BookServer: Expansive vision for open web of books
Posted by Jacque on October 20th, 2009
The Internet Archive (IA) is in the early stages of development of BookServer, with the “lofty goal to essentially create an open web of books where anyone can publish their books and make their content available via search,” says ReadWriteWeb.
According to IA, BookServer is “a growing open architecture for vending and lending digital books over the Internet. Built on open catalog and open book formats, the BookServer model allows a wide network of publishers, booksellers, libraries, and even authors to make their catalogs of books available directly to readers through their laptops, phones, netbooks, or dedicated reading devices. BookServer facilitates pay transactions, borrowing books from libraries, and downloading free, publicly accessible books.”
BookServer will provide book publishers and online libraries with the means to more effectively compete with online bookstores like Amazon and Google. It will allow publishers to set their own pricing and manage the distribution of their books. A secondary goal of BookServer’s open system is to fight back against the proprietary marketplaces, such as Amazon’s Kindle Store and other booksellers using proprietary formats. It’s confusing for consumers who face a multitude of choices with limited information about which formats will work on which devices.
RWW notes that “while Google promises its Google Editions store will allow anyone to access digital books as long as they have a web browser and internet access, it’s still unknown at this time how the company plans to make the digital content available offline. Will it require the use of special web browser plugins to do so? Until Google reveals more about the technical details, it is not possible to know how truly open their online store will be. And even if their store is 100% open, they are still a company whose ultimate goal is to profit from their work of digitizing books. BookServer’s goal, on the other hand, is to provide universal access to book data made available in open formats.”
IA says that many will benefit from BookServer:
- Authors find wider distribution for their work.
- Publishers both big and small can distribute books directly to readers.
- Book sellers find new and larger audiences for their products.
- Device makers can offer access to millions of books instantly.
- Libraries can continue to loan books in the way that patrons expect.
- Readers get universal access to all knowledge.
They have provided a slide show called Web of Books on Slideshare to explain how BookServer will work.
