About The Internet Archive Digitization Services

Universal Access to all Knowledge

Since 2006, the Internet Archive has proudly provided digitization services, preserving more than 25 million books.

Before establishing our current operations workflow, Internet Archive engineers rigorously tested and evaluated a range of commercially available book-digitization devices. After assessing material conditions, library needs, and preservation standards, they determined that an in-house solution—featuring custom-designed equipment, software, and processes—would provide the best balance of quality, efficiency, and material integrity. This bespoke system was reviewed by library preservation experts, extensively field-tested, and successfully implemented in Digitization Centres worldwide. Thus, the Scribe was born.

Our technologies are constantly evolving, integrating the latest advancements in both hardware and software. We continuously refine our processes, regularly assessing new digitization equipment and incorporating emerging best practices. While all Digitization Centres follow a standardised workflow, minor adjustments are made to meet partner specifications. These centres are managed and staffed by trained Internet Archive personnel, ensuring high standards in digital preservation.

Our Partners

We welcome and collaborate with a wide range of partners, including small, midsize, large, and volunteer-run institutions. These span academic, special, and public libraries, archives, government agencies, historical societies, and cultural heritage organizations.

Click on a logo to view partner collections.

About the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.

We began in 1996 by archiving the Internet itself, a medium that was just beginning to grow in use. Like newspapers, the content published on the web was ephemeral – but unlike newspapers, no one was saving it. Today we have 26+ years of web history accessible through the Wayback Machine and we work with 1,000+ library and other partners through our Archive-It program to identify important web pages.

Front view of the Internet Archive headquarters at 300 Funston Avenue, San Francisco, featuring a neoclassical façade with tall Corinthian columns, ornate architectural details, and steps leading to three large entrance doors.

As our web archive grew, so did our commitment to providing digital versions of other published works. Today our archive contains:

The Internet Archive serves millions of people each day and is one of the top 300 websites in the world. A single copy of the Internet Archive library collection occupies 99+ Petabytes of server space (and we store at least 2 copies of everything). We are funded through donations, grants, and by providing web archiving and book digitization services for our partners. As with most libraries we value the privacy of our patrons, so we avoid keeping the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of our readers and offer our site in https (secure) protocol.