Brewster Kahle has been named the winner of the 2013 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology.
Emerald Group Publishing Limited and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) sponsor the award that recognizes outstanding individuals or institutions for their long-term contributions in the area of Library and Information Science technology and its application.
After graduating from MIT in 1982, Brewster Kahle developed a system for publishing, distributing and searching information on the Internet, known as the Wide Area Information Server (WAIS), which was a precursor to the World Wide Web. In 1996, he founded the Internet Archive and began archiving and indexing Web pages and other digital content, preserving it for posterity and making it freely and openly accessible. One popular feature of the Internet Archive is the Wayback Machine, which enables users to search and retrieve over 280 billion archived web pages.
Michael Witt, LITA/Hi Tech Award Committee chair, said, “When Brewster started the Internet Archive, he used the analogy of Library of Alexandria to explain what he was attempting to do, and he took the title of Digital Librarian for himself. His goal of enabling universal access to all knowledge speaks directly to the mission of libraries.”
Kahle has been an important advocate for digitization and increasing access to information electronically. He was instrumental in the creation of the Open Content Alliance and the Open Library that provides more than 1 million free e-books online. He has served on advisory boards for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the Library of Congress. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. In 2012, Kahle was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
The Library and Information Technology Association and Emerald, the publisher of Library Hi Tech, are pleased to present the 2013 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award to Brewster Kahle for his outstanding contributions to communication in library science and technology. The award will be presented during Sunday Afternoon with LITA on Sunday June 30, 2013, at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.