Thread by @textfiles

INTERNET ARCHIVE EDUCATION WEEK: OK, it's time to talk a little bit about how Internet Archive is Not a Library

It's not just one monolithic collection of books, or something else; it's designed to be incredibly flexible about what comes in, how to get into it, and, ultimately, ensure it's as easily accessible to every item with in it.

So, not a library.

Actually, a library of libraries.

We have an extraordinary amount of partner organizations who have their items at the Internet Archive, and they're in collections that have sub-collections, and have their own organization - they even have alternative interfaces on their websites to our materials. Let's meet some

Columbia University Libraries, including World War II Pamphlets, missionary tracts, Hebrew manuscripts, genealogy.

archive.org/details/Columb…

Boston College Library, including Liturgy, Irish History, Jesuitica, and the Yearbooks and Newsletters of the college

archive.org/details/Boston…

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: archive.org/details/metmus…

Brandeis University:
archive.org/details/Brande…

Lehigh University:
archive.org/details/lehigh

Some of these collections are small. Some are in the tens of thousands. Each has a different approach. All hosted with us.

In each collection, there's a search box in the upper left. It restricts to the collection, and lets you search for either metadata or the text inside the documents. You can also select facets based on year or topics. It's very flexible.

So think of it as if every library within the Internet Archive had a floor to itself. And then we simply stacked all the floors.

Wait

Put another way, there are sub-sets of items at the Archive who all enjoy the bandwidth and space and search/retrieval facilities we have, even if their philosophies or structure are different. Once you're down there, it doesn't matter how weird or different other areas are.

See you in the Stacks!

Oh, before the End of Year Fundraising team blasts me in the Slack, our donation link:

archive.org/donate