LibriVox is a group of worldwide volunteers who read and record public domain texts, creating free public domain audiobooks for download from their website and other digital library hosting sites on the internet. It was founded in 2005 by Hugh McGuire to provide "Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain"[2] and the LibriVox objective is "To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet".[3][third-party source needed]
On 6 August 2016, the completed projects numbered 10,000, and on 14 February 2021 there were 15,000 completed projects.[4][5] Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that are providing additional content. LibriVox is closely affiliated with Project Gutenberg from where the project gets some of its texts, and the Internet Archive that hosts their offerings.[third-party source needed]
History
Hugh McGuire, founder of LibriVox
Can the net harness a bunch of volunteers to help bring books in the public domain to life through podcasting?
The main features of the way LibriVox works have changed little since its inception, although the technology that supports it has been improved by the efforts of its volunteers with web-development skills.
Etymology of LibriVox
LibriVox is an invented word inspired by Latin words liber (book) in its genitive form libri and vox (voice), giving the meaning BookVoice (or voice of the book). The word was also coined because of other connotations: liber also means child and free, independent, unrestricted. As the LibriVox forum says: "We like to think LibriVox might be interpreted as 'child of the voice', and 'free voice'. Finally, the other link we like is 'library' so you could imagine it to mean Library of Voice."[9]
There has been no decision or consensus by LibriVox founders or the community of volunteers for a single pronunciation of LibriVox. It is accepted that any pronunciation is accurate.[10]
Organization and funding
LibriVox is a volunteer-run, free content, public domain project. It has no budget or legal personality. The development of projects is managed through an Internet forum, supported by an admin team, who also maintain a searchable catalogue database of completed works.[third-party source needed]
In early 2010, LibriVox ran a fundraising drive to raise $20,000 to cover hosting costs for the website of about $5,000/year and improve front- and backend usability.[11] The target was reached in 13 days, and so the fundraising ended and LibriVox suggested that supporters consider making donations to its affiliates and partners, Project Gutenberg[12] and the Internet Archive.[13][third-party source needed]
Production process
Volunteers can choose new projects to start, either recording on their own or inviting others to join them, or they can contribute to projects that have been started by others. Once a volunteer has recorded his or her contribution, it is uploaded to the site, and proof-listened by members of the LibriVox community.
Finished audiobooks are available from the LibriVox website, and MP3 files are hosted separately by the Internet Archive. Recordings are also available through other means, such as YouTube and iTunes, and, being free of copyright, they are frequently distributed independently of LibriVox on the Internet and otherwise.[third-party source needed]
Content
LibriVox recorded hours by year 2005–2021
LibriVox only records material that is in the public domain in the United States, and all LibriVox books are released with a public domain dedication.[14] Because of copyright restrictions, LibriVox produces recordings of only a limited number of contemporary books. These have included, for example, the 9/11 Commission Report, which is a work of the US Federal Government therefore in the Public Domain.[third-party source needed]
The LibriVox catalogue is varied. It contains popular and classic fiction, but it also includes difficult texts such as Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, and a recording of the first 500 digits of pi. The collection also features poetry, plays, religious texts (for example, English versions of the Koran and books from various translations of the Bible) and non-fiction of various interests. In January 2009, the catalogue contained approximately 55 percent fiction and drama, 25 percent non-fiction and 20 percent poetry (calculated by numbers of recordings). By the end of 2023, the most viewed item (22.7M) was a reading of The Art of War attributed to Sun Tzu and read in 2006 by Moira Fogarty, followed by a 2006 collective reading of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with 22.4M views.[1]
Around 90 percent of the catalogue is recorded in English, but recordings exist in more than 80 languages (as of August2023[update]). Chinese, French and German are the most popular languages other than English amongst volunteers, but recordings have also been made in languages including Urdu and Tagalog.[third-party source needed]
Reputation
LibriVox has garnered significant interest, in particular from those interested in the promotion of volunteer-led content and alternative approaches to copyright ownership on the Internet.[third-party source needed]
It has received support from the Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg. Intellectual freedom and commons proponent Mike Linksvayer described it in 2008 as "perhaps the most interesting collaborative culture project this side of Wikipedia".[15]
A frequent concern of listeners is the site's policy of allowing any recording to be published as long as it is understandable and faithful to the source text.[19] This means that some recordings are of lower audio fidelity; some feature background noises, non-native accents or other perceived imperfections in comparison to professionally recorded audiobooks.[20][21] While some listeners may object to those books with chapters read by multiple readers,[22] others find this to be a non-issue or even a feature,[23][24][25] though many books are narrated by a single reader.
