1. Download
Download files at archive.org/details/bahai-library-offline-files.
Or download torrent file: bahai-library-offline-files_archive.torrent. [65 GB]
Downloading by BitTorrent should be faster than direct downloads from archive.org.
See also database downloads.
2. Instructions (short version: READ_ME.txt)
-
To use this archive, first download "bahai-library-offline.zip," then unzip it by double-clicking on it. This folder, plus the PDFs, contains everything you need to browse the Library offline.
-
Look for the file index.html and open it with your browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox).
-
Also download "pdf.zip," put it in your new folder "bahai-library-offline", and unzip it.
-
These other folders you can download and add if you'll use them:
audio.zip
bahailib.zip
inba.zip
newspaper_clippings_archive.zip
sohrab_diary.zip
video.zip
-
You can rename the "bahai-library-offline" folder and move it anywhere on your computer, or copy it to a USB stick.
The links are relative, meaning as long as you don't move things around within the folder, the local links will all work offline.
Ignore the files "DS_Store," it's an invisible file-type on my computer and I couldn't delete them all.
|
3. About
- Torrent is faster than direct download. If you don't already have a BitTorrent client I recommend uTorrent, Folx, Transmission, or BitTorrent Web — all work on Windows and Mac.
- All documents are either public domain; posted with permission of author, editor, or publisher; or can be classified "fair use." If you see content that may infringe on a copyright, email us.
- Most of the site is also at archive.org under archive.org.../bahai-library.com, and a recent save was made in April 2024 as archive.org.../bahai-library.org.
- If you don't already have a BitTorrent client I recommend Transmission, uTorrent, or BitTorrent Web — all work on Windows and Mac — or Folx for Mac.
4. Some possible uses
- Anyone with "valuable" or unique content they don't want lost (e.g. historical photos, scans of manuscripts, autobiographies) can send it to me for inclusion in the torrent.
- In the late 1990s, people made CD-ROM copies of the bahai-library.com filesystem to share with friends in countries with limited internet access. This stopped being possible when the collection became too large for any CD or DVD, and when the content was migrated to a database. Now, the database or parts of the entire collection (e.g., just the PDFs or just the audio) can be shared on a flash drive or USB stick or converted into a spreadsheet.
- The data will no longer be tied to a single owner on a single server, and hence can be preserved. This is important because websites can simply disappear overnight: some can fail accidentally, like from a failed hard drive, or they can disappear due to circumstances beyond the owner's control.
|