The Internet Archive is a non-profit librar
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:27 am
y. And we do what libraries have always done.
What libraries do is we buy, preserve and lend books to one reader at a time. Why do we do it? Libraries are a pillar of our democracy. We are a great equalizer, providing access to information for all. We also have an age-old role as custodians of culture, preserving knowledge for future generations.
This is what the Internet Archive is doing along-side hundreds of other libraries. We have been lending scanned digital copies of print books for more than 10 years, and it has helped millions of digital learners.
With this lawsuit, the publishers are saying that in digital form, we cannot buyphone number list books, we cannot preserve books, and we cannot lend books.
This lawsuit is not just an attack on the Internet Archive—it is an attack on all libraries. The publishers want to criminalize libraries’ owning, lending and preserving books in digital form.
Should we stop libraries from owning and lending books? No. We need libraries to be independent and strong, now more than ever, in a time of misinformation and challenges to democracy.
That’s why we are defending the rights of libraries to serve our patrons where they are, online.
Posted in News | Tagged CDL, controlled digital lending, lawsuit | 3 Replies
EFF Legal Director: “Copyright law does not stand in the way of a library’s right to lend its books”
Posted on July 8, 2022 by Chris Freeland
On July 8, 2022, Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, spoke at a press conference about the copyright lawsuit brought against the Internet Archive by four commercial publishers. These are her remarks:
The Internet Archive, headquartered in San Francisco, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit library dedicated to preserving and sharing knowledge. Through Controlled Digital Lending (“CDL”), the Internet Archive and other nonprofit libraries make and lend out digital scans of print books in their collections, subject to strict technical controls. Each book loaned via CDL has already been bought and paid for, so authors and publishers have already been fully compensated for those books.
Publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House sued the Archive in 2020, claiming that CDL violates their copyrights, costs them millions of dollars, and threatens their businesses. They are wrong: Libraries have paid publishers billions of dollars for the books in their print collections, and are investing enormous resources in digitization in order to preserve those texts. CDL merely helps libraries take the next step by ensuring the public can make full use of books that libraries already have bought and paid for. CDL is fundamentally the same as traditional library lending and poses no harm to authors or the publishing industry.
What libraries do is we buy, preserve and lend books to one reader at a time. Why do we do it? Libraries are a pillar of our democracy. We are a great equalizer, providing access to information for all. We also have an age-old role as custodians of culture, preserving knowledge for future generations.
This is what the Internet Archive is doing along-side hundreds of other libraries. We have been lending scanned digital copies of print books for more than 10 years, and it has helped millions of digital learners.
With this lawsuit, the publishers are saying that in digital form, we cannot buyphone number list books, we cannot preserve books, and we cannot lend books.
This lawsuit is not just an attack on the Internet Archive—it is an attack on all libraries. The publishers want to criminalize libraries’ owning, lending and preserving books in digital form.
Should we stop libraries from owning and lending books? No. We need libraries to be independent and strong, now more than ever, in a time of misinformation and challenges to democracy.
That’s why we are defending the rights of libraries to serve our patrons where they are, online.
Posted in News | Tagged CDL, controlled digital lending, lawsuit | 3 Replies
EFF Legal Director: “Copyright law does not stand in the way of a library’s right to lend its books”
Posted on July 8, 2022 by Chris Freeland
On July 8, 2022, Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, spoke at a press conference about the copyright lawsuit brought against the Internet Archive by four commercial publishers. These are her remarks:
The Internet Archive, headquartered in San Francisco, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit library dedicated to preserving and sharing knowledge. Through Controlled Digital Lending (“CDL”), the Internet Archive and other nonprofit libraries make and lend out digital scans of print books in their collections, subject to strict technical controls. Each book loaned via CDL has already been bought and paid for, so authors and publishers have already been fully compensated for those books.
Publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and Penguin Random House sued the Archive in 2020, claiming that CDL violates their copyrights, costs them millions of dollars, and threatens their businesses. They are wrong: Libraries have paid publishers billions of dollars for the books in their print collections, and are investing enormous resources in digitization in order to preserve those texts. CDL merely helps libraries take the next step by ensuring the public can make full use of books that libraries already have bought and paid for. CDL is fundamentally the same as traditional library lending and poses no harm to authors or the publishing industry.