Many think of libraries as brick and mortar institutions that have been around for ages. Special libraries such as the Digital Public Library of America and the MetaArchive Cooperative are two examples of digital library institutions that utilize technology to further free access to information. While both these institutions deal with digital resources, they differ in missions, services and infrastructure.
To start, the DPLA and the MetaArchive Cooperative's missions are in theory, ones that fill the need of the other. For example, the Digital Public Library of America's mission is aggregating content from libraries, museums and institutions across the United States. The main focus of their existence is to "contain the human expression" through the preservation of America's art, heritage, and culture (Gregory & Rudersdorf, 2016). Their goal is not only to preserve this information, but to make it widely available and increase its overall use (Gregory & Rudersdorf, 2016). In contrast, the MetaArchive Cooperative's goal is to empower institutions to create their own storage for digital preservation. This places the responsibility of storage onto those looking to house their content rather than outsourcing this service (Gregory & Rudersdorf, 2016).
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The DPLA consists of 11 professionals. 3 of the 11 staff make up the Content Team whose roles include identifying and developing partnerships to expand the library's overall network. This development of relationship also extends to those in the digital world (Gregory & Rudersdorf, 2016). On the other hand, the MetaArchive Cooperative is a system of servers that house members' data. This system uses the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe). In this manner, each institution or member must host their own server, thus enabling connections with other members. Saved content is distributed to seven other servers as