Director of the Harvard University Library is in Brazil joining journalists in a couple of events. Newspaper report adds a 'pinch'

Robert Darnton, director of the Harvard University's library, is in Brazil, taking part in the Forth International Congress on Cultural Journalism "Cult" held in São Paulo. He has been interviewed by Folha de S.Paulo, leading to an article published yesterday in a section of the paper that is not the one which normally houses the cultural matters. There is what appears an excuse: a smaller heading saying 'eleventh hour'.

Yesterday was one of the hottest days ever in autumn in the city. A photo shows Darnton without a suit, the collar free from a tie and open. His face is of an unusual red, and uneven tones in it may be due to the conditions of the picture itself rather than of the skin proper. The paper claims he has given a seminar exclusively for some of its journalists. None of them signs the article, though.

Short biography

It is said that Darnton's parents were journalists; he has a degree from Oxford University (UK) - history as major is implied - and is a specialist in French Revolution and in the history of the press and the book. Such information is incomplete or differs somewhat from what is found in his page as faculty of Harvard - http://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/faculty/darnton.php

Two of his books, Folha goes on, have been published in Brazil: O Iluminismo como negócio (1987) and Os best sellers proibidos  da França pré-revolucionária (1996). The newspaper fails to point out both works, under these titles in Portuguese, are not available according to Amazon. The Brazilian editor - Companhia das Letras - could not be reached on the internet (site temporary unavailable) as we have just attempted to access it.

Darnton's page, in turn, teaches us that the former book was originally published in 1979, thus many years before the 1987 Brazilian edition, as The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie. The latter first came out as The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Prerevolucionary France in 1995. The two works make little when having in mind that, his site adds, the professor has edited 'two dozen books'. Drawing on Folha's article, we realize most of his books remain without translation into Portuguese, including that which is considered, says the site already mentioned, his most popular one, translated into 16 languagues: The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984); indeed this is the first that appears in a search on Amazon.

 Talking to Folha de S.Paulo journalists

We have selected some quotes from what was published as part of his talk to that newspaper journalists (the translation into English is mine):

I still believe that the personal contact of the journalist with his source or with facts does make a huge difference. There is no point in just reproducing what is on the twitter or blogs.

Google lobbied other universities to digitalize any book, not only those in the public domain. The idea was to sell access to the works for a price they themselves would stipulate. In the end, the agreement was vetoed by justice. Meanwhile, I invited the heads of the libraries to create a digital version similiar to Google's, with millions of books, but free. We managed to raise fund among private foundations. In April [2013] an enormous digital library will go on the air, one which anyone will be able to access without spending a penny. Creating such platform to share knowledge is being the greatest opportunity in my life. We are studying alternatives of negotiating in face of copyright ownership.

The new generation [of Americans] is learning Spanish and Chinese [Portuguese is not mentioned...]

People say that books and libraries are obsolete. That is nonsense: there are more people in our libraries today than ever before. If the student has an assignment, he is going, of course, to use Google or the Wikipedia. But that is not enough. He looks for a librarian. They have developed for themselves a new function, which is to guide through the cyberspace. 

I believe that printed and online books are not at war; they are supplementary.

From: "Diretor de Harvard apresenta biblioteca digital gratuita", Folha de S.Paulo, 30.05.2011, p. A18
Note: the title of the newpaper article right above says the Harvard director (Darnton) 'shows, presents' (apresenta) free digital library. From reading the article, It is clear he has just mentioned about it and thus the title may have introduced an exaggeration or distortion.
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