not extraordinarily complex compared to cataloging the stars
As Darnton scopes it out, our new library of Alexandria would be built incrementally upon a registry the would serve
:• digital files of books in the public domain, about two million works;
:• noncopyrighted material digitized from the special collections of libraries and museums;
:• collections already aggregated from networks of databases such as the National Digital Newspaper Program, Digital Collections and Content, Opening History, the National Science Digital Library, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library;
:• holdings of HathiTrust, the Internet Archive, and PublicResource.Org;
:• books covered by copyright but out of print. Permission would have to be secured from the copyright owners, but many authors of books that had long ago ceased to sell would be delighted to have their works revived in digital form;
• orphan works, assuming congress passes legislation;
• publishers backlists and frontlists, if terms are attractive enough,
Add music
:<)
