• About ▾

• Search and Browse ▾

• Help ▾

Donation
Frequently Asked Questions about Project Gutenberg
Contents
1. About Project Gutenberg
1. What is Project Gutenberg?
2. Where did Project Gutenberg come from?
3. Tell me about Project Gutenberg’s longevity
4. Who runs Project Gutenberg?
5. How many people are in Project Gutenberg?
6. How can I help Project Gutenberg?
7. What is the relationship between Project Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg
of Canada, Project Gutenberg of Europe, Projekt Gutenberg-DE, Project Gutenberg of
Australia, and Project Runeberg?
2. About Project Gutenberg publications
1. Does Project Gutenberg publish only books?
2. What books does Project Gutenberg publish?
3. What other things has Project Gutenberg published in the past?
3. How does Project Gutenberg choose books to publish?
4. What languages does Project Gutenberg publish in?
5. Why don’t you have any / many books about history, geography, science,
biography, etc.? Why aren’t there any / more PG books available in French, Spanish,
German, etc.?
6. Why don’t you have any books by Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Tolkien,
etc.?
7. Why is Project Gutenberg so set on using plain text?
About Project Gutenberg
What is Project Gutenberg?
Project Gutenberg is an online library of free electronic books, or eBooks. Project
Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute literary
works.
The mission of Project Gutenberg is: To encourage the creation and distribution of
eBooks.
Read more about Project Gutenberg in the About section.
Where did Project Gutenberg come from?
In 1971, Michael Hart was given $100,000,000 worth of computer time on a mainframe
of the era. Trying to figure out how to put these very expensive hours to good use,
he envisaged a time when there would be millions of connected computers, and typed
in the Declaration of Independence (all in upper case–there was no lower case
available!). His idea was that everybody who had access to a computer could have a
copy of the text. Now, decades later, his copy of the Declaration of Independence
(with lower-case added!) is still available to anyone, anywhere.
During the 1970s, Michael added some more classic American texts, and through the
80s worked on the Bible and the collected works of Shakespeare. That edition of
Shakespeare was never released, due to copyright law changes, but others followed.
Starting in 1991, Project Gutenberg began to take its current form, with many
different texts and defined production targets for new eBooks. The target for 1991
was one book per month. 1992’s target was two books each month. This target doubled
every year through 1996, when it hit 32 books a month.
There is more history and background in the Background, History and Philosophy
section.
Tell me about Project Gutenberg’s longevity
Project Gutenberg is the original, and oldest, eBook project on the Internet,
founded in 1971. It is one of the oldest online content providers in the world that
is still operating.
Who runs Project Gutenberg?
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization,
which operates Project Gutenberg. Dr. Gregory B. Newby is our volunteer CEO.
Professor Michael Hart was our Founder and Executive Director. Michael died in
2011, and you can read obituary and memorial information here.
In terms of the day-to-day production of eBooks, our volunteers run themselves. :-)
They produce books, and submit them when completed. The Posting Team, known as
“whitewashers” after Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, checks submitted eBooks and shepherds
them online.
How many people are in Project Gutenberg?
Over the years, we estimate that over 10,000 people have helped Project Gutenberg,
either by submitting new eBooks, or having some other role in support of Project
Gutenberg.
How can I help Project Gutenberg?
Produce a new eBook! The easiest way to get started is with Distributed
Proofreaders, where you can find a self-paced tutorial and a supportive community
of volunteers.
Donate money! We’re an all-volunteer project, and we don’t have much to spend, so
even a little goes a long way. Read more about donating to Project Gutenberg.
Help improve our eBooks! If you find an error, or something missing - or perhaps
you have a suggestion for our website - please get in touch.
Spread the word! Invite your friends and colleagues to visit Project Gutenberg.
When you find something you like, share it! See the Terms of Use for details and
limitations.
What is the relationship between Project Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg of Canada,
Project Gutenberg of Europe, Projekt Gutenberg-DE, Project Gutenberg of Australia,
and Project Runeberg?
Those are all entirely separate organizations. In many cases, Michael Hart gave
permission for them to use the “Project Gutenberg” name, which is a registered
trademark.
These site operate within the copyright rules of their respective countries, and
may have specific focus on particular types of national works or languages.
About Project Gutenberg publications
Does Project Gutenberg publish only books?
Yes.
In the past, Project Gutenberg also published other cultural works like movies and
music, but the bulk of our collection is books, and there are other online projects
that do a better job with other types of content.
