Appropriate Technology Library

Author: Mark England

The United States Congress' Office of Technology Assessment defines appropriate technology as being small scale, energy efficient, environmentally sound, labor-intensive, and locally controlled and maintained. Appropriate technology matches the user and the need in both complexity and scale.

The Appropriate Technology Library is a collection of over 1,050 of the best books on all areas of appropriate technology on compact disc (PDF format). Used by Peace Corps Volunteers, development and relief organizations, engineers, and missionaries, the Appropriate Technology Library gives you solutions to real-world problems using do-it-yourself or village technologies. For example the Library includes books on harvesting clean drinking water; making your own tools; growing and preserving crops; building and maintaining irrigation systems; building a small-scale hydropower system; treating human and animal waste; utilizing solar and wind energy; constructing energy efficient structures; and caring for the sick.

You can view the Appropriate Technology Sourcebook -- the index and annotated bibliography to the Appropriate Technology Library -- here. But to read the books themselves, you have to visit the reference desk at the North Dakota State University Main Library.

Subjects Covered in the AT library: