Libraries around the country contain lots of useful information and resources that so far hasn't always been easy to access online. The prototype of a new a free online portal to collections from libraries, museums and more launches April 18 at the Boston Public Library during National Library Week.

The Digital Public Library of America, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, initially will seek to "combine a group of rich, interesting digital collections, from state and regional digital archives to the special collections of major university libraries and federal holdings. It will demonstrate how powerful and exciting it can be to bring together our nation's digitized materials, metadata (including catalog records, for instance), code, and digital tools and services into an open, shared resource. Imagine the ability to access a vastly larger set of materials than ever before, both through a single web portal and through your local library, which has carefully curated a subset of the national database."

The Verge described the project this way: "Take the physical-to-digital ambition of Google Books and wed it to the civic spirit of the US public library system, providing a centralized portal to a decentralized network of digital media."

This content is available not just for perusal, but for hacking and creative reuse. According to this DPLA announcement of the launch, "the database is built with a rich API for developers and artists to engage with its digital content, offering a Creative Commons-zero license for their derivative work. Hacks are welcome"

The Knight Blog has been publishing a series of post about DPLA projects. Here is the series so far:

• Feb. 28: Building the Digital Public Library of America
• March 7: Digitizing Georgia's cultural heritage
• March 13: Showcasing Kentucky's unique oral-history and newspaper collections
• March 22: A plan for libraries to aggregate metadata into one central portal
• March 27: Sharing oral histories from Minnesota's immigrant population
• April 2: South Carolina brings digital wealth to library project
• April 10: Bringing the power of digital history to the Mountain West