“We’ve heard from Harvard Law School, the University of Virginia libraries, and Syracuse,’’ he says. A rural public school in West Virginia has also approached him, and he has begun a conversation with UNESCO to see if there is a worldwide potential to what Cushing is doing.On the other hand, says Robert Darnton, director of the Harvard University Library, “Libraries must advance on two fronts — digital and analogue. To concentrate on one at the expense of the other would be a mistake. The idea that printed books are in decline and will go away is just plain wrong.’’

How the mobile internet will transform the BRICI countries