About Us | Open Library

<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="title" content="" /> <meta name="keywords" content="free books, books to read, free ebooks, audio books, read books for free, read books online, online library"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta name="author" content="OpenLibrary.org" /> <meta name="creator" content="OpenLibrary.org" /> <meta name="copyright" content="Original content copyright; 2007-2015" /> <meta name="distribution" content="Global" /> <meta name="theme-color" content="#e2dcc5"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://openlibrary.org/about.en" /> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://athena.archive.org"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Open Library" href="/static/opensearch.xml"> <link rel="manifest" href="/static/manifest.json"> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-128x128.png" rel="apple-touch-icon" /> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-152x152.png" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" /> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-167x167.png" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="167x167" /> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-180x180.png" rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" /> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-192x192.png" rel="icon" sizes="192x192" /> <link href="/static/images/openlibrary-128x128.png" rel="icon" sizes="128x128" /> <link href="/static/build/page-user.css?v=3965c8a9b1ea407bc529e70467e4d70c" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <noscript> <style> /* Don't hide content with clamp if no js to show more/less */ .clamp { -webkit-line-clamp: unset !important; } /* Don't show read-more sections collapsed */ .read-more__content { max-height: unset !important; } /* Don't show read-more toggle buttons */ .read-more__toggle { display: none !important; } /* @width-breakpoint-tablet media query: */ @media only screen and (min-width: 768px) { /* Sticky navbar to top of screen if compact title cannot be stickied */ .work-menu { top: 0 !important; } } </style> </noscript> <script> /* @licstart The following is the entire license notice for the * JavaScript code in this page. * * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or * (at your option) any later version. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU Affero General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. * * @licend The above is the entire license notice * for the JavaScript code in this page. */ </script> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="KrqcZD4l5BLNVyjzSi2sjZBiwgmkJ1W7n6w7ThD7A74" /> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="vtXGm8q3UgP-f6qXTvQBo85uh3nmIYIotVqqdJDpyz4" />  <meta name="google-site-verification" content="XYOJ9Uj0MBr6wk7kj1IkttXrqY-bbRstFMADTfEt354" />  <meta name="msvalidate.01" content="8BEBECBEF537077737975A49D55B857D" /> <meta name="description" content="Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Read, borrow, and discover more than 3M books for free." /> <title>About Us | Open Library</title> </head> <body class="" > <script> // Provide a signal that JS will load document.body.className += ' client-js'; </script> <span id="top"></span> <div id="offline-info">It looks like you're offline.</div> <div id="donato"></div> <script src="/cdn/archive.org/donate.js" data-platform="ol"></script> <div id="topNotice"> <div class="page-banner page-banner-black page-banner-center"> <div class="iaBar"> <a class="iaLogo" href="https://archive.org"><img alt="Internet Archive logo" src="/static/images/ia-logo.svg" width="160"></a> <a class="ghost-btn" href="https://archive.org/donate/?platform=ol&origin=olwww-TopNavDonateButton" data-ol-link-track="IABar|DonateButton">Donate <span class="heart" aria-hidden="true">♥</span></a> <div class="language-component header-dropdown"> <details> <summary> <span>English (en)</span> <img class="translate-icon" src="/static/images/language-icon.svg" title="Change Website Language" alt="Change Website Language"/> </summary> <div class="language-dropdown-component"> <ul class="locale-options dropdown-menu"> <li><a href="#" lang="cs" data-lang-id="cs" title="Czech">Čeština (cs)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="de" data-lang-id="de" title="German">Deutsch (de)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="en" data-lang-id="en" title="English">English (en)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="es" data-lang-id="es" title="Spanish">Español (es)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="fr" data-lang-id="fr" title="French">Français (fr)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="hr" data-lang-id="hr" title="Croatian">Hrvatski (hr)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="it" data-lang-id="it" title="Italian">Italiano (it)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="pt" data-lang-id="pt" title="Portuguese">Português (pt)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="hi" data-lang-id="hi" title="Hindi">हिंदी (hi)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="sc" data-lang-id="sc" title="Sardinian">Sardu (sc)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="te" data-lang-id="te" title="Telugu">తెలుగు (te)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="uk" data-lang-id="uk" title="Ukrainian">Українська (uk)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="zh" data-lang-id="zh" title="Chinese">中文 (zh)</a></li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> </div> <header id="header-bar" class="header-bar"> <div class="logo-component"> <a href="/" title="The Internet Archive's Open Library: One page for every book"> <div class="logo-txt"> <img class="logo-icon" src="/static/images/openlibrary-logo-tighter.svg" width="189" height="47" alt="Open