A Library bigger than a building .

An ambitious project to create an online catalogue of every book in every language ever published is under way. Public goodwill is not in doubt, but some libraries remain to be convinced.

A few years ago, the idea of getting random people around the world to write their own encyclopaedia would have been madness - but that didn't stop the founders of Wikipedia doing just that, and it has turned out to be one of the most successful web projects of recent years.
With that in mind, does it sound mad to want to try and build an online catalogue of every book ever published, anywhere in the world?

The Open Library, newly launched in the USA but global in scope, is designed to make that happen.

In the words of its creators, the idea is to build a virtual library that stores details of not just "every book on sale, or every important book, or even every book in English; but simply every book."

Which would include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, The Koran , the full text of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and of course Harry Potter .

But what's the Open Library really for? Aaron Swartz, leader of the technical team working on Open Library, suggests that every book ever published needs a single authoritative page on the internet, a bit like a personal homepage.
It's kind of a bad idea for one commercial site to be the definitive source for book information on the internet .

"Right now, if you want to link to a book on the web, the main place people go is Amazon. It's kind of a bad idea for one commercial site to be the definitive source for book information on the internet, so we want to have a site that brings together information from commercial publishers, reviewers, users, libraries, everywhere.

"This site will become the place where you can find interesting books and information about them, whether they're in print, out of print, out of copyright or whatever."

Such a library has to be virtual. No building would ever be large enough to house all books; no single group or government could afford to build it, or employ the necessary staff. If the Open Library is to succeed, it has to be a virtual space, and open to everyone, Wikipedia-style.

"There are tons of books out there and tons of information about those books. There's no way even a large group of librarians is going to be able to collect it all. We think of it as an analogue to Wikipedia. There are some great encyclopaedias written by small groups of experts, but to get something as wide-ranging and varied as Wikipedia, you need to let everyone in."

To start things off, the Open Library is calling on other libraries to donate their catalogues. This alone presents huge technical challenges, since the data sets come in different formats and different languages, and each set comes with its own quirks, repetitions and errors.
What's important is keeping the data in a structured form, so that the database working behind the scenes knows the difference between an author, a title and a publisher.

"We had to build this new type of wiki software which was an exciting challenge, because you had to set it up so that instead of just having one kind of page people can edit, we have lots of different kinds.

"People can edit authors, they can edit books, they can edit text pages, and so on. So there's a lot of new stuff we had to build. And that's just the infrastructure - there were also lots of things to import, and book data to merge and make searchable."

Quotes by Richard Bach !!!!

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.

Allow the world to live as it chooses, and allow yourself to live as you choose.

An idea is never given to you without you being given the power to make it reality. You must, nevertheless, suffer for it.

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours.

Ask yourself the secret of YOUR success. Listen to your answer, and practice it.

Avoid problems, and you'll never be the one who overcame them.

Bad things are not the worst things that can happen to us. Nothing is the worst thing that can happen to us!

Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?

Civilization... wrecks the planet from seafloor to stratosphere.

Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly.

Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certain you don't have anything to learn from them.

Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.

Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.

Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.

Evolution made civilization steward of this planet. A hundred thousand years later, the steward stood before evolution not helper but destroyer, not healer but parasite. So evolution withdrew its gift, passed civilization by, rescued the planet from intelligence and handed it to love.

Get this in mind early: We never grow up.

Happiness is the reward we get for living to the highest right we know.

Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.

Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.

I don't want to do business with those who don't make a profit, because they can't give the best service.

I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it?

I want to be very close to someone I respect and admire and have somebody who feels the same way about me.

If it's never our fault, we can't take responsibility for it. If we can't take responsibility for it, we'll always be its victim.

If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were.

If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem.

In order to live free and happily you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.

In order to win, you must expect to win.

In the United States Christmas has become the rape of an idea.

It is by not always thinking of yourself, if you can manage it, that you might somehow be happy.

Until you make room in your life for someone as important to you as yourself, you will always be searching and lost.

Jonathan is that brilliant little fire that burns within us all, that lives only for those moments when we reach perfection.

Learning is finding out what you already know.

Listen to what you know instead of what you fear.

Live never to be ashamed if anything you say or do is published around the world, even if what is said is not true.

Not being known doesn't stop the truth from being true.

Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.

Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.

Some choices we live not only once but a thousand times over, remembering them for the rest of our lives.

Strong beliefs win strong men, and then make them stronger.

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.

The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly.

The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder.

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.

The simplest things are often the truest.

There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.

To bring anything into your life, imagine that it's already there.

To fly as fast as thought, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.

You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.

You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however.

You don't want a million answers as much as you want a few forever questions. The questions are diamonds you hold in the light. Study a lifetime and you see different colors from the same jewel.

You teach best what you most need to learn.

Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.

Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself.

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a fake messiah.

Friends.

Friends
A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift.
A friend is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift.
A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace.
And makes the whole world we live in a better and happier place.
By- Jean Kyler McManus –

Friends will come and friends will go,
The seasons change and it will show,
I will age and so will you,But our friendship stays, strong and true.
- Author Unknown –

There's nothing as nice as someone who shares,your laughter,
your secrets, your wishes and cares,
someone who's there through your good times and tears,
who stays by your side as your friend through the years.
- Autymn Skillings -