Internet Archive Launches Open Library Explorer
Internet Archive Launches Open Library Explorer
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, December 21, 2020—The nonprofit digital library, Internet Archive, today launched the Open Library Explorer, an experimental new interface for browsing the more than 4 million books at the Internet Archive’s book’s portal, Open Library. Still, in beta, Open Library Explorer recreates virtually the experience of exploring the stacks of a physical library. By harnessing the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classification systems, it enables readers to discover new books serendipitously by browsing bookshelves organized by a century of librarians.
Now that classrooms and libraries are shuttered, families are turning online for their educational and entertainment needs. With demand for digital books at an all-time high, the Open Library team was inspired to give readers something closer to what they enjoy in the physical world. “In college, I would always leave the library having discovered something new—usually a variety of new things,” explains Drini Cami, lead designer and developer of the Open Library Explorer. “This is something I haven’t been able to replicate online, the ability to direct my own discovery.”
Escaping an Algorithmic Bubble One problem with online platforms is the way they guide you to new content. For music, movies or books, Spotify, Netflix and Amazon use complicated recommendation algorithms to suggest what you should encounter next. But those algorithms are driven by the media you have already consumed. They put you into a “filter bubble” where you only see books similar to those you’ve already read. Cami and his team devised the Open Library Explorer as an alternative to recommendation engines. With the Open Library Explorer, you are free to dive deeper and deeper into the stacks. Where you go is driven by you, not by an algorithm.
How it works Open Library Explorer allows you to scan bookshelves left to right by subject, up and down for subclassifications. Switch a filter and suddenly the bookshelves are full of juvenile books. Type in “subject: biography” and you see nothing but biographies arranged by subject matter. By clicking on the Settings icon, you can customize the look and feel of your shelves. Hit the 3D options and you can pick out the 600-page books immediately, just by the thickness of the spine. When a title catches your eye, click on the book to see whether Open Library has an edition you can preview or borrow. For more than 4 million books, borrowing a copy in your browser is just a few clicks away. Enter the Open Library Explorer: https://openlibrary.org/explore Watch an explainer video: https://archive.org/details/openlibrary_explorer
Related Links: https://blog.openlibrary.org/2020/12/16/introducing-the-open-library-explorer/ https://openlibrary.org/ https://archive.org/
**Images and Videos for the Press here
Available for Interview: Drini Cami, Lead Designer & Developer, Open Library Explorer Contact: drini@archive.org Mek Karpeles, Open Library Program Lead Contact: mek@archive.org About the Internet Archive** The Internet Archive is one of the largest libraries in the world and home of the Wayback Machine, a repository of 475 billion webpages. Founded in 1996 by Internet Hall of Fame member, Brewster Kahle, the Internet Archive now serves more than 1.5 million patrons each day, providing access to 70 petabytes of data—books, web pages, music, television, and software—and working with more than 800 library and university partners to create a digital library, accessible to all.
PRESS CONTACT: Wendy Hanamura wendy@archive.org 415-335-0895
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