The popularization of Digital libraries
Digital libraries are getting more and more popular. They’re taking advantage of the Internet to deliver documents in all sorts of forms and shapes to their users. But some of them make it a priority to popularize and democratize their services by making them available free of charge.
LibriVox is giving a new lease of life to audio books by recording books that are in the public domain.
iThèque goes way further. Public libraries can subscribe to their catalog and allow their users to access it anywhere (the libraries pay, not the users.) The catalog includes audio books, e-books, music records, videos and games. Documents that don’t belong to the public domain are “chronodegradable”: users can download the files and use them for 30 days.
As of February, iThèque contributes to the “1% digital solidarity” fund set up by the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) of Geneva. 1 % of its transactions is transfered to the DSF, whose purpose is to address the inequality of access to digital tools between counries.