Digital Public Library of America: Some announcements and reviews (updated)

Probably the best third-party article on the Digital Public Library of America appeared in Arts Technica, with the not-so-good title of “The Digital Public Library of America: adding Gravitas to your Internet Search.” In the coming years, the DPLA has a few evident goals: getting contemporary works into the database, working with state and regional… Continue reading Digital Public Library of America: Some announcements and reviews (updated)

Rosenbach Library and Museum to merge with Philadelphia Free Library [updated]

The Rosenbach Library & Museum of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Free Library have announced plans to merge. The press release notes that bridge funding for the merger (the details of which have not been announced) has been provided in part by the Pew Charitable Trust. Rosenbach Museum and Library 2008-2010 Delancey Place Philadelphia, PA 19103… Continue reading Rosenbach Library and Museum to merge with Philadelphia Free Library [updated]

DPLA Launch event canceled but DPLA to go live on Thursday April 18

The Digital Public Library of America‘s launch event, to have taken place at the Boston Public Library where a bomb exploded on Monday during the Boston Marathon, has been canceled. The DPLA will still go live on Thursday April 18. Article here. The DPLA will have a larger event in the fall which will evolve… Continue reading DPLA Launch event canceled but DPLA to go live on Thursday April 18

The Marks of a Hoax: Dickens and Dostoevsky

Copy of a Photograph of Charles Dickens (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Russian literature specialist Eric Naiman describes a fake anecdote in “When Dickens met Dostoevsky,” (TLS 10 April 2013), and the bizarre, convoluted, trail that led him to find multiple pseudonyms of someone who seems to be a disgruntled independent scholar. I think some points turned… Continue reading The Marks of a Hoax: Dickens and Dostoevsky

eBooks and doing the reading for students

PROmedia eBook Reader (Photo credit: PiAir (Old Skool)) Pierre Tristam at FlaglerLive (Flagler County, FL) writes about new EdTech software from CourseSmart that allows teachers to see how much of the reading a student has done. Setting aside pedagogy and the old tradition of fooling the prof, Tristam argues about the nature of reading: Reading… Continue reading eBooks and doing the reading for students

Uncomfortable truths: Vichy France

Robert Paxton writes an informed and interesting review (pay walled) at the New York Review of Books, on Vichy’s continuing influence. (Most interesting aside: ” I was surprised myself to learn that Mozart had been little played in France before 1940, and that his prominence since 1945 in the French operatic and symphonic repertoire is… Continue reading Uncomfortable truths: Vichy France