Recent Comments
- David Rothman { Thanks for the Fire/TTS tip, Scott, as well as your thoughts in general, and I hope that others try it and report their results. } – May 29, 1:03 PM
- Scott Hedlund { The TTS feature was put in the Kindle Fire HD and taken out of the Kindle paperwhite for a cheaper e-reader only device. I don't... } – May 28, 2:38 AM
- Scott Hedlund { I really like having my Kindle e-reader and like you I can understand why Amazon has gone this direction. They should make their device more... } – May 28, 2:33 AM
- Amazon’s book city #1, Alexandria, VA, may cut library hours: Time for a digital-era national endowment to help ease U.S. libraries’ financial woes? | The Travelin' Librarian { [...] Read the full article @ LibraryCity.org. [...] }
- Promising DPLA debut—but please don’t confuse special-collection items, exhibits and APIs with a full-fledged ‘public library’ demo | The Travelin' Librarian { [...] Read the full article @ librarycity.org. [...] }
- Tom Peters { Excellent review of the nascent D(P)LA e-resource. I agree with all your major points. Tis a pity that the usual suspects (Twain, Fitzgerald, Cather, et... } – Apr 19, 11:28 AM
- Online la Digital Public Library of America, che vuole superare Google e Wikipedia | Tropico del Libro { [...] di questo ambizioso progetto. Non sono mancate, in questo senso, le polemiche di chi ha vivamente esortato i creatori della DPLA a preoccuparsi anche... }
- David Rothman { Thanks for such a prompt and classy reply, Dan---you're indeed giving #dpla its due! I truly truly hope that the DPLA succeeds, and meanwhile the... } – Mar 31, 11:58 AM
- Dan Cohen { Thanks for the great and helpful post, David. To be clear on #2, I'm very interested (as I know others are within DPLA) and plan... } – Mar 31, 10:40 AM
- David Rothman { Hi, Don. Nice to see such enthusiasm from a veteran school librarian. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, agree with your priorities, and will have more to... } – Mar 26, 4:57 AM
- Don Smith { If I might, I would like to propose a statement of purpose for the National Digital Library. Often times during my forty year career as... } – Mar 25, 8:54 PM
- David Rothman { Hey, Ralph, here's a belated but heartfelt reply to one of your points. Around here we love both libraries and librarians and are interested in... } – Mar 13, 9:58 AM
- Some news from LibraryLand | not so quiet { [...] this opinion piece, David Rothman makes a case for folks in the Warren Buffet and Bill Gates income bracket to support [...] }
- Bibliotecas públicas sin libros en EE.UU. ¿A la de tres? | Bibliotecas 2029 { [...] comunicada, tuvo una contestación pública demoledora. No sólo los profesionales de todo el país se escandalizaron por este proyecto sino que los propios usuarios... }
- A National Digital Library Endowment { [...] An interesting concept from blogger David Rothman, founder of TeleRead. He suggests that those who have signed The Giving Pledge (though he doesn’t mention... }
- David Rothman { Hi, Robert. Some quick replies… 1. I envision a variety of business models in use, but if nothing else, libraries could buy multiple e-copies (or... } – Feb 20, 2:05 PM
- Robert Nagle { Generally, a great proposal, but here are some practical issues which pop up in my mind. First, if everything is centralized, when I put a... } – Feb 20, 12:56 PM
- ATG Article of the Week: Need Library E-Books to Feed Your New Gadget? Here’s the Answer | Against-the-Grain.com { [...] Need Library E-Books to Feed Your New Gadget? Here’s the Answer, is an thought provoking article by David Rothman posted in TeleRead a few... }
- Reading about eReading this week 2/18/2013 « Allegany County Library System Director's Notes { [...] A national digital library endowment: How America’s billionaires could be modern Carnegies for rea... [...] }
- Reading about eReading this week 1/28/2013 « Allegany County Library System Director's Notes { [...] Dwarf-sized public e-libraries vs. abundance: Listen to veteran publishing guru Brian O’Leary and ... [...] }
- David Rothman { You're welcome, Anthony. Keep us posted if you can Amy-ize your new Fire without installing a full-strength version of Android. David } – Jan 19, 5:46 PM
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Recent Posts
- Obama speech and PTA-Amazon alliance validate LibraryCity’s K-12 priorities: Now how about a national digital library endowment?
