Press: “How to Fund a Public eBook Library with Tax Deductions”

“In California, newly (re)elected governor Jerry Brown has proposed to zero out state funding for libraries. In Britain, government cuts could lead to as much as a quarter of librarians lose their jobs over the next year. In New York, the Queens library has responded to budget cuts by zeroing out its acquisition budget, instead of cutting opening hours. In my home town of Montclair, New Jersey, a historic branch building is being closed and the reference department is being eliminated.

“Given the worldwide climate of cutting libraries, the recent proposal for the establishment of a ‘Digital Public Library of America’ (DPLA) would seem to be either the product of a castles-in-the-sky delusions, or the result of watching too many Star Trek reruns. But it’s worth thinking through the DPLA for a few moments before dismissing it as unrealistic.”

From Eric Hellman’s post, “How to Fund a Public eBook Library with Tax Deductions”