For more details, see the collection development policy.
What books does Project Gutenberg publish?
Any books that meet our collection development policy, and that our volunteers want
to work on.
We do not publish any books that still have copyright protection. This generally
means that our texts are taken from books published 95+ years ago. (It’s more
complicated than that, as our Copyright FAQ explains, but 95+ criterion is a good
first rule-of-thumb.)
This means that you won’t find the latest bestsellers or modern computer books
here. You will find the classic books from the start of the 20th century and
previous centuries, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante, as well as well-
loved favorites like the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the
Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alice’s adventures in Wonderland as
told by Lewis Carroll, and thousands of others.
These books are chosen by our volunteers. Simply, a volunteer decides that a
certain book should be in the library, obtains the book and does the work necessary
to turn it into an eBook. Most of our new eBooks now come from Distributed
Proofreaders. Historically, we had many “solo” eBook producers, but this is less
frequently seen these days.
Two websites have a description of the copyright process, and the various checks
and requirements for uploading a new eBook that has been given a copyright
clearance. For copyright, see copy.pglaf.org. For uploads and compliance checks,
see upload.pglaf.org.
What other things has Project Gutenberg published in the past?
We have published some music files, in MIDI and MUS formats. We have published the
Human Genome. We have published pictures of the prehistoric cave painting from the
south of France. We have published some video files and some audio files, including
tracks by award-winning singer/songwriter Janis Ian and readings from public domain
books.
Now, however, we only publish literary works that were previously published. The
collection development policy has details.
How does Project Gutenberg choose books to publish?
Project Gutenberg, as such, does not choose books to publish. There is no central
list of works that volunteers are asked to work on. Individual volunteers choose
and produce eBooks from printed books according to their own tastes and values, and
the availability of a suitable printed book for digitization.
What languages does Project Gutenberg publish in?
Whatever languages we can! As above, this is decided by what languages our
volunteers choose to work with.
Why don’t you have any / many books about history, geography, science, biography,
etc.? Why aren’t there any / more PG books available in French, Spanish, German,
etc.?
If a book meets our collection development policy, and it isn’t in the library,
it’s because no volunteer has produced it yet. At the moment, we have a
predominance of English language novels because that is what most people have
chosen to work on.
We’re always looking for new languages and topics, and always delighted to see
people producing them. If we don’t have enough of the types of books you would like
to see, why don’t you help us out by contributing one? If the people interested in
a particular area don’t contribute, we’ll always be short in that area.
Why don’t you have any books by Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Tolkien, etc.?
Project Gutenberg can publish only books that are in the public domain in the
United States. Current bestsellers have not yet entered the public domain.
Why is Project Gutenberg so set on using plain text?
Project Gutenberg supports and publishes many open formats, but, yes, we do want to
have a plain text version of everything possible.
We’re looking at our history, and we’re planning for the long term–the very long
term.
Today, plain text can be read, written, copied and printed by just about every
simple text editor on every computer in the world. This has been so for decades,
and is likely to be so for the foreseeable future. We’ve seen formats and extended
character sets come and go; plain text stays with us. We can still read
Shakespeare’s First Folios, the original Gutenberg Bible, the Domesday Book, and
even the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Rosetta Stone (though we may have trouble with
the language!), but we can’t read many files made in various formats on computer
media just 20 years ago.
We’re trying to build a library that will last not only decades, but centuries.
The point of putting works in the PG library is that they are copied to many, many
public sites and individual computers all over. No single disaster can destroy
them; no single government can suppress them. Long after we’re all dead and gone,
when the very concept of an Internet Service Provider is as quaint as gas
streetlamps, when HTML reads like Middle English, those texts will still be safe,
copied, and available to our descendants.
The PG library is so valuable, yet free and easily portable, that even if every
current PG volunteer vanished overnight, people around the world would copy and
preserve any item that is legal for them to have in their country. For people in
the US, this is 100% of the collection!
Also see the File Formats FAQ for more detailed discussion of formats.
• Privacy policy
• About Project Gutenberg
• Terms of Use
• Contact Information
• Get Help