CXO

Photos: Internet Archive's ambitious vision

By // July 18, 2006, 8:39 AM PST // billdetwiler

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  • Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, calls his ambitious project the "Library of Alexandria, v.2."

    Internet Archive

  • The Internet Archive offices in San Francisco's Presidio, a former military base that now houses mostly nonprofits.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • Using an online database, an Internet Archive book processor verifies that the copyright on an O'Henry book has expired.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • Internet Archive workers staff the book scanning machines at the University of California's Northern Regional Library Facility in Richmond, Calif., near Berkeley.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • A worker scanning books uses a foot pedal to lift and lower a V-shaped cradle and glass plate that hold the book pages down while two cameras shoot pictures.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • A worker turns the pages of a book.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • This image shows what appears on the screen in front of the person scanning books.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • The original book from that scan.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • Some old books arrive in sorry shape. The Scribe scanners were designed to avoid damaging the books. Other scanning methods require workers to cut bindings.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • The scanned and digitized books can then easily be printed.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • The scanned books are exact duplicates of the originals, even down to the library check-out slips and envelopes.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • Kahle shows off an antenna from the free wireless Internet project SFLan.org.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

  • Robert Miller, director of books at the Internet Archive, in front of the entrance to the book scanning offices at the University of California.

    Elinor Mills/CNET News.com

Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive, calls his ambitious project the "Library of Alexandria, v.2."

Internet Archive

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About Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Managing Editor of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...