The New York Times (@NYTimes) reports the Digital Public Library of America (#DPLA) is still in its infancy, but it’s a concept supported by librarians from major universities and officials from the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The project’s ambitious mission, recently described in a four-page memorandum, is to “make the cultural and scientific heritage of humanity available, free of charge, to all.”
The project is playing catch up not only to Google, but also to Europe, where several countries have proceeded with large digitization projects. The European Commission has backed Europeana, (@EuropeanaEU) a website where users can search for digital copies of 15 million works of art, books, music and video held by the cultural institutions of member countries.
Also see LibraryCity (@LibraryCity).