Reading 8

Books have been around for a long time. A long time ago, very few people could read. Reading was very special. Only very important towns people could read. Today, most people can read. Most have libraries. These are big buildings full of books. There were libraries long ago, too. However, back then not everyone could go there. Libraries today are different. Anyone can visit them and read books for free. They can also ask for books and take them home. We can read about anything at a library. But what will libraries be like in the future? Will they be very different from libraries today? Right now, people are making a new kind of library. This library is not in a building, but it is easy for everyone to visit. This is a library on your computer! This library will have all of the books in the world in every language. You can choose a book and see it on your computer. You can read the book for free-just like a real library. This is called the Open Library Project. Many people are working together on this. Many schools and companies are also helping. They want to make all books free for everybody. How will they do it? A worker who is helping with the Open Library Project takes a picture of a page from a book. The worker saves the picture on a computer. When all of the pages of a book are saved, the whole book is on the computer. Then someone uses the computer to put the book on the Internet, so anyone around the world can read the book. Anyone can read the book from a computer in his or her home! This is the beginning of the library of the future!