Carl Malamud posts his speech from the DPLA plenary conference.
“Here’s the talk I gave at the Digital Public Library of America. There are a lot of disagreements on what a DPLA really means. Bob Darnton from Harvard has published a series of pieces* in the NY Review of Books and I disagree with many of the things he says. But, I think a lot of people, Darnton and myself included, share a dream of something that could be and should be. My particular dream is that NARA, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress all embark on a decade-long public works project to digitize their works and make them available to all.”
Via Carl Malamud’s post on Google+
Deborah Jacobs reports on the new library research project being undertaken by Pew Internet.
“We know the work will be done by one of the foremost researchers in the country. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project will study the changing role of Public Libraries and library users in the digital age. Pew will look at eBooks, digital content, and trends in reading. They will ask library patrons what they expect from their libraries—and which services are more or less important. And Pew will tell us a little bit about who comes to the library, and who does not.”
From Deborah Jacobs’s post for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation blog, “What’s the Role of Libraries in the Digital Age?”
Gary Price shares eBooks on Demand announcement.
“The EOD search (http://search.books2ebooks.eu) currently makes available over 2.5 million records from 15 libraries, and gives direct access to already digitised items as well as books offered for digitisation on demand. “Our aim is that European cultural heritage would be only one mouse-click away from the readers and the EOD search enables that,” said Silvia Gstrein, the EOD Project Coordinator.”
From Gary Price’s post, “eBooks on Demand: European Libraries Make Efforts For Integration + New Search Engine”
ProQuest announces digitization project with the NAACP.
“ProQuest and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are teaming to digitize the association’s archives, bringing one of the most famous records of the civil rights movement to the online world. The collection, which comprises nearly 2 million pages of internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country, charts NAACP’s work and delivers a firsthand view into crucial issues: lynching, school desegregation, discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing. Preserved on microfilm, it holds the distinction of being the most heavily used collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Now, it will be fully searchable and accessible electronically and available through academic, research, and public library websites as part of ProQuest History Vault, an initiative to digitize historically rich primary sources.
From NewsBreaks’ post, “ProQuest to Digitize NAACP Archives”