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My Recent Discovery of OpenLibrary.org

I love how things seem to just happen. Things I couldn’t anticipate because I didn’t know they existed. Serendipity.

OpenLibrary.org

Photo credit: Emil Widlund on unsplash.com

In the process of looking for an out-of-print genealogy book a couple of weeks ago, I quite by chance saw a reference to OpenLibrary.org. I’d never heard of it, so I typed in into a search engine to investigate it. What a treasure!

The website’s self-description reads as follows: “Open Library is an initiative of the Internet Archives, 501(c)(3) non-profit, building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Other projects include the Wayback Machine, archive.org and archive-it.org.

I haven’t taken the time to explore archive-it.org, archive.org, or the Wayback Machine, but I learned from the video overview that the Wayback Machine gives you a way to go back in time and see what a particular website looked like years ago.

After signing up with my email address and a password, I gained free access to 4 million books, including that out-of-print genealogy book! It wasn’t available from Amazon.com and it wasn’t even available from my go-to used books website, abe.com. (The Advanced Book Exchange rarely lets me down.)

On OpenLibrary.org, I was able to access the entire genealogy book and do all the research I needed to do in just a couple of hours. It didn’t cost me a penny. I remember a time not so long ago when being able to do that from the comfort of my home – or from anywhere else, for that matter – was the stuff of science fiction.

If you can’t find the book you’re looking for on OpenLibrary.org, they even have a way for you to sponsor a book, and then it will be available to you and everyone else.

I’m getting no financial or other benefit from blogging about OpenLibrary.org. I just wanted to share with you a free resource that might help you.

Since my last blog post

Photo credit: NisonCo PR and SEO on unsplash.com

I watched a free 90-minute webinar on Tuesday about Amazon Optimization by Geoff Affleck. It was aimed at self-publishing authors. I don’t know yet how I’ll get my novel series published, but I took lots of notes for future reference if I go that route. Also, I picked up some pointers that I can do to my Amazon Author page now.

The Heirloom

I read every chance I got last week, and I worked on my scenic plot outline for Book One in my series (possibly titled, The Heirloom) every day except Sunday. I try not to work on the Sabbath. The word count for the scenic plot outline stood at more than 12,000 as of Saturday night. I’m enjoying my research on the Great Wagon Road and some of the trails that crossed or veered off of it.

Thank you, Beverley in the British Virgin Islands – and a blogger friend of mine – for firmly encouraging me to stop reading so much and make time for my writing. I’m happier now and have more direction in my life.

My sister and I continue to work on photo albums together while we listen to a book, listen to music, or watch TV.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read. I continue to have more books than I can get to, but I’m dedicated now to writing six days a week.

Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

Janet

29 thoughts on “My Recent Discovery of OpenLibrary.org”

  1. Thank you so much Janet! That openlibrary.org reference is wonderful to know, especially for me right now that I have been looking for some old books here in Spain. It is a reference that I am sure many of us will use over and over. I am glad to hear of your research into the publishing aspect, which is, of course, harder even than writing…I hope you are able to find the best option and get your novel published as I am looking forward to it and also know that it would be successful. Take good care and all the best, my greetings from Valencia,
    Francis

    Liked by 1 person

  10. You’re welcome, Francis. I hope you’ll find a book of interest on there. I couldn’t believe my luck in finding that genealogy book I wanted to see! My best to you, Janet

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I haven’t had time to get back to it, but I want to. I think I have my fingers in too many pies, so to speak. I can’t get to half the things I want to spend time on. I’ll try to get back to Ann & Anna soon.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Not to worry, I understand, and didn’t mean to rush you. I appreciate your thoughts and time, and look forward to seeing your impressions there again once you are ready.
    Warmly,
    Shira

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Thank you, David. I’m well and enjoying the research and the writing. It feels so good to be working hard on a writing project. This new book is taking me into the nitty-gritty of the Great Wagon Road in southern Virginia and northern NC — a part of it that I’ve not examined in detail before. I hope you are well and thriving in your various interests.

    Liked by 1 person

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