1. Download [version 5.1, 2025-05]
see descriptions below
Download files at archive.org/details/bahai-library-offline-database.
Or download torrent file: bahai-library-offline-database_archive.torrent.
See also Bahá'í Library Offline — files download.
2. About
- 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.
- The database is saved in two formats, .sql and .json, which should allow it to be imported into any database program. It includes separate tables for the Chronology and Chronology Canada. Column names have been changed, for additional security.
- Most of the site is also at archive.org under archive.../bahai-library.com, and a new save was made in April 2024 as archive.org.../bahai-library.org.
- If you don't already have a BitTorrent client I recommend uTorrent, Transmission, or BitTorrent Web — all work on Windows and Mac — or Folx for Mac.
3. 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.
4a. List of tables
Tables:
AUTHORS
BAHAIDATA
CATALOG (THE ACTUAL CONTENT)
CHRONOLOGY
CHRONOLOGY-CANADA
COLLECTIONS
INVENTORY
LANGUAGES
PERMISSIONS
TAGS
TAG-TYPES
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4b. Descriptions of fields in main table, 'catalog' (cf. RIS fields)
- ID # of document
- ABSTRACT - blurb
- AUDIO-LINK - if any
- AUTHORS-ID - see names in 'authors' table
- AUTHORS-SORT - used for sort-by-author-name
- CITY-CURRENT - city of publisher, current edition
- CITY-FIRST - city of publisher, first edition
- COLLECTION 1, 2, or 3
- CONTENT - the actual document, excluding the above meta-data
- CONTRIBUTORS-ID - see names in 'authors' table
- CROSS-REFERENCES - by URL
- DATE-CURRENT - current edition
- DATE-FIRST first edition - YYYY-MM-DD
- DOI-LINK - Digital Object Identifier
- EPUB-LINK - if any
- FILE-NAME - keywords that comprise the URL of document
- HISTORY - notes on how/when this document was scanned, typed, proofread
- INVENTORY-ID - any reference number for loom.loomofreality.org
- ISBN - current edition
- ISBN-FIRST - first edition
- ISBN13 - current edition
- ISBN13-FIRST - first edition
- ISSN - current edition
- LANGUAGES of current edition - see 'languages' table
- LANGUAGES of first edition [accidentally deleted this column, sorry; see the 2025-01 database]
- LAST-EDIT - date
- NOTES
- OCLC-LINK - Online Computer Library Center
- PAGE-RANGE
- PAGE-TOTAL
- PERMISSIONS-1
- PERMISSIONS-2
- POSTED-DATE
- PUBLISHER-CURRENT - this edition
- PUBLISHER-FIRST - first edition
- RIS-TYPE - see RIS Types
- SUBTITLE - subtitle, current edition
- TAGS-ID - referenced by ID numbers; see 'tags' table for text
- TITLE-CURRENT - title, current edition
- TITLE-FIRST - title first edition, if different
- TITLE-JOURNAL - journal containing this document
- TITLE-JOURNAL-PLAIN - journal containing this document, with tags removed and characters decoded, for searching
- TITLE-PARENT - book containing this document
- TITLE-PARENT-PLAIN - book containing this document, with tags removed and characters decoded, for searching
- TITLE-PLAIN - above two fields combined, with tags removed and characters decoded, for searching
- TITLE-PUNCTUATION - things preceding the title which would hinder alphabetization, like "
- TITLE-TRANSLATION - title in English translation
- TITLE-TRANSLITERATION - title in Latin characters
- VIEW-COUNT - hits
- VOLUME-ED
- VOLUME-THIS
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