The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is a platform for sharing unique resources amongst the nation's libraries. Most of these resources come from the Special Collections of the contributing institutions, meaning they are unpublished, one-of-a-kind, primary source materials (wondering what primary source is?).
University of Utah participates in DPLA via its membership in Mountain West Digital Library, along with other Utah institutions like Brigham Young University, Weber State University, Utah State Historical Society, Utah State Library, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, and Southern Utah University.
You are welcome to use any and all of these resources, and you can use the "How Can I Use It?" filter in the search results page to narrow down your findings. The rights information will tell you WHAT you can do with the resource.
Check out The Palace Project, a free ebook platform co-founded by DPLA with Lyrasis.
As you search, please note items in DPLA may still be under copyright. It is your responsibility to obtain the appropriate permissions to use items, although if you are a student the Fair Use Doctrine may cover use of items for research and educational purposes.
If you are looking for Permission-Free Resources, click HERE.
Many other contributing institutions create their own rights statements. If you have questions about using an item, contact the contributing institution directly; there is a link to the item in the owning institution's collection underneath each item in the URL section.
Rights information for resources in DPLA can be determined in one of two ways: item rights statements or the How Can I Use It? rights limit.
Item rights statements
When you view an item in DPLA, rights information can be found in the item's description in the field labeled Rights or Standardized Rights Statement. Those items using a standardized rights statements or licensing will also display a graphic beneath the image preview.
Rights Limit
DPLA also offers a search limit called How Can I Use It? . This limit uses the standardized rights and licensing statements offered by contributors to group items into similar categories for reuse. You'll see this limit at the upper left when you view your search results:
View tips for searching DPLA more effectively.
DPLA can be used for many purposes, including genealogy, education, lifelong learning, and scholarly research. Visit DPLA's Guides to learn more!
