Quick Summary
For over twenty years, the Minnesota Digital Library has been committed to the dual values of preservation and access. By digitizing collections from our partners all over the state and making them available via our website, we have ensured that Minnesota’s historical and cultural treasures will be saved and shared for years to come.
Just over twenty years ago, a group of leaders at Minnesota’s museums, libraries, and archives had a dream: to create digital copies of the state’s cultural heritage resources and make them accessible to all - for free. This dream became the Minnesota Digital Library (MDL), a website that brings these digitized resources together into one online library. Over the years MDL has grown into a robust digital collection of primary sources about Minnesota and its history, formed in collaboration with cultural heritage partners across the state.
Founding
A group of library directors from St. Cloud State University, the University of Minnesota, Winona State University, Minnesota State University Mankato, and Minitex first pursued the idea of creating a statewide digital library for Minnesota. This group, called MAGNOLIA, invited 25 librarians, archivists, and technologists representing a variety of institutions to a planning meeting in 2001. They established the purpose, scope and goals for MDL, discussed technical criteria, and created participation and governance structures. The Minnesota Digital Library Coalition, formed at this meeting, managed the MDL project in its early years. The coalition included representatives from the Minnesota Historical Society, the University of Minnesota, Minitex, St. Paul Public Library, the College of St. Benedict-St. John's University, Winona State University, St. Cloud State University, and Minnesota State University, Mankato.
MDL was originally supported by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds as well as resources from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. When the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment was approved by voters to be added to the Minnesota Constitution in 2008, MDL was fortunate to be allocated money from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Legacy funding has sustained our work ever since. In 2014, MDL became an official service of Minitex, the statewide library consortium.
Contributors
When MDL’s first website launched in 2005, it contained over 5,000 images from 51 historical societies, colleges, and cultural institutions. The collection now contains over 60,000 items from more than 200 contributing organizations. The majority of them are historical societies, museums, and cultural heritage organizations, but several libraries, archives, colleges, universities, local and state governments, community organizations, and religious institutions also participate. Most of the materials they digitize through MDL are photographic images or documents, but we also have a growing collection of audiovisual materials.
Impact
While digital collections like MDL are now fairly commonplace, this was not the case when we started out. MDL was in the forefront of this work and has expanded our services over time. In addition to building our own database, we have also become a trusted resource within the digital collections community. We have set national standards for metadata, digitization, and standardized rights best practices, and we have also modeled how a collaborative statewide organization devoted to digital preservation and access can succeed over the long term. Further, our influence has extended beyond our state’s borders through our involvement in organizations such as the Digital Public Library of America, the Digital Library Federation, and more.
As we celebrate MDL’s 20th anniversary, our commitment to free access to and preservation of these unique materials from Minnesota’s history remains strong. We are proud of our role connecting people to information and supporting lifelong learning within our communities. Be sure to visit our website and help us move forward into our next decade!
