Digital Book Index began in 2000 as a "checklist" or "handlist" for books that had been converted to digital format that were now available on the Internet. It evolved, somewhat accidentally and quite quickly, into a more full-blown index to what is "in print" via the Web. Shortly after inception, what to include – free books only or books for purchase – became a significant question. While those of us from the library, publishing, and bookselling world were familiar with ‘Books In Print,’ ‘Subject Guide to Books in Print,’ and related publications that provided information on new books from publishers, and Union catalogs, databases, and other bibliographic tools from the library world that detailed the locations of books at various institutions, in the ‘Web’ world these boundaries seemed artificial. Whether a particular work is available through the internet seemed to be the key question. Simply put, "Is the book available on the Web, and in what format?"

Thus, DBI has become both a "virtual library" and a "virtual bookstore," combining two historically parallel systems for locating books for the reader or researcher: the library card catalog or database (after publication) and "Books-in-Print" type publications (pre-publication or current). Within limitations, no longer does a reader have to walk down to the library or the bookstore, both quite remote in many countries. He or she only has to turn on the computer to find a title, including tens of thousands of "out-of-print" books, now again "in-print," electronically, courtesy of thousands of web publishers.

With one or two exceptions, we do not attempt to catalog the holdings of various subscription services such as ProQuest, Readex, Thompson-Gale or Chadwyck-Healy. Most of the titles included here are publicly accessible, thus forming a ‘library’ largely of basic texts available to site visitors from literally anywhere in the world. (The two principle exceptions are NetLibrary, which is accessible through many U.S. college and university gateways, and Questia, a subscription service open to the public.) We have no ‘philosophical’ disposition towards excluding these services, we just have had little cooperation from these commercial collections.

DBI or Google?: The principle difference between search services such as Google or Yahoo and DBI is that DBI tries to present access to books through an "organized" or structured gateway, while Google and Yahoo provide access to books using a "random" method. Both methods have their virtues and limitations. The real danger, however, of the Google/Yahoo model presupposes that in-depth knowledge can be absorbed in the 30-second-sound-bite-attention-span of 'multi-tasking,' post-modern society. Reading a random paragraph or several pages does not provide the kind of understanding or logical thinking required of reading a book.

Extent of works included: A substantial body of 19th and early 20th century (pre-copyright) works are now available on the web. An increasing number of later 20th century (copyrighted) titles are becoming available through subscription services such as Questia, NetLibrary, and Ebrary (not indexed here). A small number a of "contemporary" books are becoming available directly from publishers (Random House, Simon & Schuster, etc.) or online bookstores, as commercial publishers experiment with electronic distribution, frequently in Adobe eBook or Ms Reader format. 

Publishers and authors have a legitimate interest in protecting their intellectual property from theft, and the publishing industry itself has yet to embrace a wholesale transition to electronic publishing, not knowing how to avoid cannibalizing its existing sales of printed books. Over time, these issues will become resolved as publishers are dragged into the 21st century, perhaps kicking and screaming.

Finally, we have to apologize to our foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) site visitors, who will find a collection skewed strongly in the direction of ‘American’ subjects. This is, in part, an accident of history. It still appears that the fullest English-language collections are being built in the United States, and increasingly so in Britain, perhaps due to the funding available to U.S. institutions. While we have generally limited our indexing to English-language titles, some exceptions are being made for key documents or texts still only available in non-English languages. Mention must be made of the very excellent collections now available to French- and German-language readers, and we only wish that such collections could be incorporated here, were our resources and volunteer support not limited. (Information regarding foreign-language collections can be found on our ‘main menu’ page.) Mention should be made of the "million-book" project hosted at both the Digital Library of India and Carnegie Mellon University. We are cataloging that collection, slowly, due to the still-poor bibliographic and link control of the collection.

Copyright: DBI cannot take responsibility for establishing the copyright status of a particular work in any legal jurisdiction any more than ‘Books-in-Print’ can. Some works still under protection in the United States (or any other country) may be freely available in other countries and accessible through the web. Eventually, copyright protection must become more international. Despite the flagrant abuse of copyright in the music world, site visitors must become aware that an ‘author’ has to be able to maintain a method of earning an income from his labor. If one asks a carpenter or plumber to come and repair one’s home, that person is entitled to be paid for his or her work. Reading a book or accessing information built from the labor of authors, historians, or researchers is no different. Undermining of the traditional understanding of copyright will only result in the disappearance of intellectual labor  and the promotion of various forms of advertising, infomercials, political or religious proselytizing, etc.  Site visitors are urged to respect the copyright designations of a particular work published at a particular location.

The Future: After 500 years, we are coming to the end of the ‘Gutenberg’ world of movable type and centrally printed books. What’s replacing that world is still a little fuzzy, but it appears to be a more plastic world of the web-book, one which is (1) continuously updated, (2) where the concept of ‘edition’ may be obsolete, (3) and where permanence, archival storage, and copyright protection become significant issues. Experimental editions of traditional books have been developed at the University of Virginia and elsewhere that attempt to incorporate a much broader range of media (photographs, music, ephemera, etc.) 

As web access to traditional books becomes broader, the pressure to de-acquisition printed books will increase as the financial burdens of maintaining bricks-and-mortar library buildings, heating and air-conditioning, and staff salaries weigh heavily on institutions such as universities and public libraries. As digital collections become more prominent, such institutions – especially those dependent on tax-payer funding – will come under increasing pressure to reduce their holdings. Over time, it will be the task of the library community to redefine the role of the "library" and to maintain enough copies of printed books to be able to verify their original content. Library organizations must face those questions now and establish long-term archival solutions while the supply of printed books is ample to make intelligent decisions.

More information: A very interesting and useful review of existing electronic resources in American Literature was recently published by the Digital Library Foundation's Council on Library & Information Resources (Washington, D.C., Sept. 2005). Titled "A Kaleidoscope of Digital American Literature" the report was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and prepared by Martha L. Brogan, a library consultant, and Daphnee Rentfrow. While focused on American Literature, the conclusions of the report could be applied generally to the state of digital and electronic publishing in general. The report can be found at: http://www.diglib.org/pubs/brogan0505/ A small number of additional articles can be found on our subject menu page under Libraries & Librarianship.

Than you for visiting. We welcome your comments and suggestions.