Here are three questions and answers from the complete interview that appears in the July 24, 2011 edition of the Boston Globe: IDEAS: So why not leave it to Google? DARNTON: It became clear, as Google's project evolved, that it would be a commercial enterprise, and in fact an enterprise attached to a gigantic monopoly. A monopoly, perhaps, with the best intentions, but that would not necessarily serve the public good, because of course Google's primary responsibility would be to its shareholders .[Clip] IDEAS: So what would a digital public library be like? What would it do? DARNTON: It doesn't look like everybody's image of...

From the Khaleej Times: Dubai's and the Middle East's first electronic library is a far cry from those of another era which housed dusty books on rusty bookshelves. "This is just an idea, the first step towards something big and different. The library has many e-services like different online databases that offer access to different technologies and has more computers and fewer books. The response towards the library in terms of members and visitors has been very good," said Eissa Abdulla Khalaf Abdulla, Library Services Officer, Public Libraries Department, Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. Being the first electronic library in the Middle East,...

From the Encyclopædia Britannica Blog Top 10 Most-Read Articles on Britannica for 2010 Here are The Top 3 From the List: 1. French Revolution 2. Romanticism 3. Civil Rights Movement Plus, a Few Bonus Nuggets: + Barack Obama ranked at #258, while Ronald Reagan, the most-read U.S. presidential article, was 19th + India was the 2nd-most-viewed country article; China was 29th + Sir Isaac Newton (#42) bested Shakespeare (#43) and JFK (#44) Top 10 Most-Viewed Images on Britannica.com for 2010 Here are The Top 3 From the List: 1. Bones of the hand and wrist 2. Posterior view of the muscles of the human leg 3. Bernese mountain dog Via Resource Shelf...

Google eBooks is now available on the web at http://books.google.com/ebooks Press Review: + Official Blog Post and Video We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the new Google eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage. In addition to a full-featured web reader, free apps for Android and Apple devices will make it possible to shop...

From an Article by David Sarno: "It's very common for people to say, 'Why do I need a library when I've got a computer?' " said Pam Sandlian-Smith, director of the seven-branch Rangeview, Colo., Library District. "We have to reframe what the library means to the community." In the struggle to stay relevant — and ultimately to stay open — libraries are reinventing themselves in ways unimaginable even a few years ago, preparing for a future in which most materials can be checked and read from a home computer, smart phone or electronic reading device. University and public libraries are rushing to push...

Wordnik continues to be one of our favorite (useful, educational, fun) online databases. It provides access to definitions from a number of dictionaries and other word resources, thesaurus, word/phrase translation option, pronunciations (audio), tools to create and share word lists, and much more. In the past few days Wordnik announced that they've added truncation (including left-hand truncation) and a number of wildcards to search the main database and lists. From the Wordnik Blog: The * wildcard matches any number of characters: http://www.wordnik.com/search/*tacular ? matches any single character: http://www.wordnik.com/search/f?t Or you can limit single-character wildcards to just vowels or just consonants with @ and # respectively: http://www.wordnik.com/search/f@rt http://www.wordnik.com/search/#at Searching without...

We posted about WorldReader twice so far this year. Today, some exciting news from WorldReader will make for post number three. First, in April we linked to news about the WorldReader program sending Kindles (with the help of Amazon) to test the e-reader in four African nations and see if it can help boost literacy. Testing in Ghana, Rwanda, and Kenya. Second, at the beginning of this month (October 2010), we linked to several articles about WorldReader announcing plans to digitize books by African authors and sell them via Amazon.com. More than 10 titles are already on sale. Today, news that Random House has donated "thousands of...

From an Announcement: Gale, part of Cengage Learning, today announced the availability of the first AccessMyLibrary Public Edition Android application and the first AccessMyLibrary College Edition application for iOS devices (iPhone, iTouch and iPad). [Clip] The AML Public Edition Android app allows researchers using an Android device to access Gale resources through public libraries within a 10-mile radius, similar to the Public Edition applications already created for Apple devices. The AML College Edition is the first Gale app for college students and gives them anytime, anywhere access to the Gale resources available through their college library. Students can use the app to locate their...

From Asia Pulse: A common e-book format will likely be available in Japan as early as April, making content viewable on any reader device. Sharp Corp. and e-book software developer Voyager Japan Inc. will submit the specifications of their formats free of charge to the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan. The trade organization, consisting of 41 major publishers, will then create a common format by the end of March. The government will provide 150 million yen (US$1.8 million) as a subsidy. Currently, publishers must pay fees when they convert their e-book content to fit various formats created by reader device manufacturers. This has...

Report Homepage Complete Report (HTML) ||| PDF (15 pages) The report includes seven charts and graphs. Primary Findings: + Tablet computers and e-book readers – Compared to the other devices in this list, e-book readers (such as the Kindle) and tablet computers (such as the iPad) are relatively new arrivals to the consumer technology scene and are owned by a relatively modest number of Americans. However, these devices are proving popular with traditional early adopter groups such as the affluent and highly educated--ownership rates for tablets and e-book readers among college graduates and those earning $75,000 or more per year are roughly double the national...

From a JISC (UK) Announcement: Visitors to OldWeather.org, which launches today, will be able to retrace the routes taken by any of 280 Royal Navy ships including historic vessels such as HMS Caroline, the last survivor of the 1916 Battle of Jutland still afloat. The naval logbooks contain a treasure trove of information but because the entries are handwritten they are incredibly difficult for a computer to read. By getting an army of online human volunteers to retrace these voyages and transcribe the information recorded by British sailors we can relive both the climate of the past and key moments in naval...

From a NARA Announcement: The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grantmaking arm of the National Archives, is pleased to announce a cooperative agreement with The University of Virginia (UVA) Press to make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America. The NHPRC and UVA Press will create a new web site which provides access to the fully annotated published papers of key figures in the nation’s Founding era. The project is designed to include the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. The National...