This week’s digest covers a grant for Illinois public libraries to close the digital divide, a milestone for Project Gutenberg, a new initiative from the OCLC, and an OSU literary map of Africa.

The Audience & Participation workstream held its second workshop at the Enoch ​free ​Public Library in Baltimore, MD on July 27, 2012.

Nate Hill, a member of the Audience & Participation workstream, is featured as the Chattanooga Public Library’s new assistant director of technology and digital initiatives.

Pamela Samuleson examines the nuances of copyright as the DPLA endeavors to achieve a comprehensive, national digital library.

The DPLA will participate in the Mozilla Ignite challenge as part of the White House’s newly announced US Ignite Partnership.

This week’s digest features New York’s plans for digital literacy workshops, Princeton’s collection of digitized texts from the American Revolution, a new e-book lending platform in North Carolina, and the ongoing HathiTrust lawsuit.

In a survey of 2,000 cultural heritage institutions the ENUMERATE project’s 2012 report reveals Europe’s current state of digitization.

The Technical Development team has produced a high-level document outlining the integrated development plan for the DPLA platform and front-end.

This week’s digest covers the digitization of Iranian manuscripts, the restoration of the New York Public Library’s budget, a call to action for librarians, and Wiley’s new head of open access projects.

“We should emphasize that libraries are not frills. They are not luxuries, but a sacred component of American education and American democracy.”

“In our digital age, this balance between public and private extends far beyond libraries. Digital data operate differently than analog artifacts. The Internet infrastructure and the digital information that travels over this infrastructure challenge the classical economic conception of what constitutes a public good.”

Steering Committee Chair John Palfrey thanks the Interim Technical Development team for their incredible work and outlines plans moving forward in this blog post.

American Libraries Senior Editor George Eberhart interviews David Weinberger, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, about the development and vision of the Digital Public Library of America, information overload, the limits of computer analysis, linked data, bias in classification, how human brains may currently be evolving, and more.

This week’s digest features the preservation and digitization of Balinese lontar (palmyra leaf) manuscripts, the rise of the digital humanities, JSTOR’s new book program, and a look at the MyiLibrary e-book platform.

A new startup in the library universe is “ungluing” already-published works and turning them into free, legal e-books, one campaign at a time.

Work on the joint DPLA-Europeana virtual exhibition continues apace, with a launch anticipated in December 2012.

Amanda French proposes grounding the digital library in a physical space.

A joint statement issued by library systems across the United States and Canada advocates for improved e-book access for library patrons.

This week’s edition of the Digital Library Digest covers the ongoing battle between librarians and publishers over e-book access, a patent to deter textbook piracy, a new OA journal with a promising business model, and the debut of the Cervantes Institute’s virtual library.

John Palfrey’s lecture at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania outlines the planning process and vision of the DPLA.