Egyptian Bookmobile

Related link: http://www.correspondences.org/archives/000051.html#000051

Internet Archive folks are gearing up for a trip to Egypt, to create an Internet Bookmobile for the Library of Alexandria. Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle recently sent out this missive to friends of the Internet Archive. To join the archive mailing list, send mail to archivists-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

subject: Internet Bookmobiles: offer and request

Archivists,

Our offer is to have the Internet Bookmobile show up to make books anywhere in they bay area. Our request is that you help with time or money to kick off a separate organization dedicated to building bookmobiles. (for background: Archive site for contributing: Venture Collective site)

In the fall of 2002, as the Supreme Court was hearing arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft, we put together the "Internet Bookmobile" - a 1992 Ford Aerostar with a net connection, laptops, printers, cutter, scorer and binding machine. We traveled the country from East Palo Alto, California, to Washington, DC, stopping at schools and libraries and making books for kids and adults.

It worked remarkably well. At $1 per book, $5k for the printing&binding equipment, and $15k for a full bookmobile-- this could be a wonderful thing. Currently there are about 20k books on the Internet, and we are part of a project to scan 1 million. The dream is that every kid would have access to a million book library through the Internet and print-on-demand bookmobiles and stationary facilities.

To make this opportunity a reality, the bookmobilist and a group of volunteers, have created a separate nonprofit organization, Anywhere Books, as a project of the Rudolf Steiner Foundation. Their mission is to deploy 5,000 systems in 5 years, to make a difference in literacy and poverty around the world.

And exciting things are happening. On a recent trip to India, we described the Internet bookmobile to some folks in the government, and within two days, the Ministry of Information Technology had approved the funding for two bookmobiles, which are currently in service around Delhi. They are now building one bookmobile for each of the 30 Indian states.

And the Library of Alexandria in Egypt - which hosts a complete copy of the Internet Archive - has also agreed to create an Internet bookmobile. Clearly, the idea of the bookmobile - putting the public domain into action by creating books - has potential, especially in the developing world.

Any amount will help; we're hoping to average $100 or more. We're shooting for $50,000 to increase our book production capabilities and build partnerships for long-term funding. Given the support and enthusiasm we’ve gotten from many of you already, we think this is attainable. (venture collective is helping with a donation system https://www.venturecollective.org/donate.html?proj=bookmobile&id=149 )

Onward!

-brewster
Digital Librarian
Internet Archive