If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we launch the Library of Congress into cyberspace? That's the question a "Yes, We Scan" initiative launched Dec. 21 is asking.
Such a project would be the public equivalent of the Google Books Library Project – which is digitizing books in the world's great libraries and offering them online – creating access to our nation's cultural, scientific, educational and historical resources.
Taking advantage of the White House "We, the People" petition website, open government advocate Carl Malamud and John Podesta of the Center for American Progress are asking people to sign a petition. It requests that the president establish a commission to outline a national strategy within a year for scanning the holdings of the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and other federal institutions.
The petition has to get 25,000 signatures within 30 days (by Jan. 20). White House staff will then review it and issue an official response. As of Friday, it had 414 signatures.
This task is as important as when President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the National Archives Council to figure out how better to preserve the records of government.
The aim now, as Podesta and Malamud have said, is "to lay the cornerstone for our own era, to anchor our digital age with the vast holdings of our government so that we may promote the useful arts and the progress of science."
The European Union's Europeana Libraries Project is ahead of the United States. From Spanish Civil War photographs to handwritten letters from philosopher Immanuel Kant to Ottoman manuscripts, Europe is digitizing and making its heritage accessible. The United States should, too.
What you can do
Find more information and a link to the "Yes, We Scan" petition, at:
yeswescan.org
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.