Open Library (Internet Archive) | Choice360 | Internet Resources: December 2019 Edition

"Open Library (Internet Archive). openlibrary.org “The Open Library (OL), a project of the Internet Archive, embraces the philosophical concept of ‘open to all’ in its most literal sense, providing free access to 20 million bibliographic records, 1.7 million scanned versions of books, and 200,000 ebooks for limited borrowing,” wrote Lizah Ismail for ccAdvisor. It is an ambitious project whose goal is to “provide a page on the web for every book ever published.” OL seeks to create an open catalog where 20 million bibliographic records and 1.7 million scanned versions of books are freely available to the public, as well as 200,000 available for anyone to borrow for a limited period, one copy at a time. ...

“Open to all” is a philosophical concept this site embraces in its most literal sense. Launched in November 2007 and funded in part by the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation (Brewster Kahle is the founder of the Internet Archive and the Open Library project), the site functions as both a digital lending library and a digital repository of books of all kinds. ... To read the complete review, go to ccadvisor.org. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. —J. Stoehr, CHOICE"