ERPANET Case Study: Project Gutenberg | Page 3

instrument (4) was created to explore three main
areas of enquiry within an organisation: awareness of digital
preservation and the issues surrounding it; digital preservation
strategies (both in planning and in practice); and future requirements
within the organisation for this field. Within these three themes, distinct
layers of questions elicit a detailed discovery of the state of the entire
digital preservation process within participants' institutions. Drawing
on the experience that the partners of ERPANET have in this method of
research, another important detail has been introduced. Within
organisations, three categories of employee were identified for
interview: an Information Systems or Technology Manager, Business
Manager, and Archivist / Records Manager. In practice, this usually
involved two members of staff with knowledge of the organisation's
digital preservation activities, and a high level manager who provided
an overview of business and organisational issues. This methodology
has allowed us to discover the extent of knowledge and practice in
organisations, to understand the roles of responsibility and problem
ownership, and to appreciate where the drive towards digital
preservation is initiated within organisations.
The task of selecting the sectors for the case studies and of identifying
the respective companies to be studied is incumbent upon the

management board. They compiled a first list of sectors at the very
beginning of the project. But sector and company selection is an
ongoing process, and the list is regularly updated and complemented.
The Directors are assisted in this task by an advisory committee (5).
Chapter 4
: Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg produces free electronic
versions of literature and reference works that are in the public domain.
As the project has only a few paid staff members (6), the majority of
eBooks are scanned and edited by volunteers. Available via the Internet
since 1994, Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of freely
accessible, electronic books (eBooks). From 1971 until 1997 over
1,100 eBooks were created. In the first eleven weeks of 2004 alone,
three hundred new eBooks have been generated. There are now over
13,380 eBooks available and the production of eBooks is constantly
increasing. Project Gutenberg is dedicated to making these resources
available to the general public in a form that the vast majority of the
computers, programs and people can easily read (ASCII). However,
most texts are available in a wide range of formats for users to select.
New features have been added recently to Project Gutenberg's core
services. Specifically, the new Radio Gutenberg (7) makes audio and
video files accessible to the public for download as well as broadcasts
on their two radio channels and Gutenberg Music (8) makes digitised
music sheets accessible. This project focuses only on the preservation
of the eBooks.
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF) is a
recognised charitable organization by the US Internal Revenue Service.
http://www.gutenberg.net
Chapter 5
: Details and circumstances of the Interviews Michael Hart, Founder
and Director of Project Gutenberg and Dr. Greg Newby, CEO of the

Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation completed the
questionnaire and participated in email communications between
March and April 2004.
Chapter 6
: Analysis This section presents an analysis of the data collected during
the case study. It is organised to mirror the sequence of topics in the
questionnaire. * Perception and Awareness of Digital Preservation *
Preservation Activity * Compliance Monitoring * Digital Preservation
Costs * Future Outlook
Perception and Awareness of Digital Preservation
Project Gutenberg is one of the earliest web sites on the internet and
one of the earliest digital libraries in existence. They have been active
in creating eBooks for over thirty years and are aware of the social
benefits to be gained through preserving these resources for public
access. Project Gutenberg ensures that all eBooks are available in plain
text and other open formats to avoid obsolescence. The eBooks are
uploaded to two main servers (9) and can then be mirrored by over
thirty sites worldwide. The combination of open formats and many
copies should ensure that access to these digitised literary works is
preserved for the long-term.
The Main Problems
The major long-term problem lies in ensuring that copyright laws are
respected for all of the digitised works made accessible by Project
Gutenberg. Mirror sites exist in many countries around the world and,
as such, ensuring that copyright laws are respected in each can be
difficult. However, no eBook will be posted to the main site in the U.S.
without gaining copyright clearance. Recent extensions to copyright
laws in the U.S. and Europe have presented new challenges for the
Project Gutenberg team. This is because no new works will be released
to the public domain until 2018. Hart believes that these extensions to
copyright laws benefit 'very few copyright holders at the expense of
universal access to literature and knowledge'(10). These changes will

impact the amount of research that needs