The COSL Microlibrary is an effort to get young people excited about reading by teaching about the history of writing, printing, bookmaking, and getting kids involved in making their very own books. The COSL Microlibrary has developed an affordable print-on-demand service for public domain and open access educational materials, including books (e.g., from Project Gutenberg), courses (e.g., from OpenCourseWare), learning modules (e.g., from Connexions), and other materials, so that these can be turned into paperback books very inexpensively. The library is currently comprised of a few thousand dollars of commodity hardware and some custom software written by COSL engineers. The goal is to leverage existing open educational resources and put them (literally) in the hands of those who need them and - for whatever reason - want them in print.

You can learn how it works, see where we've been lately, or download your own books ready to print and bind.

In the Spring Semester of 2007 over 150 kids (and some of their parents) experienced the Microlibrary and learn about the history of printing, the history of books, and how books are made today. They got hands-on experience with the printing, binding, and trimming processes involved in making books, and all 150 children received a free paperback book like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Pride and Prejudice, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Hamlet.

During fall of the 2007-2008 school year we took the Microlibrary to dozens of rural schools in northern Utah and got 1,000 5th grade kids excited about books and reading, and gave away 1,000 books! To help us exceed this mark in the spring semester, please consider supporting the COSL Microlibrary.