“DPLA’s new initiative means libraries (public and academic) intend to continue to compete with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Google to be readers’ one-stop shopping place for ebooks and audiobooks.”
From Steve Matthew: “On May 31, I Posted Digital Natives Want It Now!, in which I linked to a YouTube video of a cute little digital native describing what she wanted in her library – NOW! I stated; Unfortunately, there won’t be a Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) in these Digital Natives’ youth.”
Harvard Law Prof. John Palfrey, chair of the Digital Public Library of America, still has not, to my knowledge, released minutes from the organization’s June 13 steering committee meeting in Washington—closed to the public.
From David Rothman: “Imagine—closed steering committee meetings of the so-called public library group, just like the Porcellian Club.”
From David Rothman: “The so-called Digital ‘Public’ Library of America has refused to live up to the P word.”
“The dream of a national digital public library is inching closer to the planning stage. The Berkman Center at Harvard University convened a large and diverse group of stakeholders to define the scope, architecture, costs, and administration for a proposed Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).”
“The right gizmos could help bring library e-books and other media to America’s poor and our cash-strapped middle class.”
From Sandy Thatcher: “I’m terribly interested to see what will come out of the DPLA’s beta sprint and I was heartened by Char Booth’s excellent interview about the Hathi Trust.”
From Sandy Thatcher: “Just two quick observations on the continuing debate by David Rothman et al. about whether and how the Digital Public Library of America should serve the interests of both academic and public libraries, and how their roles in serving their patrons differ.”
From David Rothman: “Americans urgently need home access to a wealth of e-books, databases and other goodies since many people cannot conveniently visit neighborhood libraries in person, and I love the idea of a national reference service available by phone and the Web, but let’s not do away with the warm, fuzzy, in-person kind of reference help—a danger that will grow if the DPLA insists on branding itself as a ‘Public’ Library despite the risk of library enemies using this as ammunition. “
