Frustratingly, Washington for now does not grasp the full potential of a national digital library system truly serving the masses. In effect, at least unofficially, the Obama White House has farmed out the issue to a group hosted at the president’s old law school: the Harvard-based Digital Public Library of America initiative.

Add it all up and the numbers say that if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century, don’t count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students. “Today’s learning outcomes at school,” says Schleicher, “are a powerful predictor for the wealth and social outcomes that countries will reap in the long run.”

Libraries face a “bleak future” because of cuts and underfunding, campaigners will warn the Government.  A new alliance, Speak up for Libraries, will tell ministers that support for libraries is long overdue and that has plunged the service into a “crisis”.  More than 100 libraries have either closed or are being run by volunteers in the past year, while those left open were being “pared to the bone” because of cuts, according to a study by Unison.  Campaigners will join a rally in London ahead of a hearing by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee on library closures.

For some New Orleanians, the story of the post-Katrina public library system’s resurrection might read like a never-ending tale. While officials managed to reopen five of the 13 storm-damaged locations quickly, many neighborhoods have been forced to rely on makeshift mini-libraries housed in trailers, bookmobiles, elementary schools and abandoned retail spaces, including a former video rental store on North Carrollton Avenue.

PayPal, the online payments arm of eBay, has asked some e-book distributors to ban books that contain “obscene” themes including rape, bestiality or incest, MSNBC reports.  PayPal threatened e-book publisher and distributor Smashwords, saying it would limit the company’s PayPal account unless Smashwords removed from its Web site e-books “containing themes of rape, incest, bestiality and underage subjects”.