Well-stocked national digital libraries in U.S. and elsewhere: One way to remember Sen. Edward Kennedy

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By David Rothman

The General Services Administration wanted to bill me thousands of dollars for copies of government offices leases. It was an epic Freedom of Information battle and made the CBS evening news.

I won in the end, but only thanks to the intervention of Ted Kennedy—whose committee staffers knew my work might  raise questions about Democrats’ ethics. In fact, that’s exactly what happened. Knowingly or not, Sen.Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut had held a secret and illegal investment in a building that GSA (photo) leased for the CIA.

In fighting for Net neutrality—the topic of the YouTube to the right— Kennedy evinced a similar same spirit of openness. I’m not familiar with all his copyright stands, but in general Kennedy was clearly a friend of the Net. And now a suggestion.

While health care was clearly Kennedy’s Number One Issue, is it possible we could also remember him through the establishment of a well-stocked national digital library system in the TeleRead vein?

Sen. Kennedy, after all, was famous for his interest in education, too. Not just the U.S. health system but also America’s schools and libraries are famous for “savage inequalities,” and the Net and the other technology could help reduce them. In fact, the same gear suitable for reading books might work in some cases for helping citizens deal with healthcare issues, taxes and other paperwork. A heavily standards-based approach could reduce the need for actual procurement.

Recently the Democratic Leadership Council came up with a Kindle-centric proposal called “A Kindle in Every Backpack.” That’s not entirely without merit, but we really should be thinking of students being able to use a wide variety of devices—from netbooks to desktops—rather than just Kindle-style tablets. Moreover we need to think about appropriate content, too, as well as properly blending this initiative in with schools and libraries. A comprehensive approach in the TeleRead vein would be an apt way to remember Sen. Kennedy. What’s more, if the U.S. worked toward similar systems in other countries, especially underdeveloped ones, then so much the better.

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