“Unlike Google’s plan to purchase copyright from publishers, authors and libraries, DPLA, as an online extension from existing an library, seems much closer to an evolution of traditional modes of access to libraries and their material. Darnton, one of the directors of the project, sees it coming in at a ‘critical moment where the future of digital books is being determined.’ A prominent critic of Google’s own proposal, he sees the ‘astonishing’ early support for the DPLA as cause for optimism. Accompanied by the misconception that the Internet can replace the physical space of a library, he would argue the issue is ‘one of the really big questions facing this country.’”
From Eli B. Martin’s article in the Harvard Crimson, “Stealing Libraries”