Scanning and digitization
Fragile print volumes are handled, imaged page by page, and checked. The A. Bennett Wilson, Jr. Legacy Collection alone represents decades of the profession's printed record.
Preservation · Access · Community
Fifty years of O&P knowledge,
free to everyone who needs it.
The O&P Virtual Library Project is digitizing the printed record of orthotics and prosthetics — the journals, atlases and research that shaped the profession — and giving it away. No paywall, no login, no institutional subscription. Your donation is what keeps it that way.
- Collections
- Six
- major journals & references
- Cost to read
- $0
- worldwide, no account
- Status
- 501(c)(3)
- gifts are deductible
A single gift, processed securely by PayPal. Debit and credit cards are accepted — no PayPal account required.
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Digital Resource Foundation for the Orthotics and Prosthetics Community is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit.
EIN 34-2002891 · Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
The problem
Most of this literature was never going to be online.
The foundational work of orthotics and prosthetics was published in journals that went out of print decades ago. Complete runs exist in a handful of libraries. Outside those buildings the research is, for practical purposes, gone — and no commercial publisher has any reason to bring it back.
A clinician fitting a difficult case in a country without a research library has the same problem a student has: the answer may already have been written up in 1968, and there is no way to find it.
That is the gap this Foundation exists to close, one scanned and indexed page at a time.
Where the money goes
Your gift pays for the unglamorous part.
Digitization is slow, physical work, and it is the reason this library exists at all. Here is what a donation actually buys.
Full-text search and OCR
A scan nobody can search is an archive nobody can use. Every page is put through text recognition and indexed, so a clinician can find one technique in fifty years of journals.
Free, permanent hosting
No paywall, no login, no institutional subscription. Keeping the library online and fast for practitioners in every country is an ongoing cost the Foundation carries year after year.
Why it matters
Every paper in this archive was written so that the next practitioner would not have to start from nothing.
The techniques behind a good fitting were worked out slowly — tested in clinics, argued over at conferences, and written up across decades of journals that are now out of print. Keeping that record findable is not nostalgia. It is how a standard of care reaches the next practitioner, and the one after that.
Support the libraryWhat your donation supports
One foundation, several open resources.
O&P Virtual Library
An online collection of journals, books, reports and archived material related to orthotics and prosthetics, keyword searchable and available at no cost to users worldwide.
Six major peer-reviewed collections, including the Atlas of Limb Prosthetics, Artificial Limbs, Clinical Prosthetics & Orthotics, Orthotics and Prosthetics, and Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
O&P Humanitarian Database
A searchable online database that connects communities of need with the professionals and organizations that have the resources to help.
60 organizations across 8 regions, listing where they work, what they provide, and whether care is offered free of charge.
SHAPES
A Foundation project serving the orthotics and prosthetics community.
Offline at the time of writing: the site's security certificate expired in April 2025 and needs renewing before visitors can reach it.
Currently offline
Other ways to give
Not everything useful arrives as a card payment.
By check
Make it payable to Digital Resource Foundation for O&P and post it to:
3870 NW 83rd StGainesville, FL 32606
Include your email if you would like an acknowledgement.
Sponsor a collection
Chapters, clinics and manufacturers can fund the digitization of a specific volume or journal run. The Northern Plains Chapter of the Academy did exactly this for the Atlas of Limb Prosthetics.
Discuss sponsorship →Donate materials
This library exists because someone donated their collection rather than discarding it. If you hold O&P journals, texts or reports, please get in touch before they are thrown away.
Contact the Foundation →Questions
Before you give.
Anything not covered here, ask us directly through the Foundation’s contact page.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. The Digital Resource Foundation for the Orthotics and Prosthetics Community is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Our EIN is 34-2002891. PayPal emails you a receipt immediately, and that receipt is valid for your records.
Where does my money actually go?
Into the work itself: scanning fragile print volumes, running optical character recognition so the text is searchable, and keeping the resulting library online and free. The Foundation is a small operation built substantially on donated labor and donated collections, so contributions go a long way.
Can I give monthly instead of once?
Yes. Choose the monthly option and PayPal will set up a recurring donation you can change or cancel at any time from your own PayPal account. Monthly giving is the most useful kind of support we receive, because digitization is a long project and steady funding lets it be planned rather than paused.
Do I need a PayPal account to donate?
No. PayPal's donation form accepts major debit and credit cards directly, without creating an account. If you do have a PayPal account you can sign in and use your existing balance or payment method.
Can I donate by check?
Yes. Make the check payable to the Digital Resource Foundation for O&P and mail it to 3870 NW 83rd St, Gainesville, FL 32606. Please include your email address if you would like an acknowledgement.
Who uses the library?
Orthotists, prosthetists, physicians, therapists, researchers, educators and students, in countries where the printed literature was never affordable or never available at all. The material is free to anyone, with no login and no institutional subscription.
Can my company or chapter sponsor a specific collection?
Yes, and it has been done before. The Northern Plains Chapter of the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists funded the digitization of the Atlas of Limb Prosthetics. Get in touch through the Foundation's contact page to discuss sponsoring a volume, a journal run or a collection.
Can I donate print materials instead of money?
Often, yes. The library exists because A. Bennett Wilson, Jr. donated his collection of print materials. If you hold O&P journals, texts or reports that should be preserved, contact the Foundation before discarding anything.
Keep orthotics and prosthetics knowledge free for everyone, everywhere.
A small foundation, a permanent archive, and no paywall.
The Foundation runs on donated collections, donated labour and donated money. The first two have been extraordinarily generous. The third is where you come in.
Or simply use the library: O&P Virtual Library · O&P Humanitarian Database
A. Bennett Wilson, Jr. and Jan Wilson, for donating the collection of print materials being digitized. Cheryl Langevin and Century College, for preserving, cataloging and digitizing the Wilson Legacy Collection. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, for permission to digitize the Atlas of Limb Prosthetics. The Northern Plains Chapter of the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists, for funding that digitization. oandp.com, for donating labor and technical resources across all Foundation projects