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Interviewed by Anna Maria Tammaro Digital Library Perspectives
Plamen Miltenoff is the Scholarly Communication Librarian at University of Minnesota Duluth. He has an international background with studies in Bulgaria, the former Soviet Union, Austria and the USA and with practical experience and theoretical research in the digital library context both in Europe and in the USA. His latest research, publications and presentations focus on immersive teaching and learning, online interaction between teachers and students in the hybrid classroom and social media for institutional use.
As a privileged witness of the digital transformation of libraries, we asked him for his opinion on the impact of the partnership between the Library and the Digital Humanities scholars for digital library services and tools.
Q1: What resources, services and what tools do you make available to facilitate the digital transformation?
The digital transformation initiative is one of the European Parliament’s priorities. The push for Open Science is very well reflected in the countries of the European Union, and the US federal government only in the last year is aiming to build a centralized strategic approach in this direction.
In that sense, the changes in the digital world, equated to the EU “digital transformation,” are more sporadic. There are projects on the national level, such as the National Digital Newspaper Program [1], a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Another such endeavor is the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) [2]:
The Digital Public Library of America amplifies the value of libraries and cultural organizations as Americans’ most trusted sources of shared knowledge. We do this by collaborating with partners to accelerate innovative tools and ideas that empower and equip libraries to make information more accessible.
Large and financially able educational and cultural institutions, such as the ones participating in the Ivy + or Big Ten Academic Alliance are able to provide the resources and services needed and less fortunate ones are falling behind. At state level, the Minnesota Digital Library [3], the California Digital Library [4], the Texas Digital Library [5] are some examples.
However, the USA is failing to remain a leader in such transformation, and digital models are appropriated by China and similar “authoritarian-minded actors,” subverting civil liberties such as...