If you are using a PC, then you might find the
Calibre2Web thread in this forum to be of interest?
In terms of a web server you can use the one built into Vista, The one supplied by Calibre, or one running on another box on your home network. I use this last option in conjunction with Calibre2Web to make my book collection availalbe from anywhere on my iPhone. The main thing is to know how to set up the tunnelling through your home router to allow an external client on the internet to access the web server running on your home machine.
Do not forget that if you are going to allow access from the internet it is important that you set up the web server to at least require a usename/password for access or you are potentially exposing your book collection to all-and-sundry.