# Mayberry Public Library

> A neighborhood of self-hosted little library branches for ebooks.

Mayberry Public Library is a privacy-first, distributed library system for ebooks. It lets anyone host their own little library branch, serving their collection over the open OPDS catalog protocol. Branches are access controlled with anonymous library card IDs: a reader signs up for a card, gives the ID to a branch host, and the host grants access. The card ID doubles as the username and the password for OPDS basic auth. No names, no emails, no tracking.

The project is made of three pieces: the Branch (a small, self-hosted daemon that serves your local catalog), the Library System (the web presence and documentation you are reading now), and the Proxy Hub (an optional helper that lets branches behind home networks stay reachable). The code for the Mayberry Branch is open source and available for audit.

## Pages

- [Home](/): Browse the public library network, learn how to host your own little library branch, and set up an e-reader to browse shelves.
- [About](/about): The Mayberry story, the principles behind the project, and the idea of a little library branch for the self-hosted web.
- [Library Card Access Model](/library-card-access): How the card-based access model works for branch hosts and for readers who do not host a branch.

- [Calibre Alternatives](/calibre-alternatives): A comparison of Mayberry and Calibre Content Server for remote ebook library access, privacy, and no port forwarding setup.

## Optional

- [CommonStacks](https://commonstacks.com): A desktop companion app for browsing and sending books to your e-reader.
- [Mayberry Branch Source](https://github.com/SoFriendly/mayberry-branch): Open-source repository for the Mayberry Branch daemon.