And it’s all free — which is part of the motivation behind the DPLA. The idea germinated on the East Coast at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. John Palfrey, one of DPLA’s founders who now heads the exclusive private high school Phillips Academy, says he was concerned that the process of digitizing the nation’s books and records was being left to a private company, Google, which with publishers.

via Combining The Nation’s Digitized Libraries, All In One Place : All Tech Considered : NPR.