Oversized birthday cake replica in front of the Desert Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 1951 (From Toni and Wilbur Clark Collection, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
2001
Rio Grande Depot, October 1910. (From Shipler Commercial Photographers collection, Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement.)
Early Days
A joint project between University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library and Utah State Historical Society to digitize a collection of glass plate negatives (Shipler Commercial Photographers) proved the concept of a multi-institution digital library. Initial members of MWDL included Brigham Young University, Southern Utah University, University of Utah, and Utah State University.
2002
Olympic Speed Skater by Chris Lewis, 2002. (From Governor’s Olympic Collection, Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement)
Initial Launch
Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) awarded $100,000 of funding in January 2002 and the first MWDL site was up and running by September. The funding was used to set up digitization centers at the four founding universities and for software licenses to use CONTENTdm Multi-Site Server in support of the project’s goals: 1) build a digital collection reflecting the history of the region; 2) include resources from regional cultural and educational institutions; 3) offer local control and low-cost digitization to partners; and 4) make content accessible to all internet users (Arlitsch & Jonsson 2005).
Also in 2002, Salt Lake City and the surrounding area hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games. The Governor’s Olympic Collection was created during this time, an early example of a born-digital collection containing photographs taken by Utah Governor’s Office interns.
2003
Screenshot of MWDL’s first website (From Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
Regional Growth
University of Nevada, Las Vegas and University of Nevada, Reno both joined MWDL, expanding it into a regional digital library. UNLV and UNR are also members of the UALC.
2007
Men in Utah State University Computer Center, 1950s (From Utah State University Historical Photo Collection, Utah State University)
Tech Changes
MWDL switched platforms for metadata aggregation and indexing to Public Knowledge Project’s Open Archives Harvester. This allowed for harvesting from non-CONTENTdm repositories and the use of Open Archives Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to exchange data (Neatrour, et al 2016).
2010
Trevor Petersen drafting conceptual art for the Roots of Knowledge stained glass project storyboard. Richard McLean, 2016. (From Roots of Knowledge Behind-the-Scenes, Utah Valley University Library)
Increasing Standardization
The UALC Digitization Committee’s Metadata Task Force completed Version 1 of the MWDL Dublin Core Application Profile (MAP). This marked the first independent metadata standard adopted by MWDL, which had previously adhered to the Western States/Collaborative Digitization Program’s Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices (Hebron, 2025).
2011
Map of explorations and surveys south of the Central Pacific Railroad made by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, 1871. (From University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries digital collections.)
New Discovery Platforms
MWDL turned 10 years old! As MWDL participation increased, it outgrew PKP Harvester’s indexing capability and MWDL moved to Ex Libris Primo for aggregation & discovery. The MWDL Dublin Core Application Profile V2 was adopted in 2011. The MWDL profile has been used by other institutions such as Montana Memory Project and Consortium of Church Libraries and Archives for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the basis for their own metadata standards (Neatrour, et al 2016).
2013
DPLA’s website as of April 23, 2013 (From Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
A National Presence
MWDL was one of Digital Public Library of America’s original partners along with Minnesota Digital Library, Digital Commonwealth (Massachusetts), Digital Library of Georgia, Kentucky Digital Library, and South Carolina Digital Library.
Participation in DPLA extends MWDL’s goals of providing free access to unique regional cultural heritage materials to a national audience. Subsequent work such as the 2013-15 Public Library Partnerships Project to “design, prepare, and present training modules about digital skills training” (McIntyre 2015, MWDL News blog) helped disseminate digitization best practices and digital library management knowledge to regional public libraries.
2015
Lindsey Memory and Kinza Masood table at BYU Family History Conference, July 2019. (Photo: Catherine McIntyre, 2019.)
Membership makeover
MWDL launched a membership model beginning in 2015 to ensure sustainability. This marked a transition from term-limited funding to a regular, dues-paying membership program.
Promotion and outreach continued throughout the 2010’s at the likes of Conference of Intermountain Archivists (CIMA), Roots Tech, the National Archaeology Conference, BYU Family History Conference, Utah Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference, Utah Library Association, Utah Library Day on the Hill, and Utah History Conferences. Tabling for these events was provided by an extensive network of MWDL member volunteers.
2021
Jessie A. Haws Post Office Clerk, March 20, 1952. (From Uintah County Library Regional History Center’s Vernal Express Collection.)
Celebrating 2 Decades of Work
By its 20th year, MWDL aggregated over 1 million digital objects. Ongoing participation in DPLA furthered reuse of MWDL materials in other digital projects like the Black Women’s Suffrage Portal, Digital Pasifik, and Omnia. MWDL staff continued serving in leadership positions in DPLA’s Network Council and Working Groups.
All four founding universities continued to participate in MWDL and offer affordable digitization services to the wider cultural heritage community in the Intermountain West.
2026
Autumn in the High Country by Glen H. Turner (1977). (From Utah Valley University’s Orem (UT) City Art Collection).
25th anniversary
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, MWDL continues to be a strong regional presence and provide a free, public search gateway to the digitized collections of the American West.
MWDL has already welcomed visitors from more than 85 countries and was named one of Family Search Magazine’s 75 Best State Genealogy Websites in 2026!
Scott Eldredge and Russ Taylor promote MWDL at Brigham Young University Family History Conference, 2018. (Photo: Catherine McIntyre, 2018.)
Credits
This WordPress timeline was designed by Leah Donaldson (University of Utah, Marriott Library) and its content was created by the MWDL Outreach Working Group: Carl Aldrich, Lisa Barr, Michelle Gollehon, Teresa Hebron, Cory Lampert, and Ken Rockwell.
The following sources were consulted:
- Arlitsch & Jonsson (2005), “Aggregating distributed digital collections in the Mountain West Digital Library with the CONTENTdm (TM) multi-site server. Library Hi Tech: Volume 23, No. 2
- Hebron, T. (2025), “MAPping out the Future from the Past“, Information Technology & Libraries: September 2025.
- Internet Archive WayBack Machine
- MWDL Blog
- Neatrour et al (2016), “Regional Aggregation and Discovery of Digital Collections: The Mountain West Digital Library”. In: Exploring Discovery: The Front Door to Your Library’s Licensed and Digitized Content, Kenneth Varnum (Ed).
Mountain West Digital Library is hosted at University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library. See the University’s Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. We acknowledge and thank Utah Academic Library Consortium and all MWDL’s members for their continued support.