New online sharing for out-of-copyright comics and news
With libraries all over the world seeking to make copies of their material available for viewing, the main problems they face are manpower and money. The cost of scanning in an artifact can range from a few dollars to thousands of dollars for artifacts in poor condition.
As with many information based solutions there is another way to achieve the same goal for minimal cost, get the collectors themselves to scan in their artifacts and post them on the internet for all to see.
The first question is why would a collector do this? Well it seems that collectors are keen for other people to get involved in their interests and want to share as much information as possible with other collectors. The other advantage is that as more people get interested in collecting the artifacts then the value will go up as well.
For the beginner the main interest is getting to see the artifact for the first time, whether it is a facsimile or the real thing. Many collectors will want to have ‘place holders’ in the collection until they can get hold of the real thing.
For education the ability to access the images and print the artifacts locally (they’re out of copyright so free to print) in the classroom means that children across the globe can have access to historical artifacts at their fingertips.
The curator of BookZwap is under no illusions about the enormity of the task, he says that the sheer volume of data to store and reproduce the artifacts at high quality is one barrier; the other is the confusion about copyright laws and tracking down owners of copyright.
In order to circumvent these issues he states that the site is initially concentrating on material from the USA and the UK. Anything prior to 1923 is copyright free in the USA and anything prior to 1900 is safe from copyright in the UK. The amount of material and the worrying state of these artifacts in libraries across the world is reason to focus on them first.
Even libraries such as the esteemed British Library are facing a losing battle with many artifacts. Many of the cheaper papers and comics popular with children and adults at the turn of the century where printed on very cheap disposable paper and for some it are already too late.
The curator of BookZwap hopes that the site will grow rapidly as collectors and educationalist alike use the site to upload and download images and add historical comments about the artifacts.
The process of getting users rather than producers to copy and update images is a growing phenomenon on the internet. Armies of volunteers can achieve in a few weeks, what would take Libraries years, if they were ever able to catch up.
BookZwap is an example of the power of the many over the power of the few. Whilst it may be small today, its collection is growing at a breath taking speed.
Best of all, the images are copyright free and entirely available for use without any onerous requirements.