Clair / J Zhejiang Univ-Sci C (Comput & Electron) 2010 11(11):919-922 919 Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE C (Computers & Electronics) ISSN 1869-1951 (Print); ISSN 1869-196X (Online) www.zju.edu.cn/jzus; www.springerlink.com E-mail:
[email protected] Personal View: Challenges in sustaining the Million Book Project, a project supported by the National Science Foundation Gloriana St. CLAIR wisely invested in bringing educational and cultural Director, Universal Library Project resources to a large segment of their constituents. The Dean, Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, Pittsburgh, disadvantage is that, as government budgets tighten, Pennsylvania, USA the funding necessary to sustain a project can be lost. E-mail:
[email protected] One great advantage of government funding is that the government wants to serve the whole public. doi:10.1631/jzus.C1001011 Beginning this year, in the U.S., the National Science Foundation now requires principal investigators to explain how the data they have collected will be made One of the main roles I have played as a director available to the larger research community and how it of the Universal Digital Library has been to write will be sustained. In the U.S., the government also grant proposals to support our work. Both for this wants free-to-read access and at the same time allows project and for another project, Olive.org, an archive creators to charge for enhanced versions. of executable content, how to sustain the final product Foundations and other not-for-profit organi- is the most difficult challenge. This paper discusses zations.