The Great Archive

a giant electronic archive of humanity's written work: a proposal

All of the world's librarians should collaborate on a giant electronic archive of humanity's written work.

If our civilization collapses, this archive can provide a somewhat complete record of human knowledge and works for the future.

Copies of the archive would be stored by anyone who wishes to make a copy.

It would be updated continuously, with annual releases.

Books, magazines, newspapers, science journals, scripts, screenplays, laws, public records, written music, letters, pamphlets, transcripts, as well as text published electronicly would be included.

It would primarily consist of plain text documents, (with static images illustrations as needed). Original scans and layout would not be included due to storage limitations.

The archive would consist of public-domain works, as well as works with appropriate free licenses.

I expect that it will be very large, and I hope it inspires new technology for read-only storage.