John Mark Ockerbloom is a digital library architect and planner at the University of Pennsylvania.
Besides this blog, he also has a Selected Works site that has a number of his papers and presentations.
You can send him email by writing to “ockerblo” at “pobox.upenn.edu”. If you would like to suggest a book for The Online Books Page, which he edits, instructions for doing so are here.
In case you ever feel a need to catalog any of his work, his authorized name heading is “Mark Ockerbloom, John, 1966-“.
John posts as @JMarkOckerbloom on mastodon.social, and might do so on some other social networks.
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Everybody's Libraries 
How can I reach you by phone?
Thanks
I generally prefer not to get unsolicited phone calls unless they’re urgent. (If you do have an urgent need to reach me by phone, you can do so via my employer.)
Hallo,
first of all I have to apologise for this message. The subject about I want to learn is THE ONLINE LIBRERY, the roules how works this business because in Romania Europe where I liv it doesen’t exist.All I have fizically for the moment is a reserved domain on internet for an online weekle oe monthly publication, exclusive local information for Bucharest.Please be so kind giving me the essential aid. Many thanks,
PS – perhaps you can suggest an online training or somthing similar
Hello, Nora. I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for, but there are a lot of online resources on digital libraries, the general topic you’re referring to. I have a listing of some of the free online books and journals on this subject here. (This is part of a larger public digital library of free online books that I maintain.)
While this q&a isn’t really on-topic for this specific page, I’ll keep this answer, and the comment to which it’s replying, online here until I can craft a more detailed blog post, since the general issue of how to learn about and set up digital libraries in not-so-rich countries is certainly relevant to the scope of this blog.
This site used to have a list of books in the public domain. I used to access the sute by clicking on “Archives”. But it seems to have disappeared. What happened to it? Is it buried somewhere else? The index was alphabet or author based and had about 250-500 entries per page. So good for browsing.
I think you’re thinking of The Online Books Page, which is also linked above. We have various ways of browsing that collection, including alphabetically by author. (Not all the books listed are public domain– some are copyrighted but have authorized free online editions– but most are public domain.)
Hi John,
Is there a way to sort the collection to be able to view only books that in the public domain and have no copyright issues that accompany their use or adaptation?
Deepak
I’m afraid I don’t keep data on which books are in the public domain or otherwise deemed reusable (as opposed to those that are in copyright and online with permission, but without a license permitting reuse.)
Dear Sir, could you please update the URL for The Witness by Jesse Glass to: http://wayback.archive-it.org/2269/20131025175215/http://www.ahadadabooks.com/content/view/45/56/ as the Ahadada Book site is now archived by the University of Maryland. Thanks so much and every best wish, Jesse Glass
Writing to inquire as to whether you are interested in having some old issues of Photoplay Magazine (50s and 60s)
that were in my Grandmother’s house.
If you don’t want them, perhaps you could direct me to someone or some organization that might? A museum, a prop house, certain collectors…
I am not looking to profit from them…I just hate throwing these beautiful works of art and history to the dump heap.
Thank you for any direction you feel you can give,
Jo Leachman
jojoleachman@yahoo.com
310 864 9905
I WANT TO PUT MY BOOKS ON YOUR SITE
Thank you for gathering the titles of the Tabula Cebetis on one page. Especially during this time when libraries are closed… you made my day.
Hi John,
I’m a Library Technician (soon to be Librarian) in Australia & would like to subscribe to your blog by entering my email address, but I can’t see a place for that. Often a box will pop up in WordPress encouraging me to add this to my other subscriptions, but that hasn’t happened here.
Many thanks.
Janelle
Hi Janelle,
If you have Javascript enabled, you should be able to go to the home page (everybodyslibraries.com) and then move your mouse down to the lower right corner of the window to get a “Follow” box allowing you to sign up for email notifications. (If you’re already signed in to wordpress.com, the Follow button might appear somewhere else.) Let me know if you have any problems.
Hello John,
I am a MLS student at University of North Texas and I have been evaluating the Online Books Page for one of my classes and I think the work you have done is amazing. I don’t have any questions, I just want to express my gratitude for the decades of care you’ve put into building this amazing collection.
Thank you for your kind words, Morgan. It means a lot to me to know that people find the site useful. We’ve restarted updates (they’d stopped for a while when I was on vacation, and afterwards when we froze the site to do some infrastructure upgrades), and I’d be very happy to get further suggestions about what to put on it.
Hello! I found a newspaper from dec 5, 1910. I can’t throw it out. Any suggestions ? Please email
Me
Good morning,
By way of introduction, I am the Executive Director of the English-Speaking Union (Victoria Branch). We are a cultural and education charity which has been registered for over 100 years.
We are considering offering our members access to a digital library and I want to have a discussion with you about offering the Online Books Page eBooks as an option to them.
Do you have similar arrangements with other not-for-profits that could be used as a benchmark for collaboration? The English-Speaking Union has a physical library that is enjoyed by our members today.
I would be very happy to understand whether we can collaborate and. to this end, I would welcome a call or Zoom with you to discuss further.
Please let me know if you have any interest and if so, when would you be free for a discussion.
Thank you again.
Best,
Andrew Martin
Executive Director
The English-Speaking Union (Victoria Branch)
I love the index to Fantastic Adventures. If people like you didn’t save this info it would be totally lost. I need to find out the artist for the story THE BOTTLE IMP by Dwight V Swain in the Sept 1942 issue. I have the original art work but can not identify the artist. Hope you can help. Donna Rankin
Your work tickled my late night history buff brain just perfectly. I was going down a rabbit hole on the lost colony of early British America. Your archive of links for Hakluyt’s “The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation” (https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/metabook?id=hakluyt) is was exactly what I was looking for. I was quite happy when I came across it as it was completely random and I was starting to lose hope on finding a readable copy of the books!
Thank you for your work,
A random curious college student/history buff from Washington state