Press: “First thoughts after the DPLA launch and workstream meetings”

“So in conclusion I’d say it’s nice to feel like we are moving forward, and touch briefly on Amanda French’s idea that we need to have a building- a giant DPLA structure- a monument to this effort and to digital knowledge. I’m very much in agreement that this will need a physical footprint and that merely building a web platform, code, and APIs is not enough. That said, a centralized building feels like a mistake to me, and I’d suggest that some kind of distributed, networked architecture that is visable in, on or around library locations across the country would be more effective. We have a public library infrastructure, it’s amazing, and we should be proud to transition it into this new time. I don’t doubt that a centralized building will exist for the DPLA one day, it is almost instinctive to build monuments to great efforts. But any public librarian will tell you this: it’s in the library branches where all the real action is. That is where we need the physical manifestation of this thing.”

From Nate Hill’s post on the Public Library Association Blog, First thoughts after the DPLA launch and workstream meetings