Digital Library Digest: April 6, 2012

Robert Darnton talks DPLA at Columbia Law. “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’s article in The Guardian, “America digital public library promised for 2013″

Libraries take hold on Facebook thanks to new apps. “Recently released apps from ChiliFresh and SirsiDynix allow library OPACs and Facebook to play nice together. Both apps integrate OPAC functionality into library Facebook pages, enabling patrons to search the catalog, place holds, log into their accounts, and pay fines — all from within Facebook.” From Michael Kelly’s article on The Digital Shift, “New Apps Bring OPAC Functionality to Library Facebook Pages”

American Revolution to benefit from digital revolution treatment. “Thousands of historical documents at The New York Public Library – including material handwritten by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and papers from authors such as Mark Twain – will soon be accessible to the public online, thanks in large part due to a generous gift of $500,000 from The Polonsky Foundation.” Via INFOdocket.

Libraries Online Incorporated push back against Random House ebook price hike. “Libraries Online Incorporated (LION), a consortium of twenty-five Connecticut public, academic, and school libraries, has imposed a moratorium on the purchase of ebooks from Random House.  The action, which was unanimously approved by LION members on March 20, is in response to the March 1 price hike put in place by Random House that doubled and sometimes tripled the price of ebooks for libraries.” From Paul Biba’s TeleRead article, “Consortium of 25 Libraries in Connecticut Votes to Boycott Random House”