“[A]n essential resource for any student of the American West” -Review of MWDL in College & Research Libraries News, December 2011
The Mountain West Digital Library is a collaborative of libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies. MWDL has welcomed members from many western states, including Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming, since it began in 2001 as a program of the Utah Academic Library Consortium.
Visit our newest collections:
MWDL as a DPLA Service Hub
In 2012 the Mountain West Digital Library was selected to be one of the first six service hubs for the Digital Public Library of America. DPLA was launched in 2013 as the national digital library in the United States, offering a single point of public access to millions of items from memory organizations around the country. Learn about the Mountain West Digital Library’s role as a service hub for the Digital Public Library of America.
Discovery Portal
Provide a regional search portal for public access to the digital collections of the Mountain West for the benefit of MWDL partners, the scholarly community at large, and the general public
Digital Library Interoperability
Support interoperability of records and resources through the development of common digital library standards among Collections Partners whose digital collections are hosted by MWDL Member Repositories
Digital Public Library of America On-Ramp
Serve as the Service Hub to the DPLA for libraries, museums, and archives in the Mountain West
The Mountain West Digital Library was founded in 2001 as a program of the Utah Academic Library Consortium, as part of its goal to improve the availability and delivery of library and information services.
In July 2015, the MWDL started receiving dues support from Member Repositories (hosting hubs). These Repositories host the digital collections of their institutions as well as the collections of other Collections Partners.
In addition to dues support from Member Repositories, we gratefully acknowledge the additional ongoing and historical support of many organizations:
- Ongoing support from the Utah Academic Library Consortium, since 2001
- Grant funding from the Digital Public Library of America for participation in the Digital Hubs Pilot Project, 2012-2015, and the Public Library Partnerships Project, 2013-2015, with sub-awards from these funding sources: National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute for Museum and Library Services, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Contributed workspace and systems support from the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library, since 2001. (University of Utah Indigenous Land Acknowledgement: “The University of Utah has both historical and contemporary relationships with Indigenous peoples. Given that the Salt Lake Valley has always been a gathering place for Indigenous peoples, we acknowledge that this land, which is named for the Ute Tribe, is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes and is a crossroad for Indigenous peoples. The University of Utah recognizes the enduring relationships between many Indigenous peoples and their traditional homelands. We are grateful for the territory upon which we gather today; we respect Utah’s Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of this land; and we value the sovereign relationships that exist between tribal governments, state governments, and the federal government. Today, approximately 60,000 American Indian and Alaska Native peoples live in Utah. As a state institution, the University of Utah is committed to serving Native communities throughout Utah in partnership with Native Nations and our Urban Indian communities through research, education, and community outreach activities.”
- Bridge funding in summer 2015 from the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library
- Support from the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement for the cost of MWDL Primo fees.
- Original set-up costs in 2001 for four CONTENTdm servers and one Multi-Site Server from Institute of Museum and Library Services funding under the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Utah State Library
- Volunteer assistance from librarians, archivists, and curators at MWDL Collections Partners