Library logo"/> </div> </a> </div> <ul class="navigation-component"> <li> <div class="mybooks-component header-dropdown"> <a href="/account/books" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|MyBooks>My Books</a> </div> </li> <li> <div class="browse-component header-dropdown"> <details> <summary > Browse <span class="shift">Menu</span> <img class="down-arrow" aria-hidden="true" src="/static/images/down-arrow.png" alt="" role="presentation" width="7" height="4"> </summary> <div class="browse-dropdown-component navigation-dropdown-component" > <ul class="dropdown-menu browse-dropdown-menu"> <li> <a href="/subjects" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Subjects> Subjects </a> </li> <li> <a href="/trending" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Trending> Trending </a> </li> <li> <a href="/explore" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Explore> Library Explorer </a> </li> <li> <a href="/lists" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Lists> Lists </a> </li> <li> <a href="/collections" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Collections> Collections </a> </li> <li> <a href="/k-12" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|K12Library> K-12 Student Library </a> </li> <li> <a href="/booktalks" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|BookTalks> Book Talks </a> </li> <li> <a href="/random" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|RandomBook> Random Book </a> </li> <li> <a href="/advancedsearch" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|AdvancedSearch> Advanced Search </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </li> </ul> <div class="search-component"> <div class="search-bar-component"> <div class="search-bar"> <div class="search-facet"> <label class="search-facet-selector"> <span aria-hidden="true" class="search-facet-value">All</span> <select aria-label="Search by"> <option value="all">All</option> <option value="title">Title</option> <option value="author">Author</option> <option value="text">Text</option> <option value="subject">Subject</option> <option value="lists">Lists</option> <option value="advanced">Advanced</option> </select> </label> </div> <form class="search-bar-input" action="/search" method="get"> <input type="text" name="q" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search" autocomplete="off"> <input name="mode" type="checkbox" aria-hidden="true" aria-label="Search checkbox" checked="checked" value="" id="ftokenstop" class="hidden instantsearch-mode"> <input type="submit" value="" class="search-bar-submit" aria-label="Search submit"> <div class="vertical-separator"></div> <a id="barcode_scanner_link" class="search-by-barcode-submit" aria-label="Search by barcode" title="Search by barcode" href="/barcodescanner?returnTo=/isbn/$$$" > </a> </form> </div> <div class="search-dropdown"> <ul class="search-results"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <ul class="auth-component"> <li class="hide-me"> <a class="btn" href="/account/login">Log In</a></li> <li><a class="btn primary" href="/account/create">Sign Up</a></li> </ul> <div class="hamburger-component header-dropdown"> <details> <summary data-ol-link-track="HeaderBar|Hamburger"> <img class="hamburger__icon" src="/static/images/hamburger-icon.svg" alt="additional options menu"/> <img class="down-arrow" aria-hidden="true" src="/static/images/down-arrow.png" alt="" role="presentation" width="7" height="4"> </summary> <div class="mask-menu"></div> <div class="app-drawer" > <ul class="dropdown-menu hamburger-dropdown-menu"> <li class="subsection"> My Open Library </li> <li class="login-links"> <a class="login-links__secondary" href="/account/login">Log In</a> <a class="login-links__primary" href="/account/create">Sign Up</a> </li> <li class="subsection"> Browse </li> <li> <a href="/subjects" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Subjects> Subjects </a> </li> <li> <a href="/trending" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Trending> Trending </a> </li> <li> <a href="/explore" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Explore> Library Explorer </a> </li> <li> <a href="/lists" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Lists> Lists </a> </li> <li> <a href="/collections" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Collections> Collections </a> </li> <li> <a href="/k-12" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|K12Library> K-12 Student Library </a> </li> <li> <a href="/booktalks" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|BookTalks> Book Talks </a> </li> <li> <a href="/random" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|RandomBook> Random Book </a> </li> <li> <a href="/advancedsearch" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|AdvancedSearch> Advanced Search </a> </li> <li class="subsection"> Contribute </li> <li> <a href="/books/add" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|AddBook> Add a Book </a> </li> <li> <a href="/recentchanges" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|RecentEdits> Recent Community Edits </a> </li> <li class="subsection"> Resources </li> <li> <a href="/help" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|Help> Help & Support </a> </li> <li> <a href="/developers" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|DevelopersHelp> Developer Center </a> </li> <li> <a href="/librarians" data-ol-link-track=Hamburger|LibrariansHelp> Librarians Portal </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </header> <header class="header-bar mobile"> <ul class="navigation-component mobile"> <li> <div class="mybooks-component header-dropdown"> <a href="/account/books" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|MyBooks>My Books</a> </div> </li> <li> <div class="browse-component header-dropdown"> <details> <summary > Browse <span class="shift">Menu</span> <img class="down-arrow" aria-hidden="true" src="/static/images/down-arrow.png" alt="" role="presentation" width="7" height="4"> </summary> <div class="browse-dropdown-component navigation-dropdown-component" > <ul class="dropdown-menu browse-dropdown-menu"> <li> <a href="/subjects" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Subjects> Subjects </a> </li> <li> <a href="/trending" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Trending> Trending </a> </li> <li> <a href="/explore" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Explore> Library Explorer </a> </li> <li> <a href="/lists" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Lists> Lists </a> </li> <li> <a href="/collections" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|Collections> Collections </a> </li> <li> <a href="/k-12" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|K12Library> K-12 Student Library </a> </li> <li> <a href="/booktalks" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|BookTalks> Book Talks </a> </li> <li> <a href="/random" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|RandomBook> Random Book </a> </li> <li> <a href="/advancedsearch" data-ol-link-track=MainNav|AdvancedSearch> Advanced Search </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </li> </ul> </header> <div id="test-body-mobile"> <div class="flash-messages"> </div> <div id="contentHead"> <div id="editTools" class="edit"> <div id="editInfo"> <div class="brown smaller sansserif">Last edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" >Mek</a></div> <div class="smallest gray sansserif">April 15, 2024 | <a href="/about.en?v=65&m=history" rel="nofollow" title="View this template's edit history">History</a></div> </div> <div class="editButton">  <a class="cta-btn cta-btn--vanilla" href="/about.en?m=edit" title="Edit this page" data-ol-link-track="CTAClick|Edit" accesskey="e" rel="nofollow" >Edit</a> </div> </div> <h1>About Us</h1> </div> <div id="contentBody"> <div class="contentHalf"> <p>One web page for every book ever published. It's a lofty but achievable goal. </p> <p>To build Open Library, we need hundreds of millions of book records, a wiki interface, and lots of people who are willing to contribute their time and effort to building the site. </p> <p>To date, we have gathered over 20 million records from a variety of large catalogs as well as single contributions, with more on the way. </p> <p>Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution. Whether you fix a typo, add a book, or write a widget--it's all welcome. We have a small team of fantastic programmers who have accomplished a lot, but we can't do it alone! </p> <p><em>Open Library is a project of the non-profit <a href="http://www.archive.org" rel="nofollow">Internet Archive</a>, and has been funded in part by a grant from the <a href="http://www.library.ca.gov" rel="nofollow">California State Library</a> and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.</em> </p> <h2>Vision</h2> <p>The ultimate goal of the Open Library is to make all the published works of humankind available to everyone in the world. While large in scope and ambition, this goal is within our grasp. Achieving it will require the participation of librarians, authors, government officials and technologists. </p> <p>Imagine what a comprehensive, open library could be! A talented math whiz who lives in a rural community can explore the works of high math. An elderly person can have a large print edition of any book ever published. An innovative young scholar can publish a book directly to this great library on <a href="https://openlibrary.org/subjects" rel="nofollow">subjects</a> that might not otherwise make it through the long and difficult publication process. </p> <p>How can you help? Improve the records we have for the books you love – every record is fully editable by clicking the “edit” button on the page. If we don't have a record for a book, you can <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/add" rel="nofollow">create one</a>. If you're a library with digitized resources, tell us where they are and we'll point people to them. </p> <p>Our hope is that libraries and individual book readers will join this project and together we can build towards universal access to all knowledge. </p> </div> <div class="contentSpacer"></div> <div class="contentHalf"> <h3>For more information</h3> <div class="small sansserif"> <ul> <li><a href="https://blog.openlibrary.org" rel="nofollow">Visit the Blog</a></li> <li><a href="/help/faq">Read our FAQ</a></li> <li><a href="/contact">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/donate/">Make a Donation</a></li> <li><a href="/about/people">The Team</a></li> <li><a href="/developers">Developer Center</a></li> <li><a href="/developers/licensing">Licensing</a></li> <li><a href="/about/tech">About the technology</a></li> <li><a href="/about/lib">About the librarianship</a></li> <li>We're having a <a href="/bookdrive">Book Drive</a>!</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="contentSpacer"></div> <div class="clearfix"></div> <div id="pageHistory"> <div class="head"> <h2 class="collapse inline"> History </h2> <ul class="pageHistory__list inline"> <li class="title inline">Created April 9, 2008</li> <li class="link inline"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=65&m=history">65 revisions</a></li> </ul> </div> <table class="history"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=65" title="View revision 65">April 15, 2024</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> <em>Edited without comment.</em> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=64" title="View revision 64">April 15, 2024</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> <em>Edited without comment.