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By David Rothman

World eBook LibraryIn a long post, I outlined the qustions that continue to arise from Michael Hart‘s personal ownership of the Project Gutenberg trademark. Just what happens when Michael dies? Who inherits the trademark? Just what deals might he already have made?

I want PG to thrive and Michael, now in his late ’50s, to be able to retire comfortably when he’s ready. But in e-book format and other respects, his friends at the World eBook Library seem out of character for an access-oriented nonprofit like PG. Some major issues from the old Gutenberg 2 effort, alas, have persisted. One of the key players is still John Guagliardo, aka Hawaii John, except now a high-powered marketing consultant named Chris Andrew is also involved via his ownership of Gutenberg.com.

Meanwhile here’s an old employment ad from World eBook Library–soliciting sales reps to earn up to $50K a year while working part-time:

Institutional Sales Representative[:] – WorldLibrary.net is an online book service that is marketed to libraries and schools. As an institutional sales representative, you will be calling librarians to help them with the sign-up process. All the pre-marketing is done with our software; you only need to make a few phone calls! Representatives receive 30% commission on each completed sale. This position requires a “smiling voice,” good computer and telephone skills, and possession of a home telephone and computer. (Since you will be online while making telephone calls, you will likely need to sign up for Internet phone/broadband service through Vonage.com.) This position requires about 4 hours of work per day. Potential to make $50,000/year working part time! If you are interested, call William Moffitt at 406-363-3617.

This is bizarre. Remember, you’re supposed to be able to download public domain books for free from the Net. And when they have been available from offline sources such as Walnut Creek’s laudable CDs effort, it isn’t as if the people involved have been making a killing. Why should the World eBook Library be different? Explanations from Gutenberg and WEBL would be most welcome.

I see a Catch 22 here. If someone can make the equivalent of up to $100K a year peddling books already for free on the Net–well, at least the more popular of them–isn’t that introducing extra costs? And if the $100K is unusual, could the ad have been rather misleading? The “World Etext Library Foundation” in the past has listed itself as a nonprofit, and in fact, nonprofits like OCLC can pay their people rather well, but then again, OCLC isn’t a start-up.

Beyond that, I don’t know if the World eBook Library or at least the Foundation or another entity is still nonprofit despite the language about the “World Public Library” at the bottom of the library’s homepage: “eBook Library is a branch of the World Public Library, a Non-Profit Organization (501-C6), and is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency or department.” Check out the documents out of Hawaii, where, by the way, a quick search of business organizations failed to turn up mention of the “World Public Library.” When I write questions for the World eBook Library and others, I’ll ask if these organizations in one incarnation or another have nonprofit status elsewhere. Also, I’ll find out why the foundation incarnation lost its nonprofit incoproration in Hawaii, beyond failure to satisfy paperwork requirements.

Meanwhile I’m curious if anyone has ever signed up from Library or a sister service. What were your experiences?

Update, May 7, 4 a.m.: I added the quote from the World eBook Library’s home page where the library says the World Public Library is a 501-C6. For more on 501 corporations, see the Wikipedia.

 
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