The Digital Public Library of America announced today that it has received a $990,195 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build upon its network of library professionals and organizations to pilot a national-scale training system for public librarians. Under the grant, the DPLA will collaborate with its service “hubs”—regional digital library partners located in states and regions in the United States—to build curricular resources and implement hands-on training programs that develop digital skills and capacity within the staffs of public libraries.
The public libraries that participate in this pilot program will foster a greater understanding of local historical and cultural content, directing their communities to curated materials as well as a mass of relevant items in the DPLA and its associated collections. These libraries will have the opportunity to associate professional metadata with their collections, providing the ability to share their local heritage globally via the DPLA’s portal and platform. The Digital Public Library of America sees this initiative as an important step in its nascent DPLA Local program, which aims to tailor DPLA’s infrastructure for customized use in communities across the United States.
“From its inception, the Digital Public Library of America has partnered with libraries across America to help bring their riches to the country and the world,” said Dan Cohen, DPLA’s Executive Director. “With this generous grant from the Gates Foundation, we can extend this partnership to help local libraries and librarians take full advantage of what digital technology has to offer.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
