On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 20:59:56 +0100 (CET), Lars Aronsson lars@aronsson.se wrote:
Who are these people at LoC? Does their project have a name?
I think the best way is to digitize every book and give each page a URL, like this, http://runeberg.org/pictswed/0219.html
We already know how to handle URLs, and it's only a matter of time until we have scanned every book and newspaper there is. I would guess the task will be completed within the next 50 years. Most of us will be around to see it.
Scanning is difficult. I know that in the British Library and other copyright libraries, photocopying (and therefore scanning) of a book has to be one page at a time: you cannot open a book flat for photocopying, but let one page at a time dangle on the side of the photocopier. Also, material beyond a certain age may not be photocopied at all. (I think you might also need permission sometimes).
I don't know how far back the Library of Congress goes, but these may apply.
Also, these things are copyrighted. :P