‘Internet Archive book scanning to be publicly funded’—now that Microsoft is halting digi effort
Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive is excited about the XO-1 as a book reading machine (video).
But what will people read on it and successors?
Could the archive get a massive amount of public funding and be the start of a TeleRead-style national digital library system?
That’s one possibility that occurs to me, with Microsoft’s backing off from its digitization projects, including help for the Archive.
Needed: Funding for content, not jut scanning
Now Brewer himself is throwing around phrases like “publicly funded,” and I hope he’ll think in TeleRead terms—and not just about public domain classics, but also copyrighted content, with provisions for fair compensation to writers and publishers and other. As valuable as classics are, few library patrons check them out, and Brewster should think in broader terms than just funds for book scanning if he wants libraries to get behind him.
Brewster’s listmail
Ahead is a just-received listmail from him.
“The Internet Archive operates 13 scanning centers in great libraries, digitizing 1000 books a day. This scanning is financially supported by libraries, foundations, and the Microsoft Corporation. Today, Microsoft has announced that it will ramp down their investment in this area. We very much appreciate their efforts and funding in book scanning over the last 3 years. As a result, over 300,000 books are publicly available on the archive.org site that would not otherwise be.
“To their credit, they said they are taking off any contractual restrictions on the public domain books and letting us keep the equipment that they funded. This is extremely important because it can allow those of us in the public sphere to leverage what they helped build. Keeping the public domain materials public domain is where we all wanted to be. Getting a books scanning process in place is also a major accomplishment. Thank you Microsoft.
“Funding for the time being is secure, but going forward we will need to replace the Microsoft funding. Microsoft has always encourage the Open Content Alliance to work in parallel in case this day arrived. Let’s work together, quickly, to build on the existing momentum. All ideas welcome.
“Onward to a completely public library system!”
Perhaps it’s time for the Gates’ Foundation to help Brewster not just directly but also by encouraging public libraries to fund him and integrate his content—as well as promote use of inexpensive e-reading devices. Remember, Microsoft itself will be an operating system provider for the OLPC XO machines. Along the way, I hope that both Brewster and the Foundation will consider promotion of the ePub standard to increase usability of readers and reduce costs and Tower of eBabel-style confusion.
At least some federal funding for content, not just contributions from local and state systems? If it can be arranged, definitely! Keep in mind the the vast difference between library resources in, say, rural Mississippi and Beverly Hills. A TeleRead-style approach would offer economies of scale and be one way to spread the books around.
Related: Library books you can KEEP forever—and other ideas to public libraries survive the digital era. This is a living document, and I’ll be updating it to reflect suggestions from readers. It is not “last word” essay but hopefully can be the start of some productive discussions.
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