Thing #22: Project Gutenberg

I took a look at Project Gutenberg which I think is a really good source for audio and e-books, not to mention that you can download some sheet music there as well. Mostly they seem to have "classics", but also a number of other intriguing titles such as "Manual of Surgery." You can download audio books for free some of which feature human voice and others that feature a computer generated voice. This virtual library allows anyone access to a number of important texts. I have had many a procrastinating teenager asking for certain classic titles that are completely checked out of my branch (summer reading-- everyone of course waits until the last minute) and since finding this site I realized I can recommend that they find some of their titles on Project Gutenberg without having to get on a holds list. Another great benefit is for patrons who wish to find foreign language material-- Gutenberg offers books in a number of languages that are not represented in my library's foreign language collection-- Afrikaans or Polish or Russian for example. As I've mentioned often, I love these free online collections. I think they are a hugely important part of the future of libraries and discovering Project Gutenberg was a big plus for me.