Never underestimate the power and glory of the American ego. Granted, it can show its bizarre sides—for example, in the antics and hairdo of Donald Trump. And yet I see the good, too. We have the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the rest, not “Library Donors Anonymous.” At least some might bristle at this quest for publicity and immortality, as opposed to pure altruism. But let’s remember that despite all the government-and-corporate-enforced conformity around us, we are still in many ways a nation of individualists. Didn’t Walt Whitman title a poem "Song of Myself," notwithstanding such lines as...

LibraryCity inspired mentions on The Atlantic magazine’s website and elsewhere with a call for a national digital library endowment for the United States. Endowment funds would come entirely or almost entirely from philanthropists, in the beginning at least, given the hostility of so many politicians toward new programs. The endowment would be just one source of library funding, but it could make a huge difference. Ahead is a follow-up, an informal FAQ, to which you can speed instantly; and LibraryCity will welcome your own questions, suggested answers, and other ideas via email or in the comments area. But first, some background for newcomers to these issues. Who says...

"Over the years I've often quoted David H. Rothman of Alexandria, Va., a pioneer in the entire field of electronic reading devices," writes James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, in an article about U.S. infrastructure that was published earlier this morning on The Atlantic's website. "[Rothman] was talking about his "Teleread" proposal many, many years [before] products like the Kindle, Nook, or iPad had been conceived." [caption id="attachment_79310" align="alignright" width="130"] David Rothman[/caption] In the same post, Fallows also emphasizes Rothman's philosophy of e-readers as "'public goods' and indispensable parts of the modern infrastructure of the 21st century, in much the way public libraries...

Warren Buffett was on CBS Sunday Morning. The interviewer, Rebecca Jarvis, asked if he owned an iPhone. No. iPad? No. “He prefers books,” she said in an admiring way, “and reads avidly.” As if electronic books don’t exist! As if millions of Americans are not downloading e-books to iPhones, iPads and other devices! As if a young Buffett today wouldn’t love to read scads of library e-books each year! No, I won’t beat up on either Buffett or Ms. Jarvis, given people’s varying tastes in reading formats. In fact, for retirement purposes, I’m a small shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's company, and I trust his long-term judgment...

Two good websites on learning disabilities show the need for separate but tightly intertwined national digital library systems. One system public, one academic. Neither site is a library’s. Friends of Quinn is a grassroots nonprofit featuring Quinn Bradlee, son of Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee—the legendary society columnist and the Watergate editor. LD OnLine is from WETA, a public broadcasting station in the Washington, D.C., area. Friends is livelier and folksier. It’s a “must” starting point for any library patron eager to find out about a child’s learning disability or maybe her own. LD OnLine is stodgier but more comprehensive, and many academics would favor it over Friends. Viva la difference! In...

Why a bestselling writer would be an excellent addition to the steering committee of the Harvard-hosted Digital Public Library of America: " Like it or not, a lot more public library patrons care about bestsellers and other commercial books than about academic works. Frustratingly, the Harvard-hosted Digital Public Library of America has no commercial writer or other nonacademic content provider on its 17-member steering committee. Nick Taylor, a prominent member of the Authors Guild, is wondering about writerly participation, and I don’t blame him. I raised a similar question in a Baltimore Sun article. Granted, writers can be overzealous in trying to protect...

Our founder David Rothman wrote an interesting column on how to use e-books as part of an educational strategy for encouraging children to read. He suggests that parents should aim for a mix of electronic and paper books, using paper books as “gateway drugs” to get kids interested and e-books for times when paper books are not available or appropriate. He also suggests that developers should look into different ways of using e-book content to make it more effective for learning. The effectiveness of the actual books for children is just one issue. As part of...

Netflix recently caused a stir when it decided to split its formerly-all-inclusive, DVD-rental-plus-streaming subscription fee into two separate subscriptions, effectively nearly doubling the price to those who wished to continue both streaming and receiving DVDs. A number of Netflix subscribers have been up in arms over this change. Gizmodo points out that this shows demand for DVDs is still tenacious—perhaps more so than Netflix expected when it bet so heavily on the streaming future. It costs Netflix as much as 75 cents each time it rents a DVD through the mail, while it may only cost 5 to 10...

Occasional TeleRead contributor Robert Nagle passed me a link to a review he lately posted of our founder David Rothman’s small-press-published novel, The Solomon Scandals, which recounts a journalist’s investigation of a scandal in 1970s Washington. Nagle quite liked the book, giving it four stars, though noting that the tone could get a little preachy at times. Ars Technica reports that Google will release the first e-ink reader optimized for Google Books in about a week. The iRiver Story HD, apparently a revision of iRiver’s 2009 Story e-reader, will include wifi and a qwerty keyboard, and cost $139.99 suggested retail when...

TeleRead's founder, David Rothman, has an article on today's front page of the Chronicle of Higher Education.  The article,  "It's Time for a National Digital-Library System," is familiar to most TeleRead visitors, describing his concept of a national digital library, as well as the support his idea has received from popular pundits: (William F.) Buckley loved my proposal ("inspiring") and came out in the 1990s with two syndicated columns backing the vision. As a harpsichord-playing Yalie famous for political and cultural conservatism and cherishing archaic words, Buckley was hardly a populist in most respects. But he fervently...

A few days ago, I mentioned the WordPress plug-in PadPressed, which makes blogs resemble Wordpad documents when read on the iPad. Now our founder and editor emeritus David Rothman has put that plug-in into use on his own blog about his book, The Solomon Scandals, with an emphasis on the availability of sample chapters and other material from the book in that format. Visit it from a desktop web browser and it looks perfectly ordinary. But go there via the iPad’s Mobile Safari, and the interface becomes essentially the same as an iPad app. You can even tap...

And speaking of school libraries, NPR reported a few days ago that they are increasingly becoming seen as a luxury where school budgets are concerned. Since there are few laws mandating that schools must have libraries, they are beginning to go by the wayside as budgets dwindle. But librarians do far more than just check out books. They help students with research and information technology, such as the Internet—or even e-books. Students, especially those from low-income families may not have access to the resources they need to do their schoolwork at home. [Rosemarie Bernier,...