Contributing to the AnarBib project

AnarBib is carried by a small number of comrades. The project will only succeed if more people get involved. Here are the ways one can help, ordered from the most demanding in time to the lightest.

Contributing code

AnarBib is written in JavaScript (React + Vite for the frontend) and SQL + TypeScript (Supabase for the backend). The code is public on Codeberg:

• Application — codeberg.org/anarbib/anarbib
• Site — codeberg.org/anarbib/pages

We don't ask for a particular level. We ask for rigour (clean commits, readable code, tests when relevant) and patience (the project has its own rhythm). The issues labelled "good first contribution" on the repository are open to anyone wanting to start.

If you don't know where to start, write to contato@anarbib.org saying what you can do — we'll point you somewhere.

Contributing translations

The AnarBib interface exists in eight languages (Brazilian Portuguese, French, Castilian, English, Italian, German, Catalan and Esperanto). Not all are at the same level of quality. If you read and write one of these, you can help:

• proofread existing strings to catch misunderstandings and clumsiness;
• translate new strings as the project evolves;
• propose a new language (Basque, Swiss German, Polish, Turkish — all are welcome if someone carries the translation).

Translation files are in JSON, in the repository. If Git scares you, you can also receive a file by email, edit it in any editor, and send it back.

To propose a language or join the translation team: contato@anarbib.org.

Joining the Authorities Workshop

The Authorities Workshop is a collective documentary care project open to comrades who are not affiliated with any member library, but who wish to contribute to libertarian memory. It involves working on the authority records of the network: those precise and stabilised descriptions of persons, collectivities, and concepts to which all the cataloguing records of the AnarBib libraries refer.

No technical skill required. What is asked: attentive reading, sense of the collective, documentary patience. The work consists in creating, enriching, merging, sourcing, translating records — at one's own pace, without commitment, in dialogue with the libraries that use them.

The workshop is today an announcement of intention: the technical module will be opened in the following phase of the project. You can already read the presentation page and signal your interest by email: contato@anarbib.org.

Contributing to documentation

The user manual exists but needs to be expanded, illustrated, translated. More generally, anything that helps libraries take hold of the tool is precious:

• tutorials by profile (reader, librarian, coordinator);
• screenshots and short videos;
• FAQ fed by the real questions received;
• autonomous installation guide for technically equipped libraries.

You don't need to be a technician to contribute here — clear writing counts as much as code.

Testing and reporting

If you have a library at home, or frequent a library of the network, you can:

• use AnarBib as a reader and report what doesn't work;
• test new features on the staging instance before they are deployed everywhere;
• describe your use cases, especially those that don't work — they are precious.

Feedback should be sent to the issues on Codeberg, or by email if you prefer.

Supporting politically

The project also lives by its visibility in militant circles. You can:

• talk about it in the spaces where you are (collectives, friendly libraries, bookshops, fanzines, militant media);
• mention it in your group's publications;
• invite a library you know to apply to the network.

No official communication is imposed — share with your own words.

Supporting financially

AnarBib has no legal structure that collects money. The project is carried voluntarily, and the infrastructure (Codeberg, Supabase free tier, domain, mailboxes) costs little — a few dozen euros per year for the domain and possible additional hosting.

If you want to help financially:

• support Codeberg directly, which hosts this project and many others: docs.codeberg.org/improving-codeberg/donate;
• support the libraries of the network themselves, which each have their own funds and needs;
• if a project fund emerges one day for AnarBib, it will be announced here. For now, there isn't one.

One last thing

Contributing to a militant free software project also means accepting slow rhythms, sometimes long discussions, disagreements between comrades. It is not a professional environment, nor is it total chaos. If you arrive with patience and goodwill, you will be well received.

To get in touch: contato@anarbib.org.