Hi, I'm @mek.fyi and for 9 years I've run the @openlibrary.org at @archive.org, where 11M patrons world-wide rely on us to preserve society's library books, many which can't be accessed elsewhere. 🎲 Markets, politics, employment could change: I pledge to keep Aaron Swartz's Open Library OPEN 📖. Why? - ThreadSky

mek.fyi • 23 hours ago

Hi, I'm @mek.fyi and for 9 years I've run the @openlibrary.org at @archive.org, where 11M patrons world-wide rely on us to preserve society's library books, many which can't be accessed elsewhere. 🎲 Markets, politics, employment could change: I pledge to keep Aaron Swartz's Open Library OPEN 📖. Why?

Comments

saltynwitchy.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Thank you for fighting this fight! ❤️

dervishe.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Thanks for that ! :)

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

More than ever, the world needs libraries: safe spaces, supportive community, reliable information, basic resources.

Meanwhile, the world's libraries are increasingly under threat by lawsuits, exploitative leasing models, funding cuts, and never-ending copyright.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/uncertain-future-american-libraries-mek-karpeles

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

@openlibrary.org remains home to thousands of challenged books:
https://openlibrary.org/collections/banned-books

Do I agree with all of them? No.

But I believe in the value of protecting authors' free speech. I trust in my neighbors to reach healthy conclusions. And I believe in the power of books to get us there.

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

While library systems in many nations are paddling upstream, against predatory corporate leasing schemes, to continue serving patrons, many nations have yet to establish libraries. @openlibrary.org ensures all nations have basic access to a Public Domain.

https://mekarpeles.medium.com/content-landlords-and-the-eviction-of-american-libraries-18461f9d819a

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

Thousands of readers with qualifying print disabilities rely on platforms like @openlibrary.org because digital access is literally the only way they can read print books. These audiences shouldn't have to worry about a sudden change in policy potentially leaving them behind.

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

The library ethos is to support humans and create opportunity. As a community, @openlibrary.org has mentored and graduated more than 30 engineering & design fellows internationally, helping many make impact, enter graduate programs, and jumpstart their careers.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mekarpeles_folks-often-tell-me-theyre-surprised-to-activity-7036568638350348288-HKYQ

mek.fyi•23 hours ago

The world deserves more reader privacy and open metadata, not vendor lock-in. @openlibrary.org is one open source alternative to amazon's goodreads that makes all its book data publicly available for free each month:

https://openlibrary.org/developers/dumps

adamfortuna.com•22 hours ago

Welcome from one person building in the book space to another! BlueSky has been a fun place. 🤗📚

go-jennie.bsky.social•22 hours ago

This is too awesome! I used this throughout my seminar class in children and young adult literature and the web archiving class as well. Thanks for running this; I hope everyone appreciates the valuable work you do too!

mek.fyi•22 hours ago

J, I'm so glad the resources are useful to you! We just imported 10k reading levels to improve our k-12 library, are introducing on-the-fly translations into bookreader to be accessible to more non-native speakers, better collections, & are preparing to import nearly 1M new books into the catalog!

go-jennie.bsky.social•20 hours ago

It’s good to see you growing the library. I discovered by chance and used it for leisure, so I was in the know when I actually needed the resources. I’ll definitely check it what’s new, thanks again!

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