Robert Darnton has championed the concept of a national digital public library through a series of galvanizing essays in The New York Review of Books.

“On December 13, 2010, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society announced that the Center is hosting an initiative for a Digital Public Library of America involving a large and diverse group of stakeholders to define the scope, architecture, costs and administration for a proposed Digital Public Library of America.”

“Although librarians have been interested in creating a more expansive digital library for about 15 years, progress in mass digitization now is making this a more viable goal, said Maura Marx, a fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and executive director of the Open Knowledge Commons.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, public libraries are moving from being a place about products – books and magazines – to being a place about process – learning and creativity. In this transition, it makes sense for different branches of a public library system to develop different specialties.”

From David Rothman: “The library should serve not just the needs of academics, researchers, and lovers of high culture.”

“In October 2010, Robert Darnton, the historian and university librarian at Harvard, talked to Wired Campus about the possibility of building what was then being described as a National Digital Library.”

“Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society has announced it will research and plan an initiative to construct a ‘Digital Public Library of America’ with funding from the Sloan Foundation.”

“Given the worldwide climate of cutting libraries, the recent proposal for the establishment of a ‘Digital Public Library of America’ (DPLA) would seem to be either the product of a castles-in-the-sky delusions, or the result of watching too many Star Trek reruns. But it’s worth thinking through the DPLA for a few moments before dismissing it as unrealistic.”

“Last month, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard said it would coordinate a planning program for public and private groups interested in creating a ‘digital public library of America.”

“What is the ultimate goal of American libraries? That question has persistently nagged at me since library school, and I’ve become convinced the answer for 21st century libraries lies in the 18th century intellectual and cultural movement known as the Enlightenment.”

“In a private meeting convened by Pforzheimer University Professor Robert Darnton—arranged by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and funded by a private foundation—42 leaders of research libraries, major foundations, and national cultural institutions met in Cambridge to discuss how to work together toward the creation of a Digital Public Library of America.”

“By drawing on databases that already exist and that contain millions of books from the public domain, we can lay a firm foundation for the DPLA and build incrementally from there.”

“The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research program at Harvard Law School, announced December 13 that it will administer a collaborative effort whose goal is to create an overarching and open governing structure under which ongoing digitization projects, such as the HathiTrust and others, would willingly work.”

“The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research program at Harvard Law School, announced December 13 that it will administer a collaborative effort whose goal is to create an overarching and open governing structure under which ongoing digitization projects, such as the HathiTrust and others, would willingly work.”

“A National Digital Public Library that Harvard Library Director, Professor Robert Darnton has been talking and writing about for many months and others (for example, TeleRead Founder David Rothman have been talking and writing about for years) will soon be the topic of a research and planning initiative that will be hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard University Law School.”

“Harvard Law’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society has announced a ‘research and planning initiative’ to construct and open a so-called digital public library.”

The Berkman Center for Internet and Society today announced that it will host a research and planning initiative for a “Digital Public Library of America.”

From David Rothman: “But there is one thing I currently cannot do with my Kindle despite all the sizzle in the commercials–read public library books.”

“Can the nonprofit world create a national digital library to put America’s collective intellectual wealth within everyone’s reach? Robert Darnton, the historian who directs the Harvard University Library, has been one of the most public champions of the idea.”

“A universal collection of knowledge. What libraries have always striven to provide, and what library patrons have always desired, has now been made possible by new information technologies.”