- On Jillian the Tiger Cub, a national digital library endowment, and the power of the American ego
- E-book usability news: Adjustable line spacing now on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9” and perhaps other Fire HDs—although I still can’t narrow the spaces sufficiently
- Voice Dream e-reading app: Stellar for text to speech—and promising as a general reader
- Amazon’s book city #1 avoids cuts in library hours but still might reduce its library book budget—already below the U.S. per-capita average
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Tag Archives: national digital libraries
Sad fate of ‘Five Laws’ book shows need for DPLA-related efforts to keep old masterpieces alive
Oh, the irony! In The Five Laws of Library Science, S. R. Ranganathan argued in the 1930s for libraries as improvers of life for rich and poor alike. Now Google Books has digitized 30 million titles, but you won’t find Laws on the Web in its entirety from Google at any price. You’ll see a [...]
eBooks, National Digital Public Library
Also tagged academic librarians, academic libraries, Digital Public Library of America, Don Smith, Donald R. Smith, Donald Smith, DPLA, education, k-12, librarianship, national digital libraies, national digital library, public librarians, public libraries, public schools, Robert Darnton, schools
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How a national digital library system could serve K-12: A veteran teacher and school librarian speaks out
Donald R. Smith spent 40 years as a public and private school teacher and as a school librarian. A Brown University graduate living in Howell, New Jersey, he is an Apple Distinguished Educator (“’Class’ of 1995,” the first). Also see other thoughts on the DPLA and K-12. – D.R. In responding to your concerns for [...]
FAQ on National Digital Library endowment plan going online this weekend: Be a part of it
Update, April 18, 2013: The FAQ is here. Feedback still welcome! Librarians and others can help build a National Digital Library Endowment FAQ—with questions, suggested answers and other ideas. Just email. Yes, I know: If you’re a typical librarian, for example, you’re busy enough with your regular work But this is an invitation to those [...]
Dwarf-sized public e-libraries vs. abundance: Listen to veteran publishing guru Brian O’Leary and librarian Sarah Houghton
People in Bexar County, Texas, should be excited about the 10,000-e-book “BiblioTech” library system that the country is starting from scratch—without paper books. This is reportedly the first U.S. public library system to shun paper, cardboard and ink, except for computer printouts. Any books are better than none, and besides, the 10K figure encompasses only [...]
Tell Dec. 6 DPLA hackfest what a good blog editor/creation tool should be like—to help libraries and patrons easily create their own stuff
If only WordPress, Drupal and the like were as easy to use as Windows Live Writer (screenshot) or at least the less cluttered versions of Microsoft Word! Inserting images and sizing and positioning them just right, for example, can be so much simpler with LW and Word. That’s why, here and here, I urged the [...]
New DPLA board somewhat weak in areas such as science, small-town libraries and public K-12 education, but shows balance on the whole
No K-12 educators. No local public librarians, even. No members of minorities. Those were among the shortcomings of the steering committee of the Digital Public Library of America in the DPLA’s earliest days. Academics ran the show. But the steering committee (photo) grew more balanced. And its successor, the board of directors of the new [...]
Q. & A. with DPLA leader John Palfrey on closed meetings, the controversial P Word and other governance issues
We’re indebted to the Digital Public Library of America, hosted by Harvard’s Berkman Center, for raising interest in the national digital library issue. At the same time, questions persist on topics ranging from the DPLA’s closed steering committee meetings to the “Public” in the organization’s name. Ahead are replies from DPLA Chair John Palfrey. Thanks, [...]
Five ways the DPLA can fix itself—while reshuffling the current crew, not banishing anyone
What a joke is the Harvard-hosted Digital “Public” Library of America. Imagine—closed steering committee meetings of the so-called public library group, just like the Porcellian Club. And meanwhile the DPLA is a mess on the whole, caught between the oft-conflicting needs of public and academic libraries. But fixable? Absolutely if the DPLA leaders will open [...]
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 American libraries, Berkman Center, copyright, Deanna Marcum, Digital Public Library of America, DPLA, e-books, ebooks, elitist, Harvard, Harvard University, John Palfrey, librarians, librarianship, library of congress, oligarchies, public librarians, public libraries, Steering Committee
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Flaws of Harvard-hosted Digital ‘Public’ Library of America: Too secretive, too oligarchical and not responsive enough to U.S. library needs—especially for modern e-books
Update, Oct. 20, 2012: The DPLA is now much more open than in the past, and I can now strongly recommend the group to prospective funders. A fashionable line in the media these days is, “Elections have consequences.” So does governance, whether of the local Rotary Club, the United States of America, or a Harvard-hosted group [...]
The $50 e-book-capable tablet: When will the Harvard-hosted DPLA and friends care about hardware-related digital divide issues?
The right gizmos could help bring library e-books and other media to America’s poor and our cash-strapped middle class. But at least publicly, the Harvard-hosted Digital Public Library of America has downplayed the hardware issue despite some nonhardware goodies envisioned for all kinds of libraries and their users. Both scholarly and nonscholarly priorities count. I [...]