[It's sort of odd that Michael posted this "news release" to Book People, but not here to gutvol-d. So I'm reposting it here (at least I don't recall it being posted here -- I checked the gutvol-d archive for April and May.) David Rothman, in his TeleRead blog, posted an article covering this news release: http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4798 Is this PG II resurrected? Anyway, great work, Michael, at right justifying the text!] 2 Months To 1/3 Million eBooks Press Release: May 4, 2006 See: http://www.gutenberg.org [Use any favorite browsers] http://www.worldebookfair.com[Best With MS Explorer] Contact: Michael S. Hart <hart@[redacted]> Phone: 217-344-6623 * 1/3 Million eBooks Free from July 4 Through August 4 1/3 of a million books, or 10 times the number found in the average public library, will be available for free downloading via the Internet and World Wide Web beginning July 4, as Project Gutenberg and the World eBook Library act on their dreams of increased world literacy and education. Such a collection, if printed out in standard format would be large enough to outweigh elephant herds and to cover the sidelines at all 40 Super Bowl games. Each year for one month, The World eBook Library and Project Gutenberg will team up to be major sponsors, planning to make ONE MILLION eBooks available in the World eBook Fair of 2009. "It has been our goal since the dawn of the Internet to break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy," says Michael Hart, who founded the Project Gutenberg effort by placing the first permanent text online on July 4, 1971, 35 years ago. "Our projects are based on the premise that everyone in the world could have access to a free worldwide public library," for John Guagliardo, founder of The World eBook Library, this event marks the fruition of years of hard labor. Over 100 languages will be represented for worldwide readers and that total is expected to increase, even as the preparations are underway. The books are the permanent property of whomever downloads them, but a warning is including to check your local copyrights, as the books are provided under U.S. copyright laws, and other nations have different copyrights. eBooks still under U.S. copyright have been donated via the permission of the copyright holders. Project Gutenberg, perhaps the oldest Internet site, and The World eBook Library, perhaps the largest one of the growing number of eBook libraries, joined for the purpose of "bringing the most eBooks to the most people in the world." "This is the fulfillment of a lifetime of dreams," a sentiment shared by Greg Newby, as Project Gutenberg CEO, he hopes his Library & Information Science PhD. will become the last of the olde library worlde, and perhaps the first of a new world of library science. "We can only hope that Google, Yahoo, and the others can also achieve their goals in the next few years-- as we hope they will each reach for a million eBooks before the decade ends. Our own goals, with them or without them, are to bring the world the 1/3 million eBooks this year, 1/2 million next year, 3/4 million in 2008, and to reach a grand total of a one million volume World eBook Fair on July 4, 2009." *** Additional facts and figures: Proposed World eBook Fair totals for upcoming years: July 4, 2006, 1/3 Million July 4, 2007, 1/2 Million July 4, 2008, 3/4 Million July 4, 2009, ONE Million * By 2009, the terabyte [one thousand gigabytes] boxes we have seen enter the consumer marketplace in 2006, now priced as low as $500, will be commonplace on an average computer on the shelf and will easily hold a million volumes of a million characters each for the price of just one semester's books at a university. * Project Gutenberg and The World eBook Library are an example of the 501 (c) (3) corporations that operate on a non-profit basis to improve the world. * Project Gutenberg eBooks are all free of charge from http://www.gutenberg.org or http://gutenberg.net.au, the home of Project Gutenberg of Australia, and also http://pge.rastko.net, Project Gutenberg of Europe. In addition The World eBook Library sponsors Project Gutenberg's Consortia Center where entire collection providers around the world make many eBook libraries available in their entirety. http://www.gutenberg.cc The World eBook Library, a member supported service, offers unrestricted access to its collection of over 250,000 eBooks, documents, and articles. Individual membership is only $8.95 a year, discounted to $1 on a per student or FTE [full time equivalency] for the various educational groups or institutions. An even greater discount is available for public libraries. For those who cannot afford a membership, or who may be experiencing hardships, these World eBook Library services are provided via complimentary subscription services via Natural Disaster Relief Programs and/or Economic Hardship Relief Subscriptions. Not one who has ever qualified for complimentary subscription of either of these programs has ever been denied. The World eBook Fair effort at worldebookfair.com or via www.gutenberg.org is a cooperative effort by the World eBook Library Consortia and Project Gutenberg, representing the largest and oldest eBook libraries. 1/3 of a million eBooks will be made available for a period from July 4 to August 4 this year in honor of the date of the first steps taken to make eLibraries on July 4, 1971, on what was to become the Internet, via what as to become Project Gutenberg. This celebration is to promote book awareness and to assist in efforts to increase literacy and education all over the world. We hope you enjoy some of your favorite books in the editions presented here and that you will pass those on to others we hope will enjoy them as much as you. Please feel free to send in requests for books to be included in future World eBook Fairs. * We hope you will see fit to give this press release, and future similar releases, your consideration, and that you will see fit to pass them on to others. If you have any favorite media people, encouragement to them to use this would be wonderful! Thank you so much! Michael S. Hart John Guagliardo Gregory Newby Visit Project Gutenberg sites at: http://gutenberg.org ~50 languages The original PG site http://gutenberg.net.au Project Gutenberg of Australia http://pgdp.net Original Distributed Proofreaders Site http://gutenberg.cc ~100 languages PG Consortia Center http://pge.rastko.net ~65 languages PG of Europe http://dp.rastko.net Distributed Proofreaders Europe Visit The World eBook Library at: http://www.netlibrary.net http://public-library.net * David vs. Googliath