John Palfrey, MacArthur Foundation, October 1, 2023 To all the people of Concord, Massachusetts, and particularly to the town’s fabulous library staff and supporters: congratulations on your 150th anniversary! Thank you for the honor of inviting me to share a few thoughts on this historic day, in this historic place. We should pause when things go … Read more
The Web turns 25 years old this year. What has changed since Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN in Switzerland, released this gift to the world in 1989? The easier question to answer might be to ask what hasn’t changed. The widespread use of the Web in communities all around the world has touched … Read more
My favorite tweet in a long time, courtesy of @electriclit: It’s going to be a good day. The Digital Public Library of America opens at noon: j.mp/15hTf0w // @dpla Today is launch day for the DPLA. Hooray! So many people have worked so very hard in the past two years to get the plan down, … Read more
The New York Times is running one of its Room for Debate series on the future of libraries. The four debaters (so far) are Luis Herrera, director of the San Francisco Public Library (and a board member of the Digital Public Library of America); Susan Crawford, visiting professor at Harvard Law School; Buffy J. Hamilton, … Read more