The Open Library Blog
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We lend ebooks worldwide, for free. Over two million free ebooks available and 1M more in our lending library. A web page for every book.
The Open Library Blog
1M ago
Thanks to the work of 2024 Design & Engineering Fellow Meredith White, the Open Library search page now suggests Search Inside results any time a search fails to find books matching by title or author. Before: After: The planning and development of this feature were led by volunteer and 2024 Design & Engineering Fellow, Meredith ..read more
The Open Library Blog
3M ago
A forward by Drini CamiDrini Cami here, Open Library staff developer. It’s my pleasure to introduce Rebecca Shoptaw, a 2024 Open Library Engineering Fellow, to the Open Library blog in her first blog post. Rebecca began volunteering with us a few months ago and has already made many great improvements to Open Library. I’ve had ..read more
The Open Library Blog
4M ago
By Nick Norman, Mek, et al
Subscribe to readers with complimentary tastes to receive book recommendations.
Over the past few months, we’ve been rolling out the basic building blocks of the “Follow” feature: a way for readers to follow those with similar tastes and to tap into a personalized feed of book recommendations.
How does the “Follow” feature work?
Similar to following people on platforms like Facebook, Open Library’s “Follow” feature enables patrons to connect with fellow readers whose Reading Logs are set to public. When you follow other readers, their recent public reading activity ..read more
The Open Library Blog
5M ago
Mek here, program lead for OpenLibrary.org at the Internet Archive with important updates and a way for library lovers to help protect an Internet that champions library values.
Over the last several months, Open Library readers have felt the devastating impact of more than 500,000 books being removed from the Internet Archive’s lending library, as a result of Hachette v. Internet Archive.
In less than two weeks, on June 28th, the courts will hear the oral argument for the Internet Archive’s appeal.
What’s at stake is the very ability for library patrons to continue borrowing and reading the b ..read more
The Open Library Blog
1y ago
Back in 2020, we started the tradition of hosting an annual Community Celebration to honor the efforts of volunteers across the globe who help make the Open Library project possible.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31st at 9am Pacific, we warmly invite the public to join us in a small gathering to celebrate the hardworking humans who keep the website going, see demonstrations of their accomplishments, and get a glimpse into our direction for 2024 — Halloween Edition!
Join us tomorrow:
Oct 31, 2023 9 AM, PDT (90 minutes)
Online: https://zoom.us/j/369477551
During this online celebration, you ..read more
The Open Library Blog
1y ago
Earlier this year, the Internet Archive’s Open Library conducted a brief survey to learn more about patrons’ experiences and preferences when borrowing and reading books. As promised, we’ve anonymized the results and are sharing them with you!
We invite you to watch the presentation or view the slides:
Purpose
The purpose of this survey was to better understand:
If, how, & why Open Library patrons download books
How patron reading preferences align with our offerings
Survey Setup
For one week, starting on Tuesday 2022-02-07, OpenLibrary.org patrons were invited to participate in a brief ..read more
The Open Library Blog
1y ago
Hello, I am Jayden Teoh, a student from Singapore, and this year I participated as a 2023 Google Summer of Code contributor with the Internet Archive’s Open Library project to improve the site’s performance and supercharge subject pages.
If you are an Open Library patron, you have likely encountered times where certain pages seem to take and eternity to load. The Open Library team understands the importance of a smooth browsing experience and empathizes with how degraded site performance affects patrons. This is why we prioritized site performance as a key focus for our 2023 GSoC roadmap. As s ..read more
The Open Library Blog
1y ago
Hello, I’m Nick Norman – I volunteer as the Lead Communications Fellow at the Internet Archive’s Open Library.
The Open Library provides readers with free, digital access to millions of library books, but we can only help readers who know we exist. My mission is to cultivate an inclusive communications program that helps even the most remote readers discover and access our free services, learn about new features, and stay informed about the latest library news. In the service of achieving this goal, I’ve spent the past several months designing a strategic communications plan for OpenLibrary.o ..read more
The Open Library Blog
1y ago
by Nick Norman & Mek
In an ongoing series, the Internet Archive hosts renowned authors of the digital humanities and beyond for virtual book talks that are free and open to the public.
Graphic credit: Urja Upadhyaya
For nearly a decade, the Internet Archive has hosted events at its headquarters in San Francisco, occasionally welcoming forward-thinking authors of give presentations about their recent books in the digital humanities.
The COVID pandemic has been a catalyst for change, both in the types of challenges facing our communities and how we may address them. In 2020, many libraries w ..read more
The Open Library Blog
2y ago
Starting January 1st, you will be able to set and track your yearly reading goals with Open Library.
Sending us Feedback
Have you noticed a bug with the Yearly Reading Goals feature, have questions about how it works, or have feedback about how we may improve the experience?
Please use this form to let us know!
How to Set a Reading Goal
A yearly reading goal may be set from your “My Books” page.
To set a new reading goal, click the “Set reading goal” button (highlighted above) and enter the number of books that you’d like to read in the input, and press the “Submit” button.
Upon submission ..read more