About Wolne Lektury project
Wolne Lektury
Web library with the school obligatory readings "Wolne Lektury" (www.wolnelektury.pl) is a project carried out by Modern Poland Foundation. Wolne Lektury website works since 2007. It provides the visitors with the school readings recommended Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej which entered the public domain. The literary works are drawn up, annotated and available in several formats (html, epub, mp3, ogg, odt, txt and pdf). Under the Polosh law, they can be read online, downloaded, cited and shared.
Wolne Lektury project team comprises experienced editors and teachers so that our website content is solid and reliable. To create it, we cooperate with National Library which provides us with the best available editions of the books as well as the critical studies of the school readings, published in Digital National Library Polona. Together we try our best to make the texts of the books (our cultural legacy) available for everyone, regardless of where one is living, how much money does one have or whether one is handicapped or not. It is possible only due to the public domain concept, meaning a collection of literary works that are not copyrighted, as well as high technologies - tools that let us increase availability of the text published on the Internet.
Wolne Lektury project is completely uncommercial and it is carried out pro publico bono. Therefore the support of the eminent personages conncted with culture and sciences is very important for us. Wolne Lektury project is held under the honorary patronage of Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego, Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej and Polish Writers Association. In the Honorary Comitee of Wolne Lektury agreed to sit Professor Maria Janion, Professor Grażyna Borkowska, Professor Przemysław Czapliński, Professor Mieczysław Dąbrowski, Professor Ewa Kraskowska, Professor Małgorzata Czermińska, Professor Jerzy Jarzębski and Professor Piotr Śliwiński.
Digitalisation and proofreading is provided by the National Library. The website was designed by 2ia. The author of the programming language of the repository of Free Literature texts, based on the XML language is Dariusz Gałecki. Grynhoff, Woźny, Maliński office provides us with the legal service. Web hosting is provided by EO Networks company. Publishing house Korporacja Ha!Art helps us in proofreading. The logo of Wolne Lektury is a creation of PZL agency. The project is held under media patronage of: Dziennik, Elle, Tok.fm, Biblioteka Analiz, Tygodnik Powszechny, Przekrój and TVP Kultura.
How should I use Wolne Lektury?
The most imporant innovation of Wolne Lektury that distinguishes this project from the others is the possibility of searching for the texts with the application of variety of criteria: traditional ones, such as the title, author, period, form and genre, as well as unusual ones, concerning many literary works at once, i.e. literary motifs and themes. This kind of serch is faesible due to special preparation of the books as they are now described with the parameters mentioned above. It is the element that differs Wolne Lektury from the other editions of school readings. Wolne Lektury webiste provides the reader with devices that come in handy in when creative thinking is needed whereas some editions of the readings are simply cribs. For instance, if a student is asked to prepare an essay on topic "The child in Romantic literature", when searching our website, he only must mouse-click three times to find a collection of necessary texts. Due to this kind of tools reading books changes into fascinatng journey into the world of culture.
Another useful function of Wolne Lektury that comes in handy when at home or at school is the possibility of combining the texts that are discussed during the school year into a list. The lists are called bookshelves and they are created by a teacher. Next the teacher may send the adequate hyperlink to his pupils and they can download the complete set of readings with one mouse click.
Every literary work available on Wolne Lektury website (in html, pdf, txt formats) is not covered by copyrigh law and can be freely used with no legal consequences.
If the texts are provided with some extra materials (annotations, motifs) which are copyrighted, then the extras are accesible under Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 PL licence(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
About the foundation
Modern Poland Foundation was established because education of children is a key to the future. One of the most important objectives that Polish education has to approach is a struggle with digital retardation. The skill in using a computer and the Internet is a kind of elemental knowledge in the age of information society. One who does not have it, is condemned to a vegetative existence on the fringes of modern world.
It is the reason why for seven years we have helped (and still do) the children in understanding and using the high technologies. Modern Poland Foundation wants to give a thousands of children what is the most valuable: knowledge and abilities letting them understand modern world and take advantage of its opportunities.
Modern Poland Fundation - apart from Wolne Lektury project - is as well coordinating Wolne Podręczniki project. It is created by a social movement of voluteering teachers. With the use of the Internet, they are writing new coursebooks for Polish pupils. Wolne Podręczniki are published openly-licensed (meaning it gives the user certain copyright freedom i.e. the books can be copied, distributed and updated without the necessity of asking the team of authors for permission). Every teacher will be able to supplement, expand and improve the coursebooks in accordance with to their own needs and experience. Thanks to the open source the price of the traditional coursebooks published in printed format will seriously decrease and the access to the electronic coursebooks will be free.
About the public domain
On the Wolne Lektury website one can lawfully publish only these books that exist in the public domain, meaning the books that are not covered by copyrigh law anymore. Public domain is a kind of a treasure trove of culture, of public goods that everyone can draw from on equal rights, without restrictions and payments. The existence of public domain is a surety of the access to the cultural acheivments, and such an entitlement is our civil and constitutional right. .
Albeit there is a rule that each and every literary work is to enter the public domain some day, the time period of validity of the Polish copyrights was considerably prolonged over the last dozen or so years. Only in the early 90s the period was to last 25 years since the author's death, later on it was extended to 50 years and today the time period of copyrights' validity amounts 70 years. This means that a lot of literary works listed on departamental list of obligatory readings will not be published for many years. Not until 2020 shall we be able to publish works of Marek Hłasko and Witold Gombrowicz. The novels of Kuncewiczowa will enter the public domain in 2060, and the poems of Miłosz - in 2075.
The restrictions of copyrights apply as well to editions with critical apparatus and to translations. We will wait for Villon's "Le grand testament" and other poems untill January 1, 2012 as they were translated by Boy-Żeleński. Not until 2068 will we publish Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" and other translations by Irena Tuwim. Moreover, we do not have the right to publish the introductions and prefaces written by authors that died no sooner than 70 years ago. It is the reason why sometimes a literary work is listed on Wolne Lektury but at the same time it is hyperlinked to a matching title in the Digital National Library Polona, directing the visitor to a website with information that the book is copyrighted. It means that even though the literary text is in the public domain - we listed it on Wolne Lektury - its edition with critical apparatus, DNL Polona property (containing every introduction, preface and editorial comment) is still covered by the copyright law.
The public domain should be looked after and protected. Culture is a fine edifice and the consecutive floors can be erected only when the base is built solidly by the predecessors. Kochanowski drew extensively on the classical literary tradition. Mickiewicz used the folk works to create the most beautiful Polish poems. Every next generation can plan far into the future, develop their own literary language and permanently become part of the history of literature due to the achievments of their predecessors. That is why the freedom of using and making available the most important works of Polish and world literature is so essential. Without the public domain it would be impossible to erect such a tremendous edifice of culture as it is.
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