U.S. Library of Congress to digitize “brittle books”

Scholars and others interested in flipping through some of the Library of Congress’ most fragile books will be able to tap the knowledge without damaging the artifacts. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington last week said the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded a $2 million grant to the world’s largest library for a program to digitize thousands of works with a major focus on “brittle books.” Scanning is expected to begin within a few months. The new project will also digitize American history volumes, U.S. genealogy and regimental histories that hold personal collections from the Civil War period, and six collections of rare books including the Benjamin Franklin Collection. Read the article at CNN.com.