Open access content is one of higher education’s most pressing topics, from sharing image and print collections to massive online open courses (MOOCs). To this end, the Digital Public Library of America (www.dp.la) launched in April 2013 with the ambitious goal of making the nation’s museum, library, and archival collections freely available online. To date, dozens of institutions are participating by sharing their content through a network of service and content hubs that aggregate and share content with DPLA. The collection building model for DPLA relies on these hubs to aggregate large batches of content that are subsequently harvested by DPLA. This panel will explore various institutional perspectives on relationships with DPLA and its potential as an online gateway to cultural heritage collections. Ian McDermott from ARTstor will conclude with ARTstor’s work as a DPLA content hub for museum content and its plans to enable libraries to share their special collections with DPLA via Shared Shelf.