The narrations have been called outsider art.[26] John Adamian, writing in Wired, noted:
Sometimes while listening I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a strange over-wrought audition, where an aspiring actor tries on and abandons accents, tweaks their voice in pitch too much, or hyperextends vowels in an effort to feel their way into the voice of a fictional New England sea captain, or a crude Yorkshire industrialist, or a displaced German Jew in London.
Some readings are wooden, but with a kind of affectlessness that starts to seem like its own interesting artistic choice once you've settled into the performance.[26]
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of books or individual stories in the public domain. All files can be accessed for free under an open format layout, available on almost any computer. As of 13 February 2024, Project Gutenberg had reached 70,000 items in its collection of free eBooks.
William Wake was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 to his death.
Anton Giulio Barrili was an Italian novelist. He was educated for the legal profession, which he abandoned in Genoa for journalism. He was a volunteer in the campaign of 1859 and served with Garibaldi in 1866 and 1867. From 1865 onwards he published a large number of books of fiction, which had wide popularity, his work being commonly compared with that of Victor Cherbuliez.
A Child's History of England is a book by English author Charles Dickens. It first appeared in serial form in Household Words, running from 25 January 1851 to 10 December 1853. Dickens also published the work in book form in three volumes: the first volume on 20 December 1851, the second on 25 December 1852 and the third on 24 December 1853. Although the volumes were published in December, each was postdated the following year. They bore the titles:
Wikibooks is a wiki-based Wikimedia project hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content digital textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit.
A Personal Record is an autobiographical work by Joseph Conrad, published in 1912.
Théodule-Armand Ribot was a French psychologist. He was born at Guingamp, and was educated at the Lycée de St Brieuc. He is known as the founder of scientific psychology in France, and gave his name to Ribot's Law regarding retrograde amnesia.
Maria Susanna Cummins was an American novelist. She authored the wnovel The Lamplighter (1854).
Orthodoxy is a 1908 book by G. K. Chesterton which he described as a "spiritual autobiography". It has become a classic of Christian apologetics.
An audiobook is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
The Reverend Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer, MA, Oxon was a son of William George Thiselton-Dyer, physician and of Catherine Jane, née Firminger. He was educated at King's College School and at Pembroke College, Oxford. He was successively curate of St John's Church, Fitzroy Square, curate of Holy Trinity Church, Kilburn, vicar of St Paul's Church, Penzance, secretary of the South American Missionary Society and rector of Bayfield, Holt, Norfolk.
John Joseph McGuire was an American author of science fiction.
Annie Payson Call (1853–1940) was a Waltham author. She wrote several books and published articles in Ladies' Home Journal. Many articles are reprinted in her book Nerves and Common Sense.
Allan's Wife and Other Tales is a collection of Allan Quatermain stories by H. Rider Haggard, first published in London by Spencer Blackett in December 1889. The title story was new, with its first publication intended for the collection, but two unauthorized editions appeared earlier in New York, based on pirated galley proofs. The other three stories first appeared in an anthology and periodicals in 1885, 1887, and 1886.
Edward Henry Peple was an American playwright known for his comedies and farces. He was perhaps best remembered for the plays The Prince Chap,The Littlest Rebel and A Pair of Sixes.
F. A. Forbes was the pen name of Mother Frances Alice Monica Forbes, RSCJ, a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart from Scotland and a religious author.
Hugh Black was a Scottish-American theologian and author.
"Stickeen: An Adventure with a Dog and a Glacier" (1897) is a short memoir by American naturalist John Muir. It is about a trip he took in Alaska (1880) with a dog named Stickeen and their outing together on a glacier. It is one of Muir's best-known writings, and is now considered a classic dog story.[a]
Collected Poems of Robert Frost is a collection of poetry written by Robert Frost and published in 1930 by Henry Holt and Company in New York.
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