Category Archives: citizen librarians

Free the sources!

Posted on January 16, 2024 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I gave a lightning talk this past Sunday when Mary and I attended Wikipedia Day at the Columbia School of Journalism. Below is approximately what I said, with links to websites I showed during the talk, and few footnotes. Our thanks to … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, open access, publicdomain, serials, wikipedia | Leave a comment

Invitation to participate in a new project: Help open journals’ deep backfiles

Posted on October 10, 2019 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As I’ve noted here previously, there’s a wealth of serial content published in the 20th century that’s in the public domain, but not yet freely available online, often due to uncertainty about its copyright (and the resulting hesitation to digitize … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, copyright, open access, serials | Comments Off on Invitation to participate in a new project: Help open journals’ deep backfiles

New IMLS-funded project: Opening access to 20th century public domain serials

Posted on September 13, 2017 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’m happy to report that over the next year, I and others at Penn will be working on a project that the Institute of Museum and Library Services has just funded to help open access to the vast public domain … Continue reading →

Posted in awards, citizen librarians, copyright, metadata, open access, serials, sharing | 2 Comments

Sharing journals freely online

Posted on May 25, 2016 by John Mark Ockerbloom

What are all the research journals that anyone can read freely online?  The answer is harder to determine than you might think.  Most research library catalogs can be searched for online serials (here’s what Penn Libraries gives access to, for … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, copyright, discovery, libraries, open access, serials, sharing | 2 Comments

From Wikipedia to our libraries

Posted on March 4, 2013 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve heard the lament in more than one library discussion over the years.  “People aren’t coming to our library like they should,” librarians have told me.  “We’ve got a rich collection, and we’ve expended lots of resources on an online … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, discovery, libraries, online books, subjects | 24 Comments

Building on a full complement of copyright records

Posted on July 22, 2012 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Thanks to recent efforts of the US Copyright Office, we now have a complete digitization of summary copyright registration and renewal records back to the late 19th century.  As Mike Burke and others at the Copyright Office have been reporting … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, copyright, open access, sharing | 1 Comment

A digital public library we still need, and could build now

Posted on June 15, 2011 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s been more than half a year since the Digital Public Library of America project was formally launched, and I’m still trying to figure out what the project organizers really want it to be.  The idea of “a digital library … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, copyright, libraries, people, sharing | 11 Comments

Book People postscript

Posted on December 3, 2007 by John Mark Ockerbloom

This past Friday I closed down the Book People mailing list, a forum for people making and reading free online books that Mary and I started in 1997. Much of the activity of folks on the list would be early … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, meta, online books | Comments Off on Book People postscript

What’s this all about, Part 2: Everybody’s Libraries

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Mark Ockerbloom

In my previous post, I discussed “citizen librarianship” and the rise of online library services that go beyond the established library organizations and practices. And I claimed that the most promising future of libraries involved understanding and building up “everybody’s … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, meta | 3 Comments

What’s this all about, Part 1: The Rise of Citizen Librarians

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I got the idea for this blog from Dan Gillmor, a journalist who over the past few years has been documenting and encouraging the “citizen journalism” movement online. He gave an inspiring presentation at the Digital Library Federation’s forum earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, meta | 1 Comment