A digital library in San Francisco named Internet Archive has stood strong against the leading publishers lately. The non-profit digital library, Internet Archive, is known for offering diverse universal free books access, movies, music, and around 624 billion archived web pages to readers. With its extensive storage, the library aims to save texts and offer them for free online.
However, earlier this year, the library was sued by the publishers for copyright infringement. A US district judge, John Koeltl, ruled in favor of publishers, indicating how Internet Archive’s Open Library project does not have the right to digitally scan and reproduce the books of four major publishers. For this reason, it’s likely that many of the free books from this digital library may be sacked in the coming future.
With its Open Library, IA aimed to heed the controlled digital lending approach where any library can own, scan and lend a copy to a single reader. However, with Covid19 and lockdowns infesting our lives in 2020, the library removed the waitlist regime and allowed readers to access books online when needed. The approach was called the National Emergency Library and helped readers/students significantly as they were learning from home.
In June 2020, IA was sued by publishers for following such practices and accused them of copyright infringement. For this reason, the library had to stop such lending practices and return to the same regime that they followed earlier.
After the ruling of the US district judge John Koeltl, the digital library decided to continue the fight. In their blog, IA mentioned how they want to “keep fighting for the traditional right of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.” For this reason, they have decided to appeal the judgement. They have also asked other members to join in support of the libraries which are often attacked by the corporate publishers.
There was also a statement released by the IA founder Brewster Kahle, which read as below:
“Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive on a global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society—owning, preserving, and lending books. This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors, and we plan to appeal it.”
They ended their blog after encouraging the writers to take action and stand up for libraries through a petition called Battle for Libraries, which has 25000+ signers as of now.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.
