Editing Million Book Project

{{short description|Book digitization project}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2009}}
The '''Million Book Project''' (or the '''Universal Library''') was a book digitization project led by [[Raj Reddy]] at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] School of Computer Science and University Libraries<ref name="CMU">{{cite web|title=ULIB [About Us] |publisher=Carnegie Mellon University |url=http://www.ulib.org/ULIBAboutUs.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108100043/http://www.ulib.org/ULIBAboutUs.htm |archivedate=2012-01-08 }}</ref> from 2001 to 2008. Working with government and research partners in [[India]] ([[Digital Library of India]]) and [[China]], the project scanned books in many languages, using [[Optical character recognition|OCR]] to enable full text searching, and providing free-to-read access to the books on the web. {{As of|2007}}, they have completed the scanning of 1 million books and have made the entire catalog accessible online.

==Description==
The ''Million Book Project'' was a [[501(c)(3)]] charity organization with various scanning centers throughout the world.

By December 2007, more than 1.5 million books had been scanned, in 20 languages: 970,000 in Chinese; 360,000 in English; 50,000 in [[Telugu language|Telugu]]; and 40,000 in Arabic.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Million Book Project - 1.5 million scanned!|publisher=London Business School Library |url=http://lbslibrary.typepad.com/bizresearch/2007/11/the-million-boo.html|archivedate=2008-06-14 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614093014/http://lbslibrary.typepad.com/bizresearch/2007/11/the-million-boo.html}}</ref> Most of the books are in the [[public domain]], but permission has been acquired to include over 60,000 copyrighted books (roughly 53,000 in English and 7,000 in Indian languages). The books are mirrored in part at sites in India, China, Carnegie Mellon, the [[Internet Archive]], [[Bibliotheca Alexandrina]]. The books that have been scanned to date are not yet all available online, and no single site has copies of all the books that are available online.{{Verification needed|date=April 2025}}

The million book project was a "proof of concept" that has largely been replaced by [[HathiTrust]], Google Book Search and the Internet Archive book scanning projects.

The Internet Archive may have some books that Google does not (e.g.: ''The Poems of Robert Frost'' published after the end of 1922).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/universallibrary  |title=Universal Library : Free Books : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |accessdate=2016-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/poemsofrobertfro029898mbp |title=The Poems Of Robert Frost|accessdate=2016-02-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-v9-nQEACAAJ&q=The+Poems+of+Robert+Frost |title=The Poems of Robert Frost - Google Books |accessdate=2016-02-05|last1=Frost |first1=Robert |year=1949 }}</ref>

The [[National Science Foundation]] (NSF) awarded Carnegie Mellon $3.63M over four years for equipment and administrative travel for the Million Book Project. India provided $25M annually to support language translation research projects. The [[Ministry of Education (China)|Ministry of Education in China]] provided $8.46M over three years. The Internet Archive provided equipment, staff and money. The [[Uc merced|University of California, Merced Library]] funded the work to acquire copyright permission from U.S. publishers.

The program ended in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.ucsb.edu/research/db/973|title=Universal Digital Library|date=November 9, 2016|website=UCSB Library}}</ref> The [[Internet Archive]] hosted an online symposium in 2021 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Million Book Project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Enduring Legacy: Million Book Project Turns 20 |date=24 August 2021 |url=https://archive.org/details/enduring-legacy |access-date=2025-02-06}}</ref>

==Partner institutions==

===China===
The institutions in China which are participants in this project include:<ref name="CMU"/>
* [[Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China]]
* [[Chinese Academy of Sciences]]
* [[Fudan University]]
* [[Nanjing University]]
* [[Peking University]]
* [[Tsinghua University]]
* [[Zhejiang University]]
* [[Northeast Normal University]]

===India===
The institutions in India which are participants in this project include:<ref name="CMU"/>
* [[Indian Institute of Science]], [[Bangalore]]
* [[International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad|International Institute of Information Technology]], [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]
* [[Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad|Indian Institute of Information Technology]], [[Allahabad]]
* [[Anna University]], [[Chennai]]
* [[Mysore University]], [[Mysore]]
* [[University of Pune]], [[Pune]]
* [[Goa University]], [[Goa]]
* [[Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams]], [[Tirupati (city)|Tirupathi]]
* [[Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy]], [[Tanjore]]
* [[Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education]], [[Srivilliputhur]]
* [[Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation]], [[Mumbai]]

===United States===
The institutions in the U.S. which are participants include:<ref name="CMU"/>
* [[Internet Archive]]
* [[Indiana University]]
* [[Pennsylvania State University]]
* [[Stanford University]]
*TriColleges ([[Swarthmore College|Swarthmore]], [[Haverford College|Haverford]], [[Bryn Mawr College|Bryn Mawr]])
* [[University of California, Berkeley]]
* [[University of California, Merced]]
* [[University of Pittsburgh]]
* [[University of Washington]]

===Europe===
The institutions in the EU which are participants include:<ref name="CMU"/>
* [[Copenhagen University]]
* [[Aarhus University]]
* [[Odense University]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130720095617/http://vlibrary.net/ Denmark Virtual Library]

==See also==
* [[Book scanning]]
* [[Digital library]] ([[List of digital library projects|list]])
* [[Digital preservation]]
* [[Universal library]]
* [[Project Gutenberg]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090723154731/http://www.ulib.org/ The Universal Digital Library]
* [http://www.rr.cs.cmu.edu/mbdl.htm The Million Book Digital Library Project] (paper from December 1, 2001)
** [https://libwebspace.library.cmu.edu/libraries-and-collections/MBP_FAQ.html Frequently Asked Questions]
*{{in lang|zh}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20120512085009/http://www.cadal.zju.edu.cn/IndexEng.action Universal Library, China site]
* [http://udl.iiita.ac.in Universal Digital Library at Allahabad]
* [http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/ Digital Library of India]
* Internet Archive:<!--Apparently the two are mutually distinct.-->
** [https://archive.org/details/millionbooks the archived pilot]
** [https://archive.org/details/universallibrary larger partial collection]

{{Books}}

[[Category:Carnegie Mellon University]]
[[Category:Ebook suppliers]]
[[Category:Mass digitization]]
[[Category:Digital library projects]]