Whether you’re already back in school, looking forward to the beginning of your next term, or a self-paced learner: late August is back-to-school season! We have news to share on recent and upcoming events, developments in DPLA’s search for a new host, newly-added collections, and two fun items from Library of Congress and Minnesota Historical Society.

Events

First, our MWDL Member Meeting on August 9 was a big success by any measure. By the numbers, we hosted 28 attendees from 10 member institutions in 3 states at University of Utah’s Marriott Library. 10 presenters caught us up with work at their home libraries and we celebrated MWDL’s belated 20th birthday with cookies from Salt Lake City’s own Ruby Snap bakery. We look forward to another great meeting in 2025!

There are also a number of upcoming events around the network and in our digital library sphere, so be sure to visit our Events page for details on fall events, CfPs, and learning opportunities!

Collections

MWDL welcomed 7 new collections from University of Utah – J. Willard Marriott Library and and 1 from Weber State University- Stewart Library in late July and early August:

• League of Women Voters of Utah
• Ivy Baker Priest Papers
• Network Magazine
• Frontiers, A Journal of Women Studies Oral History Collection
• Vontella Hess Bucholz Kimball
• Trent Harris Independent Film Collection
• David Oman McKay Papers
• New Zion Baptist Church Collection

Visit each collection’s page to learn more, browse or search the collections!

DPLA

Digital Public Library of America announced on July 31 that its Board has accepted a proposal from a new host institution. They “are confident that the collection of America’s digital heritage will be well cared for by our new partner” and anticipate a public announcement following an adoption vote by the new host’s Board in mid-September. Stay tuned for more details, and in the meantime, DPLA’s work continues uninterrupted. MWDL’s August metadata update will occur next week, August 26-30.

ICYMI

We were recently notified that Library of Congress has added MWDL’s website to its Local History and Genealogy Web Archive, part of a larger collection of historically and culturally significant websites designated for preservation! Archived content from MWDL’s site may be added to other relevant collections in the future. This content will be available to researchers at Library facilities and by special arrangement. It may also become more broadly available through hosting on the Library’s public website, which would be done no sooner than one year after it was collected. LoC’s Web Archiving Program FAQs are here.

From the National Council on Public History’s newsletter: Minnesota Historical Society intern, Isaac Trimble, has been digitizing and describing Native-run newspapers for public access! This work has been ongoing since 2010 and includes Native-language newspapers like Iapi Oaye. You can read more about Trimble’s work here, and search available titles in the Minnesota Historical Society’s Digital Newspaper Hub.

That’s all for now! Keep cool and stay in school, everyone.