Brewster Kahle ’82. Credit: www.archive.org
Brewster Kahle ’82, who in 1996 founded the nonprofit Internet Archive to save a copy of every webpage ever posted, has a new mission: Save a physical copy of every book ever published.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Kahle said:
The dedicated idea is to have the physical safety for these physical materials for the long haul and then have the digital versions accessible to the world… Knowledge lives in lots of different forms over time. First it was in people’s memories, then it was in manuscripts, then printed books, then microfilm, CD-ROMS, now on the digital Internet. Each one of these generations is very important.
Kahle is reportedly storing the books in climate-controlled storage units in California, where he currently has some 500,000 books–en route to a goal of roughly 10 million. The books won’t be loaned out, but if discrepancies ever arise about an ebook’s faithfulness to the original printed edition, a stored copy may be retrieved and consulted.
Alumni, what do you think of Kahle’s project? Leave a comment on our Facebook page.
Want to learn more? Check out Kahle’s blog.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it is a great idea. What could come next for the project is after most of the book has been stored, we could create a very comprehensive history book about any subject and design history and literature courses that utilize those knowledge we have accummulated through thousand of years of our recorded history since we, as human, are limited by time and our ability to learn, by developing systematic way of learning from our past, we can best achieve higher human potential and, thus, it will enable us to make superior decision and don’t repeat our past mistake.
Like it a lot.I also think it is a great idea. What could come next for the project is after most of the book has been stored, we could also create a very real history book about any subject and design history and literature courses that utilize those knowledge we have accummulated through thousand of years of our recorded history since we are limited by time and our ability to learn, by developing systematic way of learning from our past. alternative medicine
The Object: Book One will be releasing on Kindle & paperback this month. … Leave a comment ….. so I have access to nearly every book ever published in the US
I think the web archive was the best thing ever invented. I used to go there to see get an idea of what huge sites like amazon used to look like.
Really great idea for physical safety of knowledge.
I really think that this is perfect idea, why although now access the books on digital mode?
500,000 books, Really great collection and idea too.
I’m curious as to what method is the practice of Francis to verify of data entry from some sort of original paper data source. The devil is in the details 🙂
George Hírek
Sorry, not Francis, Kahle!
George
Brewster is an all-star in my book. His projects have been amazing. I did not discover archive.org until I had found http://ipaddress.com on it one time.
To save every book would be an amazing event!
Thank you
This is great a good collection
I pop on to your blog periodically to see if you’ve posted anything new. I love your work.
I think it is a great idea. It’s something like webarchive, where we could find old versions of many websites, even those which don’t exist any more. So I think it’s a similar idea with books. If a project is alive after many years (copyright expires after 70 years), a lot of books can be published for free :), after the expiration of copyright.
This is great; a good collection.
That is a mind boggling collection. Soon to cross millions.
I believe it’s a nice concept. What may come subsequent for the mission is after a lot of the ebook has been saved, we may create a really complete historical past guide about any topic and design historical past and literature programs that make the most of these information we’ve accummulated by means of thousand of years of our recorded historical past since we, as human, are restricted by time and our means to be taught, by growing systematic means of studying from our previous, we are able to greatest obtain greater human potential and, thus, it would allow us to make superior choice and don’t repeat our previous mistake.
In my opinion it’s a nice concept. Exactly what may come subsequent for the objective is after a lot of the particular ebook has been saved, we might create a really complete background guide about any subject and design historical past plus literature programs that make one of the most of these information we’ve accummulated by means of thousand of many years of our recorded historical past given that we, as human, are usually restricted by time plus our means to be trained, by growing systematic way of studying from our previous, we could greatest obtain greater human being potential and, thus, it might allow us to make exceptional choice and don’t replicate our previous mistake.Ballot Boxes