Systemic Altruism
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Justice & public goodsPreliminary editorial review

Internet Archive

Supports Open Library as a shared catalog and software project for discovering and organizing book information.

Visit the organization ↗

Systemic Altruism practice potential: 74–84/100
90% of weighted axes reviewed. A mechanism hypothesis, not proven effectiveness or a donation recommendation.

Who this work enables

Tools & support for charities: Open Library catalog software and reference infrastructure that libraries, nonprofit researchers and public-interest builders can reuse.

Open-source evidence · license checked

  • Open Library — AGPL-3.0 license file. Organization’s role: maintainer.
    Named repository license inspected on the review date; dependencies, datasets, content, trademarks and hosted services have separate terms. License-file snapshot: be3f7b28e564e7dd05eaf59d64adba1a4065ac0e.

License checked 2026-10-27. This is not a security audit, proof of current support or effectiveness, or a promise of free hosting. A sponsor or steward is not necessarily the sole developer. Unchecked profiles are not evidence of closed code. No extra score points are added.

Humanity’s Checklist source match

Gatekeepers — editorial, partial alignment.

Reusable discovery tools can lower some barriers to finding knowledge. Catalog openness does not imply permission to redistribute every underlying book or remove access restrictions.

Explicit checklist adoption: not verified. A mechanism match is not an affiliation, endorsement, evidence of effectiveness or a scoring bonus. Read the practice.

Focus classification: 2026-10-27. Based on the organization’s dated official sources below; earlier axis-review dates are unchanged.

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The proposed pathway

Reusable public-library catalog software and knowledge infrastructure

Six dimensions, with rationale

Structural depth

3 / 4

A shared catalog and reusable library software address a recurring knowledge-discovery infrastructure constraint.

Institutional reach

4 / 4

The open catalog and software can serve libraries and readers internationally; bibliographic coverage is not an audited access outcome.

Durability

2 / 4

Reusable code and catalog records can persist, but curation, preservation, hosting and rights compliance need continued work.

Scalability

4 / 4

AGPL-licensed catalog software permits adaptation; accurate records, digitization, accessibility and lawful content access remain separate costs.

Funding additionality

Unreviewed

Unknown: current marginal funding, restricted allocations, delivery capacity and a credible counterfactual have not been audited.

Community agency

Unreviewed

Unknown: open source, consultations, memberships or participation do not by themselves establish audited consequential decision rights for affected communities.

Evidence and selection

Organization reported; current primary mechanism sources inspected and named license file checked

Illustrative inclusion to examine this mechanism. Inclusion is not an external recommendation or a verified comparative ranking.

A testable next question

Do public-interest users obtain more accurate, accessible and sustainable knowledge-discovery services than feasible alternatives without disproportionate legal, privacy or exclusion harms?

Review confidence: Moderate for documented design; low for systemic attribution. Open Library software/catalog infrastructure under Internet Archive; not a rating of every archive collection, lending practice, Wayback service or legal position.

What remains uncertain

Code, metadata, book content and lending/access terms are distinct. Copyright and access restrictions, catalog errors, preservation risks and accessibility gaps require separate review. More records or downloads do not establish better learning or welfare. Open Library is not counted as a second independent charity.

Sources to inspect

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Axis review: 2026-10-27 · weighting method v0.2 (2026-10-26) · Method, conflicts and coverage