5/13/2018
`
`https://archive.org/about/index.html
`
`68 captures
`8 Apr 2000 - 19 Oct 2017
`
`Internet Archive: About the Archive
`Go MAR APR JUN
`08
`1999 2000 2001
`
`In the Collections
`
`Using the Collections
`
`About the Archive
`
`Future Libraries Related Projects and Research People
`About the Archive
`
`FAQs
`
`
`
`👤 ⍰ ❎
`
`
`f 🐦
`
`▾ About this capture
`
` Home
`
` News
`
` Jobs
`
` Contacts
`
`
`The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) public nonprofit that was founded to build an ‘Internet library,’
`with the purpose of offering free access to historical digital collections for researchers, historians, and
`scholars. Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been
`receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to
`grow to build more well-rounded collections.
`Why the Archive Is Building an ‘Internet Library’
`
`Libraries exist to preserve society’s cultural artifacts and to provide access to them. If libraries are to
`continue to foster education and scholarship in this era of digital technology, it’s essential for them to
`extend those functions into the digital world.
`
`Many early movies were recycled to recover the silver in the film. The Library of Alexandria — an
`ancient center of learning containing a copy of every book in the world — was eventually burned to
`the ground. Even now, at the turn of the 21st century, no comprehensive archives of television or
`radio programs exist.
`
`But without cultural artifacts, civilization has no memory and no mechanism to learn from its
`successes and failures. And paradoxically, with the explosion of the Internet, we live in what Danny
`Hillis has referred to as our "digital dark age."
`
`The Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet — a new medium with major historical
`significance — from disappearing into the past. Collaborating with institutions including the Library of
`Congress and the Smithsonian, we are working to permanently preserve a record of public material.
`
`Open and free access to literature and other writings has long been considered essential to education
`and to the maintenance of an open society. Public and philanthropic enterprises have supported it
`through the ages.
`
`The Internet Archive is opening its collections to researchers, historians, and scholars to ensure that
`they have free and permanent access to public materials. The Archive has no vested interest in
`the discoveries of the users of its collections, nor is it a grant-making organization.
`
`At present, using collections of this size requires programming skills. However, we are hopeful about
`the development of tools and methods that will give the general public easy and meaningful access to
`our collective history. In addition to developing our own collections, we will be working to promote
`formation of other Internet libraries in the United States and elsewhere.
`
`Find out
`
`How to help fund the Archive
`How to donate a digital collection to the Internet Archive
`How to subscribe to Archivists, our discussion list on Internet libraries
`
`Read
`About the future of Internet libraries
`About projects and research related to the Internet Archive and Internet librarianship
`About the Internet Archive's board, advisors, donors, and staff
`Press coverage of the Internet Archive
`
`
`
`Privacy Policy 15Mar00 | Contact Us
`
`https://web.archive.org/web/20000408223908%20/https://archive.org/about/index.html
`
`1/1
`
`INTEL EX.1243.001
`
`