Great Regulars: An American digital public library

of over two million books will be in place by next April, according to scholar, author and Harvard University librarian Robert Darnton.

Professor Darnton, speaking at Columbia Law School earlier this week, made the public promise that the Digital Public Library of America, a non-profit initiative first dreamed up in October 2010, "will be up and running by April 2013, and its initial holdings will include at least two million books in the public domain accompanied by a dazzling array of special collections far richer than anything available through Google".

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: American digital public library promised for 2013

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First, the plan to make libraries part of the "big society" could be on shaky ground following yesterday's high court ruling that Surrey county council's plans to replace paid staff at 10 libraries with volunteers was unlawful. It boils down to an issue over equality, and Surrey is saying its proposals "could still go ahead". But it's nonetheless the first legal acknowledgment that trained library staff are, actually, rather special.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Take heart, fellow library lovers, the writing isn't on the wall quite yet

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