Books are weapons in the war of ideas

David Weinberger describes a visit to the Open Content Alliance's scanning operation at Boston Public Library. A healthy dose of optimism after the sad news that Microsoft has stopped its scanning operation. The title of the post and the image on the right is from a U.S. Government war poster digitized by Boston Public. You can see the rest of the set or more from Boston Public at Flickr.

Congratulations to Boston Public and the Open Content Alliance.

 
[disclosure: I work on Google Book Search]

Two Library Happenings

Both very happy. Paul Courrant, the University of Michigan's University Librarian, is blogging and Kenneth Crews is going to be Director of Columbia University Library's Copyright Advisory Office. What is a "Copyright Advisory Office?" From the release:
In his new position, Crews will advise on the application of copyright policies to teaching, research, and scholarly communication within the University. His responsibilities will include educating faculty, staff, and students about copyright through web-based information, publications, training programs, and conferences.
Two smart library folk. Glad that I'll get to hear them more.