By 1996, it was time to start building the library.
This library would have all the published works of humankind. not only to those who could pay the $1 per minute that LexusNexus charged, or only at the most elite universities. This would be a library available to anybody, anywhere in the world. Could we take the role of a library a step further, so that everyone’s writings could be included–not only those with a New York book contract? Could we build a multimedia archive that contains not only writings, but also songs, recipes, games, and videos? Could we phone number database make it possible for anyone to learn about their grandmother in a hundred years’ time?
From the San Francisco Chronicle, Business Section, May 7, 1988. Photo by Jerry Telfer.
Not about an Exit or an IPO
From the beginning, the Internet Archive had to be a nonprofit because it contains everybody else’s things. Its motives had to be transparent. It had to last a long time.
In Silicon Valley, the goal is to find a profitable exit, either through acquisition or IPO, and go off to do your next thing. That was never my goal. The goal of the Internet Archive is to create a permanent memory for the Web that can be leveraged to make a new Global Mind. To find patterns in the data over time that would provide us with new insights, well beyond what you could do with a search engine. To be not only a historical reference but a living part of the pulse of the Internet.