COLUMBUS, Ohio (Nov. 22, 2016) – OhioLINK is pleased to announce its participation in the “Ohio Digital Network,” a statewide Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Service Hub, which was approved by the DPLA on Oct. 4. As a service hub, the Ohio Digital Network will be the on-ramp to DPLA for the state’s library, archives and cultural heritage organizations, ensuring that local digital collections can be discovered as part of this groundbreaking national program.
The DPLA provides open digital access from libraries, archives and museums around the United States. The comprehensive collection of millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images and more is made freely available around the world, with great possibilities for researchers. DPLA inclusion translates into increased visibility of digital collections for member libraries and institutions.
Keeping with the long tradition of collaboration between libraries in Ohio, the service hub is the result of a year-long planning process in which representatives from OhioLINK and member libraries collaborated with the staff from the State Library of Ohio, the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN), the four regional public library digitization hubs and Ohio History Connection.
More than half a million items from 22 OhioLINK institutions have been identified as candidates for the initial phase of the Ohio Digital Network. With such large collections, and such deep expertise in digitization and metadata, OhioLINK libraries and their staff will be critical participants in the working groups composed of all types of Ohio organizations. Library staff from members of the State Library of Ohio, Ohio University, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State University, Miami University, University of Toledo, Stark State College, Kent State University and Oberlin College served on the planning groups for this statewide effort.
OhioLINK Executive Director Gwen Evans will serve on the executive committee of the Ohio Digital Network. During the planning grant, she served on the steering committee and co-chaired the governance working group. Librarians from OhioLINK member libraries will serve on the various governance committees, and Meghan Frazer, Manager of Technology Integration for OhioLINK, will serve as chair for the metadata working group.
Though the application has been approved, DPLA staff indicated that Ohio content’s availability through DPLA could take approximately nine months when onboarding processes are taken into account. More information for DPLA and the Ohio Digital Network is available.
“OhioLINK member libraries will be among the leading contributors to the DPLA via the newly established Ohio Digital Network – both in terms of DPLA-ready digital collections and technical skill among library staff,” Evans said. “This statewide effort will make the discovery and use of Ohio digital collections and their combination with other relevant digital collections much easier for scholars and the public.”
Established in 1992, the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) is Ohio’s statewide academic library consortium and serves more than 600,000 end users. A member of the Ohio Technology Consortium of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, OhioLINK provides a competitive advantage for Ohio’s higher education community by cooperatively and cost-effectively acquiring, providing access to and preserving an expanding array of print and digital resources, and by centrally hosting digital content. Together, OhioLINK and its member libraries provide users access to nearly 50 million books and other library materials, more than 100 electronic research databases, more than 81,000 e-books, thousands of images and videos, and millions of electronic journal articles. www.ohiolink.edu.
Christiana Congelio, Coordinator, Marketing and Member Services
OhioLINK
Office: 614-485-6755
Email: ccongelio@ohiolink.edu
