Friday, January 21, 2005

Bookmobiles for the Digital Age: Conversation with Brewster Kahle

In Brewster Kahle's December 2004 speech at the Library of Congress, he talked about printing digitized books for $1.00 each from a bookmobile. The idea was to giveaway books (or sell them very cheaply) rather than loaning them. In this 2003 article from The Book & The Computer, we get more details on this remarkable -- and low cost -- bookmobile that he has constructed. This bookmobile is already being used in several areas of the world.

Librarians will likely not like some of the things Kahle says in this interview. Perhaps this is a "call" for libraries to think more creatively about what they do (i.e., disseminate information) and how they do it.

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