Editing Project Gutenberg (section)

==Ideals==
Michael Hart said in 2004, "The mission of Project Gutenberg is simple: 'To encourage the creation and distribution of ebooks{{'"}}.<ref name="hart1"/> His goal was "to provide as many e-books in as many formats as possible for the entire world to read in as many languages as possible".<ref name=USINFO /> Likewise, a project slogan is to "break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenbergnews.org/nl_archives/2003/pgweekly_2003_12_10_part_2.txt|title=The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter|date=10 December 2003|publisher=Project Gutenberg|access-date=8 June 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511114558/http://www.gutenbergnews.org/nl_archives/2003/pgweekly_2003_12_10_part_2.txt|archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref> because its volunteers aim to continue spreading public [[literacy]] and appreciation for the literary heritage just as [[public library|public libraries]] began to do in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|last=Perry|first=Ruth|year=2007|url=http://www.mla.org/resources/documents/rep_primaryrecords/repview_records/primary_records10|title=Postscript about the Public Libraries|publisher=Modern Language Association|access-date=20 August 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809000621/http://www.mla.org/resources/documents/rep_primaryrecords/repview_records/primary_records10|archive-date=9 August 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Lorenzen|first=Michael|year=2002|url=http://www.michaellorenzen.com/carnegie.html|title=Deconstructing the Philanthropic Library: The Sociological Reasons Behind Andrew Carnegie's Millions to Libraries|publisher=Modern Language Association| access-date=20 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813224610/http://www.michaellorenzen.com/carnegie.html|archive-date=13 August 2007}}</ref>

Project Gutenberg is intentionally decentralized; there is no selection policy dictating what texts to add. Instead, individual volunteers work on what they are interested in or have available. The Project Gutenberg collection is intended to preserve items for the long term, so they cannot be lost by any one localized accident. In an effort to ensure this, the entire collection is backed-up regularly and [[mirror site|mirrored]] on servers in many different locations.<ref>{{cite book|title=Information Technology and Collection Management for Library User Environments|isbn=9781466647404|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-ZGAwAAQBAJ&q=information+technology+and+collection+management+for+library+user+environments&pg=PR15|last1=Walker|first1=Joseph|date=30 November 2013|publisher=IGI Global }}</ref>