History

• In 2005, the Internet Archive co-founded the Open Content Alliance (OCA) to digitize and archive the world’s books.
• circa 2006, Open Library (originally The Pharos Project) was conceived, as a card catalog for every published book. Since its inception, OpenLibrary.org has aspired to enable patrons to access readable digital editions (where available) of open access, public domain, and unrestricted books.
• In 2007 the Internet Archive received Special Library (Rush Brandis, California State Library) classification by the State of California. This same year, Aaron Swartz gave a seminal talk about Open Library and its roadmap at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center.
• In 2011, the Internet Archive piloted an online lending program on OpenLibrary.org, in collaboration with several OCA partners.
• In 2013, Open Library's co-founder Aaron Swartz passed away
• In 2014, the Internet Archive received a grant under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) from the California State Library system to support the digitization of books and the development of OpenLibrary.org as an online lending library service. After the completion of the grant, the Open Library entered a period of hiatus, without full-time staff, and was considered for sunset.
• In 2015, the Open Library project was kept on life support through the significant shared efforts of Jessamyn West, Giovanni Damiola, and Brenton Cheng.
• In 2016, the program transitioned leadership to Mek who worked to stabilize the project and rebooted its open source community of volunteers, adding key improvements, such as the “Want to Read” button and a mobile redesign. Among these volunteers, were Charles Horn, Drini Cami, Jim Champ, Lisa Seaberg, and later Scott Barnes, and Rebecca Shoptaw, all of whom eventually transitioned to staff on Open Library or adjacent projects within the Internet Archive.
• In 2019, Open Library launched the Book Sponsorship program, enabling the community to help fund the digitization of books missing from the lending program.
• In 2020, Open Library invested in modernizing and simplifying its infrastructure by (upgrading to Python3, establishing a monthly import pipeline, and switching its services to use Docker). The team also made key improvement to simplify the patron experience by merging the works and editions pages into a single "books" page. Finally, an effort was undertaken to increase discovery & adoption of the platform by book lovers. During this year, the COVID pandemic spread, impacting the livelihood and wellbeing of millions internationally. Many libraries and schools were mandated to lockdown, limiting public access to education and information. These challenges accelerated the shift towards online access and, given this change in dynamics, several prominent publishers opted to target the Internet Archive for its practice of controlled digital lending.
• In 2021 (Being the Internet’s best Open Book Catalog), we focused on imports, partnerships, search, and becoming the Open Book Catalog for the Internet.
• In 2022 (Improving core Service Design for patrons), we focused on increasing direct value to patrons by improving the core usability and experience of the service: book page mobile design, edition-level search, better site navigation, and performance.
• In 2023 (Understanding & serving key audiences more effectively), having plucked low hanging fruit and achieved feature parity with many different services, it became essential for Open Library to clarify its unique value proposition and did so by conducting design research with its patrons.
• In 2024 (Strategic Alignment & Planning), amidst power outages, book bans, lending limitations imposed from lawsuits, and cybersecurity incidents, the Open Library applied these learnings through strategic planning, to align and focus our efforts with the broader organization to build a defensible library future.
• In 2025 (Growing an international Open Library network of strategic partners, greater than the sum of its parts, and reestablishing product fit), in the post-lawsuit world where hundreds of thousands of books have been removed from library lending, the Open Library ventures forth to re-align its operations and offerings with the needs of the public, around the constraints of an evolving ecosystem. The project aims to achieve this through 3 vectors:
  1. 📚 Exploring new access opportunities: forging strategic partnerships with mission-aligned libraries from around the world, trusted book providers, and a concerted effort by volunteer open librarians to add thousands of readable open access web books,
  2. 🍋→🥤 Doubling down on the books we have to make them more findable, assessable, accessible, and usable.
  3. 🎯 More targeted audience(s): Expanding our offerings to be more globally accessible and useful, while simultaneously focusing on target audiences whose circumstances, needs, and essential use-cases align with our strengths and mission.