Open Library
![]() Open Library homepage in September 2011
|
|
Type of site
|
Digital library index |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Revenue | donation |
Slogan(s) | One web page for every book. |
Website | openlibrary |
Alexa rank | ![]() |
Commercial | no |
Registration | free |
Launched | 2006 |
Current status | Active |
Content license
|
AGPLv3 |
Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz[2][3] and Brewster Kahle,[4] among others, Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive and has been funded in part by a grant from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.
It provides access to many public domain and out-of-print books, which can be read online.
Contents
Book database and digital lending library[edit]
Its book information is collected from the Library of Congress, other libraries, and Amazon.com, as well as from user contributions through a Wiki-like interface.[3] If books are available in digital form, a button labelled "Read" appears next to its catalog listing. Links to where books can be purchased or borrowed are also provided.
There are different entities in the database:
- authors
- works (which are the aggregate of all books with the same title and text)
- editions (which are different publications of the corresponding works)
Open Library claims to have 6 million authors and 20 million books (not works), and about one million public domain books available as digitized books.[5] Tens of thousands of modern books were made available from four[6] and then 150 libraries and publishers[7] for ebook digital lending.
Technical[edit]
Open Library began in 2006 with Aaron Swartz as the original engineer and leader of Open Library's technical team.[2][3] The project was led by George Oates from April 2009 to December 2011.[8] Oates was responsible for a complete site redesign during her tenure.[9] In 2015, the project was continued by Giovanni Damiola and then Brenton Cheng and Mek Karpeles in 2016.
The site was redesigned and relaunched in May 2010. Its codebase is on GitHub.[10] The site uses Infobase, its own database framework based on PostgreSQL, and Infogami, its own Wiki engine written in Python.[11] The source code to the site is published under the GNU Affero General Public License.[12][13]
Books for the blind and dyslexic[edit]
The website was relaunched adding ADA compliance and offering over 1 million modern and older books to the print disabled in May 2010[14] using the DAISY Digital Talking Book.[15] Under certain provisions of United States copyright law, libraries are sometimes able to reproduce copyrighted works in formats accessible to users with disabilities.[16][17]
See also[edit]
- Google Book Search
- LibraryThing
- List of digital library projects
- Online Computer Library Center – creator of WorldCat
- Online Public Access Catalog
- Free Software licensing
- List of AGPL web applications
References[edit]
- ^ "Openlibrary.org Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
- ^ a b "A library bigger than any building". BBC News. 2007-07-31. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^ a b c Grossman, Wendy M (2009-01-22). "Why you can't find a library book in your search engine". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ^ "Aaron Swartz: howtoget". Aaronsw.jottit.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
- ^ "About Us". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (2010-06-29). "Libraries Have a Novel Idea - WSJ". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "Internet Archive Forums: In-Library eBook Lending Program Launched". Archive.org. 2011-02-22. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "George". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ Oates, George (2010-03-17). "Announcing the Open Library redesign « The Open Library Blog". Blog.openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "internetarchive/openlibrary · GitHub". Github.com. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "About the Technology". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "Developers / Licensing". Openlibrary.org. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "openlibrary/LICENSE at master · internetarchive/openlibrary · GitHub". Github.com. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "Project puts 1M books online for blind, dyslexic | UTSanDiego.com". Signonsandiego.com. 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ "Welcome to Daisy Books for the Print Disabled". Internet Archive. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ^ "NLS Factsheets: Copyright Law Amendment, 1996: PL 104-197". Library of Congress NLS Factsheets. Library of Congress.
- ^ Scheid, Maria. "Copyright and Accessibility". Copyright Corner. The Ohio State University Libraries.