with in class.
Using DPLA for Teaching and Learning
Date: November 3, 2015
Presenters: Franky Abbott, Curation and Education Strategist at DPLA, Adena Barnette, Ripley High School, and Melissa Strong, Northeastern State University
In this workshop, DPLA staff and members of the DPLA’s Education Advisory Committee will discuss the value of DPLA as a tool for teaching and learning and describe current DPLA education projects. Presenters: Franky Abbott (DPLA), Adena Barnette (History teacher, Ripley High School, Ripley, West Virginia), Melissa Strong (Associate Professor of English, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma).
GIF-Making 101
Date: September 21, 2016
Presenters: Shaelyn Amaio, Consultant at Lord Cultural Resources, and Derek Tulowitzky, Web, Social Media, and Outreach Manager at the Muncie Public Library
Ever wondered how to make an animated gif? Join gif-making experts Shaelyn Amaio (Consultant at Lord Cultural Resources) and Derek Tulowitzky (Web, Social Media, and Outreach Manager at the Muncie Public Library) for an hour long webinar workshop on how to make gifs using open materials found in DPLA and other digital libraries. The workshop will cover what gifs are, how to find suitable materials in DPLA and elsewhere, and how to make a simple gif. This workshop is the first part of a two-part series organized in conjunction with GIF IT UP 2016.
Advanced GIF-Making Techniques
Date: September 28, 2018
Presenters: Richard Naples, Outreach and Education Technical Information Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution, and Darren Cole, Digital Engagement Specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Innovation
This hour long workshop focuses on how to use photo editing software to perform advanced gif-making techniques, such as how to use frame animation in order to make objects disappear and then reappear, move around, and change color. This workshop will be led by two seasoned gif-makers, Richard Naples (Outreach and Education Technical Information Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution) and Darren Cole (Digital Engagement Specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Innovation). This workshop is part two of a two-part series organized in conjunction with GIF IT UP 2016.
If you have Photoshop and would like to experiment with gif-making alongside our presenters, download the files shared during the workshop.
Using DPLA for Genealogy and Family History
Date: July 26, 2016
Presenters: Tamika Maddox Strong and Amy Johnson Crow, DPLA Community Reps
In this hour-long workshop webinar, DPLA Community Reps and experienced genealogists Tamika Maddox Strong and Amy Johnson Crow introduce DPLA as a resource for family historians, genealogists, and anyone interested in learning about new research skills and cool collections in DPLA. This workshop provides you with new tips for searching for family names in DPLA and exploring resources in your family’s hometown or region. We also take a peek at some of the collections that may prove invaluable for your family research: yearbooks, letters, newspapers, military records, family Bibles, and more! With content from 2,000 libraries, archives, and museums across the country, DPLA also offers a unique opportunity to dig deeper and add context to the lives of our ancestors. The workshop is free and open to all so whether you are new to DPLA, new to genealogy, or highly experienced, the workshop has something for you.
- View slides from the webinar
- View answers from webinar Q&A
- View DPLA collections highlighted in this webinar
RightsStatements.org: Why We Need It, What It Is (and Isn’t) and What Does It Mean for the DPLA Network and Beyond?
Date: May 10 and May 17, 2016
Presenters: Emily Gore (DPLA) and Greg Cram (NYPL)
Over the course of two workshops, presenters Emily Gore (DPLA), and Greg Cram (NYPL), discuss the recently launched RightsStatements.org project. The goal of RightsStatements.org is to provide standardized rights statements for cultural heritage institutions and aggregators. This two-part webinar series demonstrates and describes the need for the statements, the rationale behind the statements, and NYPL and DPLA’s implementation plans. Part I of the workshop covers the need for the statements and the philosophy behind the statements. Part II of the workshop covers the statements themselves along with the implementation strategy.
Introduction to the DPLA’s Application Programming Interface
Date: February 11, 2016
Presenter: Mark Breedlove, DPLA Senior Developer
This webinar introduces the fundamentals of distributed web application architecture to an uninitiated audience, with a special focus on the DPLA’s Application Programming Interface, or API. We will cover what a web application is, what an API is, how web applications on different sites communicate with one another, and why. This webinar should interest those who have been hearing about “APIs” and “web applications,” but do not fully understand what these terms mean; or those who understand generally, but want to get a better sense of what the DPLA’s API can do and what role it plays at a high level. Participants will leave the webinar feeling confident in their ability to discuss web APIs and strategies for their implementation. This workshop is led by Mark Breedlove, DPLA Technology Specialist.
Self-Guided Curriculum for Digitization
Planning for Digitization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2eUVPB6X3g&t=13s
Selecting Content for a Digitization Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01yQz4oztLo&feature=youtu.be
Understanding Copyright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AurzAmj4SvM&feature=youtu.be
Using Metadata to Describe Digital Content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqgFLj_yspk&feature=youtu.be
Digital Reformatting and File Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiTBxHqws7A&feature=youtu.be
Promoting Use of Your Digital Content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rzcamxx8b8&feature=youtu.be