![\"dan_cohen_dpla_sitting\"](\"http:\/\/sites.hampshire.edu\/theharold\/files\/2013\/03\/dan_cohen_dpla_sitting.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe long-planned Digital Public Library of America is set to make its public debut on schedule next month, with a two-day series of events, to be held April 18-19 at the Boston Public Library, and a new, high-profile leader at the helm. The DPLA announced on Tuesday that Daniel J. Cohen, a leading digital-humanities scholar, will be the project\u2019s founding executive director.<\/p>\n
Mr. Cohen comes to the project from George Mason University, where he directs the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. In the announcement, John Palfrey, president of the DPLA\u2019s Board of Directors, praised Mr. Cohen\u2019s contributions to libraries and digital scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has led major open-source development projects, helped to digitize important works of culture, supported teachers and students in accessing fantastic digital materials, and written about the importance of libraries, archives, and museums in a digital age,\u201d Mr. Palfrey wrote. (Mr. Cohen was named one of The Chronicle\u2019s top tech innovators last year.)<\/p>\n
Mr. Cohen will move to Boston this year to assume his new duties. In an interview, he called the chance to help build the DPLA \u201cone of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.\u201d The idea of \u201ca large-scale online library is something truly special for the 21st century,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He sketched out a vision of the DPLA as both a gatherer of information and a gateway to it. It will be \u201can important nationwide collaboration of state and regional digital libraries who will bring together all the local content and bring it upstream to this giant ocean that will be the DPLA,\u201d he said. \u201cThe DPLA, in turn, will redirect the general public and scholars and teachers\u201d to digital collections and cultural resources across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that we can bring all this content to Americans and people all across the world is tremendously compelling,\u201d Mr. Cohen said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n