Project Gutenberg got its first boost with the invention of the web in 1990, and its second boost with the creation of Distributed Proofreaders in 2000, to share the proofreading of digitized books between many volunteers. Volunteers choose a book currently processed through the site to proofread a given page, or several pages, as they wish. One page per day is a great goal. It doesn't seem much, but with hundreds of volunteers it really adds up. # A website launched in 2000 Distributed Proofreaders (DP) was founded in October 2000 by Charles Franks to support the digitization of public domain books. From the website one can access a program that allows several proofreaders to be working on the same book at the same time, each proofreading on different pages. The goal is to all work together – from any region in the world - to significantly speed up the proofreading process. Originally conceived to assist Project Gutenberg (PG), Distributed Proofreaders is now the main source of PG ebooks. In 2002, DP became an official PG site. In May 2006, DP became a separate legal entity and continues to maintain a strong relationship with PG. Distributed Proofreaders counted 3,000 ebooks "preserved for the world" in February 2004, 5,000 ebooks in October 2004, 7,000 ebooks in May 2005, 10,000 ebooks in December 2006, 11,950 ebooks in January 2008, and 18,848 ebooks on 15 October 2010. Production was 196 titles in October 2010. # How all this works Volunteers register and receive detailed instructions. For example, words in bold, italic or underlined, or footnotes are always treated the same way for any ebook. A discussion forum allows them to ask questions or seek help at any time. Each time proofreaders go to the website, they choose the book they want. One page of the book appears in two forms side by side: the scanned image of one page, and the text from that image as produced by OCR software. The proofreader can easily compare both versions, note the differences, and fix them. OCR is usually 99% accurate, which makes for about 10 corrections a page. The proofreader saves the page as it is completed, and then can either stop work or do another. The books are proofread twice, and the second time only by experienced proofreaders. All the pages of the book are then formatted, combined and assembled by post-processors to make an ebook. A project manager oversees the progress of a particular book through its different steps on the website. The ebook is now ready to be released in Project Gutenberg with an index entry (title, subtitle, author, ebook number, and character set) for the database. Catalogers go on with the cataloguing process (author's dates of birth and death, Library of Congress classification, etc.) after the release. # Everyone is welcome New volunteers are most welcome, and will be guided by experienced volunteers for their first steps. There is a lot to do, and everyone is welcome.