MCN2015

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. It is built upon a network of partners who together provide access to over 10 million digital objects. Two museum partners, the Missouri History Museum and the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, play two different, but important, roles in this network. The Missouri History Museum preserves St. Louis and Missouri history through exhibitions, programs, research, publications, archives and permanent collections. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum's mission is to preserve Minnesota's streetcar history through the restoration and operation Minnesota streetcars and the preservation, interpretation and display of historic photos and other artifacts.As a DPLA Service Hub, the Missouri History Museum plays a leadership role in its state, bringing together cultural heritage resources from a variety of institutions—including their own—and making them available on a national scale in DPLA. As a Service Hub, they are working to grow the network and build a community of practice in their state. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum is one of 150 contributing institutions in Minnesota that makes its resources available to the Minnesota Digital Library Service Hub, and subsequently to DPLA. An early contributor to DPLA and to the Minnesota Digital Library, the MSM has seen significant impact on visibility and collections usage from these partnerships. After a brief introduction to the DPLA and the valuable role that museums play in this national platform by Amy Rudersdorf, David Henry (Missouri History Museum) and Aaron Isaacs (Minnesota Streetcar Museum) will discuss their museums’ roles in DPLA, and the impacts that participation has had on their institutions and collections. Moderated audience Q&A will follow the brief presentations.

Outcomes: Attendees will gain a better understanding of the DPLA as a national platform and the growth and impacts that museum participation can engender.