Iowa City was designated one of only four Cities of Literature worldwide by UNESCO. To take advantage of our rich local literary history, an interdisciplinary research team collaborated to develop a digital library featuring important Iowa City authors and locations. The UCOL (UNESCO City of Literature) digital library consists of a mobile application for the general public (referred to internally as “City of Lit”) and a set of web-based interfaces for researchers and content creators. This paper reports our experience from a pilot study in which undergraduate students learned to conduct scholarly research and create content for the digital collection. We also outline the implementation and development of the digital library, its framework, and the client-side mobile application.