Press: “How Will We Read: In Public Libraries?”

C.M. Rubin: “Thoughts on the Google book digitization project?”

Molly Raphael: “Google Books has been a topic of conversation since it started. Now the intellectual copyright issues are in the courts for resolution. There are other digitization projects that are also underway. Some only digitize books that are in public domain, so they don’t have the kinds of issues Google Books does. There is an effort that is being initiated at Harvard at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society called the Digital Public Library of America. That project is looking at digitization that would be comprehensive. This effort is in early planning phases, figuring out what the scope would be, the governance, and other key issues. I think the whole area of properties that aren’t born digital is going to be center stage for a while until a number of these issues get resolved. Libraries and library leaders are very interested and involved because digitization holds potential for making resources accessible in ways never imagined decades ago.”

From C.M. Rubin’s interview with Molly Raphael, President of the American Library Association, on the Huffington Post, How Will We Read: In Public Libraries?