Rudolf Steiner Archive:
An e.Library on the World Wide Web
by Marylin J. Kraker
Welcome Page at the Rudolf Steiner Archive
Even though we started our initiative more than 35 years ago, and have had a presence on the internet since 1992, it seems that there are many in the Anthroposophical community who are not aware of the resources available online at the Rudolf Steiner Archive.
What we are is a library: like traditional, community-based libraries we provide books and other reference materials that have been purchased or donated. (Currently there are 261 volumes, 817 individual books, lectures, or articles/essays available online, all by Rudolf Steiner.) Unlike your local library, the Rudolf Steiner Archive is all-electronic. You do not have to leave home to use the Archive and it is available 24 hours per day, every day. And we provide sophisticated research tools to help you find the information you seek, tools that go far beyond the traditional card catalog.
Like many libraries, we also perform archival and preservation services. A number of our materials are out of print or have never been published, and many are very fragile. By converting them to digital format and presenting them on The Rudolf Steiner Archive, we are saving them from disappearing entirely. We also use archival methods to preserve, protect, and store the original materials. (We will describe our methods for digitizing and for archival preservation in future articles.)
Unlike your local library, the Rudolf Steiner Archive is not funded by a government. We are a not-for-profit corporation. The Rudolf Steiner Archive is free to everyone, worldwide. You are all invited to take advantage of this wealth of information for individual betterment and, ultimately, to strengthen the world community — we all affect one another.
This is the first in a series of articles about this initiative. For more information, please visit the Rudolf Steiner Archive with your browser.