Tag Archives: library of congress

A national digital library endowment: How America’s billionaires could be modern Carnegies for real

Update: James Fallows’s blog on The Atlantic’s site reproduced part of this proposal, and the long version appeared in Sabrina Pacifici’s award-winning LLRX library journal. More details and an FAQ on the proposal are here. Warren Buffett was on CBS Sunday Morning. The interviewer, Rebecca Jarvis, asked if he owned an iPad. No. iPhone. No. [...]

eBooks, National Digital Public Library Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Hurricane Sandy and the national digital library issue: With smartened-up journalists and voters, could we have stopped or slowed down global warming?

Canned and dried foods, flashlights, radios, cellphones and good UPSes aren’t the only essentials that the wired might buy in an anticipation of the growing number of weather-related exigencies like Hurricane Sandy. I’ve also purchased a $99 battery-powered portable hotspot through which my iPad and other WiFi-equipped devices  can stay in touch with the rest [...]

Uncategorized Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hacking a secretive ‘public’ library group: Let’s ask DPLA steering committee members how they voted—and about open meetings vs. a Porcellian Club approach

Update, Oct. 20, 2012: I’m pleased to report that the DPLA is now far more open than before, especially in regard to remote participation. Should the Harvard-hosted Digital “Public” Library of America drop the “P” word from its name? COSLA, short for the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, fears that this branding competition could [...]

LibraryCity Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

A national digital library system for George Roper in McAllen, Texas, please–not just the American elite—and don’t write off conservatives

They called Mount Vernon “the Hoods’ High School” at one time, and fittingly this white-cupolaed brick building sat on Route 1 in Fairfax County, Virginia, just across from a police station with an overgrown radio tower. Melvin Bowman Landes, an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, was principal, and every spring, he would [...]

LibraryCity Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Books vs. movies and other streamed media: Which should be first priority at Library of Congress?

With so many local libraries facing cutbacks, the case for a well-stocked national digital library system grows stronger each day. At TheAtlantic.com  I’ve written of the possibility of a decentralized public library system existing within the Library of Congress but run by librarians in many cities, so that Washington does not dictate to America what [...]

Uncategorized Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment