Tag Archives: Robert Darnton

LibraryCity’s take on K-12 libraries and the Digital Public Library of America

Yes, LibraryCity has been on an S. R. Ranganathan kick lately (here and here). Still ahead is a DPLA-related essay on his Five Laws of Library Science as applied to K-12, including school libraries—a follow-up to the LibraryCity post by Apple Distinguished Educator Donald R. Smith, a teacher-librarian with 40 years of experience. If you [...]

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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 [...]

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The risks if the DPLA won’t create a full-strength national digital library system: Setbacks for K-12, family literacy, local libraries, preservation, digital divide efforts?

Attn. LibraryCity visitors: You can participate remotely in a DPLA board meeting starting 11 a.m. EST, Monday, December 17. The teachers didn’t show up… Not one current K-12 teacher was among the two dozen or so attendees at the Audience and Participation Workstream of the Digital Public Library of America this month—even though the DPLA [...]

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Why librarians, the media, philanthropists, and politicians should care about the Digital Public Library of America

I typed both “DPLA” and “Digital Public Library of America” into Google News today and saw nary an article in English, just a few mentions in French and Polish. Skeptics notwithstanding, however, the Harvard-hosted group is actually picking up steam, making it worthier of attention from the library world, the media, philanthropists, and politicians controlling [...]

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On ‘Open Mind’ PBS program: DPLA proposer’s inconsistencies show why we need TWO national digital library systems—one academic and one public

Quiz! Which of these direct quotes came from a public-TV interview with Harvard’s Robert Darnton, the original proposer of the Digital Public Library of America? 1. “Now the DPLA…those of us who are trying to organize it, haven’t yet reached a decision about how close to the contemporary market we want to come. Some would [...]

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DPLA vs. real public libraries? New camels’ noses under the tent? ‘Concept note’ goes beyond ‘digital’

Part I of Historical Society blog interview with DPLA advocate Robert Darnton The Digital Public Library of America is out with a new "concept note,” and, alas, our DPLA friends still don’t grasp the franchise and branding issues of genuine public libraries—cash-strapped and already having their roles chipped away by Amazon, Google, and others. Perhaps [...]

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DPLA still clinging to ‘Public’ in name—despite risks to the franchise and branding of America’s public libraries

When is a library truly “public” in the traditional American sense, the one on which thousands of genuinely public libraries have built their branding? Should the Digital Public Library of America protect public libraries’ franchise and branding by dropping the “Public” from the DPLA’s name? Most emphatically. And along the way, the DPLA should reorganize [...]

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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 [...]

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My Chronicle of Higher Education essay: ‘It’s Time for a National Digital-Library System. But it can’t serve only elites’

Update: Gary Price’s INFOdocket post on the Chronicle essay Hello to the Chronicle of Higher Education readers dropping by—in the wake of my essay, It’s time for a National Digital-Library System. But it can’t serve only elites. John Palfrey, head of the steering committee for the valuable Digital Public Library of America initiative at Harvard’s [...]

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