HELLO Code4lib! Sharing the hard work of so many people here at NYPL below.

Greetings from NYPL Labs! Today we are proud to announce that
out-of-copyright materials in NYPL Digital Collections
<http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/> are now available as high-resolution
downloads. No permission required, no hoops to jump through: just go forth
and reuse!

The release of more than 180,000 digitized items represents both a
simplification and an enhancement of digital access to a trove of unique
and rare materials: a removal of administration fees and processes from
public domain content, and also improvements to interfaces — popular and
technical — to the digital assets themselves. Online users of the NYPL
Digital Collections <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/> website will find
more prominent download links and filters highlighting restriction-free
content; while more technically inclined users will also benefit from
updates to the Digital Collections API <http://api.repo.nypl.org/> enabling
bulk use and analysis, as well as data exports and utilities posted to NYPL's
GitHub account <https://github.com/NYPL-publicdomain/data-and-utilities>.
These changes are intended to facilitate sharing, research and reuse by
scholars, artists, educators, technologists, publishers, and Internet users
of all kinds. All subsequently digitized public domain collections will be
made available in the same way, joining a growing repository of open
materials.

To encourage novel uses of our digital resources, we are also now accepting
applications for a new Remix Residency
<http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/fellowships-institutes/remix> program.
Administered by the Library's digitization and innovation team, NYPL Labs
<http://labs.nypl.org/>, the residency is intended for artists, information
designers, software developers, data scientists, journalists, digital
researchers, and others to make transformative and creative uses of digital
collections and data,and the public domain assets in particular. Two
projects will be selected, receiving financial and consultative support
from Library curators and technologists.

To provide further inspiration for reuse, the NYPL Labs team has also
released several demonstration projects delving into specific collections,
as well as a visual browsing too
<http://publicdomain.nypl.org/pd-visualization/>l allowing users to explore
the public domain collections at scale. These projects, which suggest just
a few of the myriad investigations made possible by fully opening these
collections, include:

   - a "mansion builder <http://publicdomain.nypl.org/mansion-maniac/>"
   game, exploring floor plans of grand turn-of-the-century New York
   apartments;
   - a then-and-now comparison of New York's Fifth Avenue
   <http://publicdomain.nypl.org/fifth-avenue/>, juxtaposing 1911 wide
   angle photographs with Google Street View; and
   - a "trip planner <http://publicdomain.nypl.org/greenbook-map/>" using
   locations extracted from mid-20th century motor guides that listed hotels,
   restaurants, bars, and other destinations where Black travelers would be
   welcome.

The public domain release spans the breadth and depth of NYPL's holdings,
from the Library's rich New York City collection, historic maps, botanical
illustrations, unique manuscripts, photographs, ancient religious texts,
and more. Materials include:

   - Berenice Abbott's iconic documentation of 1930s New York for the
   Federal Art Project
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/changing-new-york#/?tab=about>
   - Farm Security Administration photographs
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/e5462600-c5d9-012f-a6a3-58d385a7bc34#/?tab=navigation>
by
   Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and others
   - Manuscripts of American literary masters like Walt Whitman
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/walt-whitman-papers-1854-1892#/?tab=about>
   , Henry David Thoreau
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/henry-david-thoreau-papers-1837-1917-bulk-1837-1860#/?tab=about>,
   and Nathaniel Hawthorne
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/nathaniel-hawthorne-collection-of-papers-1694-1931-bulk-1817-1864#/?tab=about>
   - Papers and correspondence of founding American political figures
like Alexander
   Hamilton
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/alexander-hamilton-papers#/?tab=about>
   , Thomas Jefferson
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/thomas-jefferson-papers#/?tab=about>,
   and James Madison
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/james-madison-papers#/?tab=about>
   - Sheet music for popular American songs at the turn of the 20th century
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/american-popular-songs#/?tab=navigation&roots=8:cc8d3f10-c592-012f-079d-58d385a7bc34>
   - WPA-era lithographs, etchings, and pastels by African American artists
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/works-progress-administration-wpa-art#/?tab=about>
   - Lewis Hine's photographs of Ellis Island immigrants and social
   conditions in early 20th century America
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/b039b670-c608-012f-8f64-58d385a7bc34#/?tab=about>
   - Anna Atkins' cyanotypes of British algae
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/photographs-of-british-algae-cyanotype-impressions#/?tab=about>,
   the first recorded photographic work by a woman (1843)
   - Handscrolls of the Tale of Genji, created in 1554
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/607c2c10-c6b4-012f-8cbf-3c075448cc4b#/?tab=navigation>
   - Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts from Western Europe
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/medieval-and-renaissance-illuminated-manuscripts-from-western-europe#/?tab=about>
   - Over 20,000 maps and atlases documenting New York City
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/de1dcfb0-c5f6-012f-1dfc-58d385a7bc34#/?tab=about>
   , North America
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/5cd94760-c52a-012f-bcd4-3c075448cc4b#/?tab=about>,
   and the world
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/6a373d50-c5d3-012f-a6fb-58d385a7bc34#/?tab=about>
   - More than 40,000 stereoscopic views
   <http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/robert-n-dennis-collection-of-stereoscopic-views#/?tab=about&roots=5302e210-c52e-012f-4579-58d385a7bc34/536296d0-c52e-012f-406b-58d385a7bc34>
documenting
   all regions of the United States

Visit nypl.org/publicdomain for information about the materials related to
the public domain update and links to all of the projects demonstrating
creative reuse of public domain materials. (also, via *NYT*: New York
Public Library Invites a Deep Digital Dive
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/books/new-york-public-library-invites-a-deep-digital-dive.html>
)

Go forth, and reuse!

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*Ashley Blewer | **The New York Public Library*

*Applications Developer*