---
author: jeremy
title: The LBRY Opens
date: '2015-05-24 16:00:00'
---

Hello, world.

It's just Jimmy and me here at the front desk. Our little library is lonely.

Before it gets too crowded, some exposition is in order.

For as long as preserved knowledge has existed, people have collected it. And once you start collecting it, well, you'll need some way to keep it in order. LBRY is the next evolution of a desire as ancient as knowledge itself: to organize and access information.

However, if I ask you to imagine a library, you probably do not imagine a private archive of cuneiform tablets. Instead, you imagine a public library. The earliest library of this form was created by [the Junto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junto_%28club%29), an 18th century discussion club founded by Benjamin Franklin. Their company sold shares to access their collection materials, and used that money to buy more books. [They still exist today](http://www.librarycompany.org/).

Franklin's library existed in a time where information was intrinsically scarce. Not only did each book have to be printed, but books faced expensive shipping costs from London.

In today's world, information does not face these constraints. Technology makes information as abundant as air or water. So why is it still so scarce?

We think it's scarce because people other than the creators and the consumers are in control.

We think it's scarce because corporations and governments conspire to keep it that way.

We think it's scarce because there is no Junto of the 21st century.

At least, not yet.

LBRY is the next evolution of Franklin's library. Join us in putting more information in the hands of the people and more money in the hands of creators.