An elaborate project to educate the public about the issues of copyright and public domain has evolved into an unusual book publishing effort—a van outfitted with print-on-demand and book-binding technology that can churn out public-domain books for poor schools and libraries in undeveloped nations like Egypt and Uganda. The digital bookmobile, developed by a nonprofit venture called Anywhere Books, is currently turning out about 1,000 books a month for small village libraries and primary schools in rural communities throughout Uganda.
The digital bookmobile was launched in 2003 by Anywhere Books (www.anywherebooks.org) with a $150,000 grant from the World Bank. The nonprofit venture is directed by executive director Brad DeGraf and program director Richard Koman. Koman told PW the project was originally called the Internet Bookmobile, a project conceived in 2002 by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit San Francisco—based venture to archive the World Wide Web. The IA outfitted a van with a satellite dish, laptop computer, laser printer and hot-glue book-binding machine and sent the van out on a cross-country tour of U.S. cities.
The original IA project, Koman explained, was intended to "challenge the extension of copyright and demonstrate that public domain was good for making books available to schools and libraries." The IA has digitally archived the full text of about 30,000 public-domain titles. The plan, said Koman, was to rally public support in opposition to a proposed extension of copyright and the effects that this change would have on material due to pass into the public domain.
After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the copyright extension, Koman said, he and DeGraf began to look for new opportunities for the project and secured a World Bank grant that they used to launch Anywhere Books. After getting the support of the National Library of Uganda in June 2003, Koman outfitted a Mitsubishi four-wheel-drive van with the printing technology and its own power generator. So far, said Koman, Anywhere Books has been a big success in Uganda.
"It's hard to believe, but Uganda primary schools can now actually teach reading for its own sake," said Koman, noting, "you can't do that if there are no books." The bookmobile is printing out copies of Shakespeare, Mark Twain and other classics, said Koman. The National Library of Uganda is also scanning important local information, including health- and AIDS-related material, that can be published.
The group is looking for additional funding as well as the donation of licensed copyrighted material that can be printed for distribution in poor communities. "Our biggest issue is getting material that is under copyright," Koman told PW. The venture is working with U.S. publishers and with Creative Commons, an organization that offers and promotes a less restrictive form of copyright, to get permissions for some material. Anywhere Books is also seeking out-of-print editions of relatively up-to-date medical and health titles.
"We'd like to replicate the project around the developing world and in the U.S. and Eastern Europe," said Koman. The bookmobile idea has already been adopted by the Egyptian and Indian governments, which have started their own digital bookmobile programs.
