By Lynne Raughley

University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Paul Courant (photo left) has been appointed to the inaugural Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Board of Directors. The DPLA, an initiative whose goal is to realize a large-scale digital public library that will make the cultural and scientific record available to all, is currently hosted at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

According to the DPLA announcement, the inaugural board “will support the DPLA’s goal of creating and maintaining a free, open, and sustainable national digital library resource.”

The five-member board includes public and research librarians, technologists, intellectual property scholars, and business experts.

“The cause of making cultural and scholarly works broadly available to residents of our country is a noble one,” Courant says. “We have a tremendous opportunity to work with people and institutions across the country in the interest of making it easy for all to find and use library collections.”

Courant, who was instrumental to the creation of the HathiTrust Digital Library, has served on the DPLA Steering Committee since its inception in October 2010.