ATGthePodcast 117 - Views From the Penthouse Suite Interview with John Palfrey

Against the Grain - The Podcast

In today's episode we will feature an interview with John Palfrey, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This interview is part of the popular "Views from the Penthouse Suite" series and was conducted by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries.

In this episode, John talks about his keynote presentation at the 2020 Charleston Conference titled "Do Librarians Matter and What Might Matter to Librarians?" He discusses the need for a digital public infrastructure, and how librarians can play a major role in the development of such an infrastructure. He says radical collaboration is needed among collection specialists, and librarians should pool efforts to fund the Digital Public Library of America and help set standards. He says collective, well coordinated action will give more power to librarians. John also discusses how librarians can use their well earned position of trust to combat misinformation.

John talks with us about his book Bibliotech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google. He says a reform of the Copyright Act is needed to make it easier for collection librarians to handle the digital side more effectively. He also gives his take on what libraries can do to better receive funding and support from large foundations for new ideas or projects.

Video of the Presentation is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV2uK1t8yzA