ook through its different steps on the
website.

The website gives a full list of the books that are: a) completed, i.e.
processed through the site and posted to Project Gutenberg; b) in progress, i.e.
processed through the site but not yet posted, because currently going through
their final proofreading and assembly; c) being proofread, i.e. currently being
processed. On August 3, 2005, 7,639 books were completed, 1,250 books were in
progress and 831 books were being proofread. On May 1st, 2008, 13,039 books were
completed, 1,840 books were in progress and 1,000 books were being proofread.

Each time a volunteer (proofreader) goes to the website, s/he chooses a book,
any book. 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 each page as it is completed and can then 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. The eBook is now ready to be
posted with an index entry (title, subtitle, author, eBook number and character
set) for the database. Indexers go on with the cataloging process (author's
dates of birth and death, Library of Congress classification, etc.) after the
release.

Volunteers can also work independently, after contacting Project Gutenberg
directly, by keying in a book they particularly like using any text editor or
word processor. They can also scan it and convert it into text using OCR
software, and then make corrections by comparing it with the original. In each
case, someone else will proofread it. They can use ASCII and any other format.
Everybody is welcome, whatever the method and whatever the format.

New volunteers are most welcome too at Distributed Proofreaders (DP),
Distributed Proofreaders Europe (DP Europe) and Distributed Proofreaders Canada
(DPC). Any volunteer anywhere is welcome, for any language. There is a lot to
do. As stated on both websites, "Remember that there is no commitment expected
on this site. Proofread as often or as seldom as you like, and as many or as few
pages as you like. We encourage people to do 'a page a day', but it's e