</em> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=63" title="View revision 63">April 15, 2024</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> rm mailing list </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=62" title="View revision 62">January 26, 2024</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Edited by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/mekBot" class="truncate" >Mek</a> </td> <td class="detail"> <em>Edited without comment.</em> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="timestamp"><a rel="nofollow" href="/about.en?v=1" title="View revision 1">April 9, 2008</a></td> <td class="timestamp"> Created by <a rel="nofollow" href="/people/anand" class="truncate" >Anand Chitipothu</a> </td> <td class="detail"> <em>Edited without comment.</em> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> </div> </div>  <div class="clearfix"></div> <footer> <div id="footer-content" > <div id="footer-links"> <div> <h2>Open Library</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/about/vision">Vision</a></li> <li><a href="/volunteer">Volunteer</a></li> <li><a href="/partner-with-us">Partner With Us</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/about/jobs.php" title="Jobs">Careers</a></li> <li><a href="https://blog.openlibrary.org/">Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/about/terms.php">Terms of Service</a></li> <li><a href="https://archive.org/donate/?platform=ol&origin=olwww-TopNavDonateButton">Donate</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <h2>Discover</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/" title="Go home">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/search" title="Explore Books">Books</a></li> <li><a href="/search/authors" title="Explore authors">Authors</a></li> <li><a href="/subjects" title="Explore subjects">Subjects</a></li> <li><a href="/collections" title="Explore collections">Collections</a></li> <li><a href="/advancedsearch" title="Advanced Search">Advanced Search</a></li> <li><a href="#top" title="Navigate to top of this page">Return to Top</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <h2>Develop</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/developers" title="Explore Open Library Developer Center">Developer Center</a></li> <li><a href="/developers/api" title="Explore Open Library APIs">API Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="/developers/dumps" title="Bulk Open Library data">Bulk Data Dumps</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/wiki/Writing-Bots" title="Write a bot">Writing Bots</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <h2>Help</h2> <ul> <li><a href="/help">Help Center</a></li> <li><a href="/contact?path=%2Fabout.en%3Fv%3D65" title="Problems">Report A Problem</a></li> <li><a href="/help/faq/editing" title="Suggest Edits">Suggesting Edits</a></li> <li><a href="/books/add" title="Add a new book to Open Library">Add a Book</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/releases" title="Release Notes">Release Notes</a></li> </ul> <aside> <a class="footer-icon" title="Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/OpenLibrary"><img src="/static/images/tweet.svg" alt="" loading="lazy"></a> <a class="footer-icon" title="GitHub" href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary"><img src="/static/images/github.svg" alt="" loading="lazy"></a> </aside> </div> <div> <h2>Change Website Language</h2> <ul class="locale-options "> <li><a href="#" lang="cs" data-lang-id="cs" title="Czech">Čeština (cs)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="de" data-lang-id="de" title="German">Deutsch (de)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="en" data-lang-id="en" title="English">English (en)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="es" data-lang-id="es" title="Spanish">Español (es)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="fr" data-lang-id="fr" title="French">Français (fr)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="hr" data-lang-id="hr" title="Croatian">Hrvatski (hr)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="it" data-lang-id="it" title="Italian">Italiano (it)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="pt" data-lang-id="pt" title="Portuguese">Português (pt)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="hi" data-lang-id="hi" title="Hindi">हिंदी (hi)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="sc" data-lang-id="sc" title="Sardinian">Sardu (sc)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="te" data-lang-id="te" title="Telugu">తెలుగు (te)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="uk" data-lang-id="uk" title="Ukrainian">Українська (uk)</a></li> <li><a href="#" lang="zh" data-lang-id="zh" title="Chinese">中文 (zh)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <hr> <div id="footer-details"> <img id="archive-logo" src="/static/images/pantheon.png" alt="Open Library logo" loading="lazy"> <div id="legal-details" > <span>Open Library is an initiative of the <a href="//archive.org/">Internet Archive</a>, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Other <a href="//archive.org/projects/">projects</a> include the <a href="//archive.org/web/">Wayback Machine</a>, <a href="//archive.org/">archive.org</a> and <a href="//archive-it.org">archive-it.org</a></span> </div> <div id="version-details"> <span class="version">version <a href="https://github.com/internetarchive/openlibrary/commit/dedebe7">dedebe7</a></span> </div> </div> </div> </footer> <script src="/cdn/archive.org/analytics.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/static/build/all.js?v=d0a5ec6c6136de6bd3c7cc7b1545ab33" type="text/javascript"></script>  <div class="analytics-stats-time-calculator" data-time="38.35606575012207"></div> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

About Us | Open Library