# National Emergency Library: 1.4 Million Books Free to Read (Internet Archive) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392 "2020-03-27T02:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/1 "2020-03-27T02:56:57Z")
> [@](#): > > This week the Internet Archive, in San Francisco, announced—and, in the blink of an eye, opened—the National Emergency Library, a digital collection of 1.4 million books. Until June 30th, or the end of the national emergency in the United States (“whichever is later”), anyone, anywhere in the world, can check books out of this library—for free. As Brewster Kahle, the digital librarian at the Internet Archive, wrote in an online announcement, if you can afford to buy books, please buy books! Bookstores still need your business. But, by God, if you can’t afford them, or if the books you need aren’t in any bookstore, and, especially, if you are one of the currently more than one billion students and teachers shut out of your classroom, please: sign up, log on, and borrow! > **[The National Emergency Library Is a Gift to Readers Everywhere](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-national-emergency-library-is-a-gift-to-readers-everywhere)** > > The Internet Archive is providing free access to a trove of 1.4 million digitized books to help ease the strain of the coronavirus crisis. The site: [https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary](https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/2 "2020-03-27T04:07:21Z")
As best I can tell, these are scanned volumes not yet out of copyright, so an actual download would leave the Internet Archive subject to liability. So they’re pushing the envelope of IP law a bit, and saying “we’re no different from any public lending liability. You can read the material for a limited ‘lending’ period.” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/3 "2020-03-27T05:23:51Z")
Who are we going to buy electronic books, or physical books online, from? Amazon? I’m not interested in making Bezos even richer. So I encourage folks who want to buy either kind of book online to search for independent booksellers. They won’t make much from the ebooks but it’s better than giving your money to one of the richest men on the planet. And if you can delay your gratification by waiting for delivery, they’d love to sell you a real physical book. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/4 "2020-06-02T20:14:39Z")
Publishers have filed a major copyright infringement suit against the Internet Archive: > **[Publishers Sue the Internet Archive Over its Open Library, Declare it a...](https://torrentfreak.com/publishers-sue-the-internet-archive-over-its-open-library-declare-it-a-pirate-site-200601/)** > > Major publishers have sued the Internet Archive over its Open Library. "It Is an Unlicensed Aggregator and Pirate Site," the lawsuit reads. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/5 "2020-06-02T20:27:27Z")
Internetarchive also has tons of older movies that can be torrented and sometimes downloaded. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/6 "2020-06-02T20:37:40Z")
That website had this free lending library already. What’s new? More titles available? Or just that multiple people can now check out the same book concurrently? Their interface isn’t my favorite way to read a book, but I’d put up with it for a very special book! 1.4 million is a lot of titles! Any suggestions on how to hunt for “specially good” books in the archive? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/7 "2020-06-03T00:32:45Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > As best I can tell, these are scanned volumes not yet out of copyright, so an actual download would leave the Internet Archive subject to liability. So they’re pushing the envelope of IP law a bit, and saying “we’re no different from any public lending liability. You can read the material for a limited ‘lending’ period.” Not “pushing the envelope” so much as “[running roughshod over](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=22222608&postcount=34).” it is a full-on pirate/anarchist site. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/8 "2020-06-03T01:01:34Z")
BTW, [here](https://archive.org/details/manga_library) is their extensive manga collection, for anyone interested. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/9 "2020-06-03T02:23:54Z")
Yes, as much as I love and use the Internet Archive, they made a serious mistake with the Open Library. They need to back off the multiple simultaneous loans right now. An apology would go a long way toward saving the site. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/10 "2020-06-03T03:21:05Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 1.4 million is a lot of titles! Any suggestions on how to hunt for “specially good” books in the archive? Look for lists of the best books in the subjects you are interested in and look them up at the site. Note they don’t have basically the last 5 years. So lists of Hugos or Edgars (science fiction or mysteries) or Pulitzer Prize nonfiction books… > **[{{(global.pageOgTitle) ? global.pageOgTitle : global.pageTitle}}](https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/223)** > > {{(global.pageDescription) ? global.pageDescription : global.pageDefaultDescription}} For example suppose you are interested in previous pandemics; a good book is John Barry. The Great Influenza published in 2005. It is there. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/11 "2020-06-11T20:26:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Today we are announcing the National Emergency Library will close on June 16th, rather than June 30th, returning to traditional controlled digital lending. We have learned that the vast majority of people use digitized books on the Internet Archive for a very short time. [https://blog.archive.org/2020/06/10/temporary-national-emergency-library-to-close-2-weeks-early-returning-to-traditional-controlled-digital-lending/](https://blog.archive.org/2020/06/10/temporary-national-emergency-library-to-close-2-weeks-early-returning-to-traditional-controlled-digital-lending/) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-emergency-library-1-4-million-books-free-to-read-internet-archive/850392/12 "2023-03-25T05:43:33Z")
> A federal judge has ruled against the Internet Archive in _Hachette v. Internet Archive,_ [a lawsuit brought against it](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/20/23641457/internet-archive-hachette-lawsuit-court-copyright-fair-use) by four book publishers, deciding that the website does not have the right to scan books and lend them out like a library. > > Judge John G. Koeltl decided that the Internet Archive had done nothing more than create “derivative works,” and so would have needed authorization from the books’ copyright holders — the publishers — before lending them out through its National Emergency Library program. > **[The Internet Archive has lost its first fight to scan and lend e-books like a...](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/24/23655804/internet-archive-hatchette-publisher-ebook-library-lawsuit)** > > Publishers win in federal court. Here is the complete copy of the decision: > **[gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.188.0.pdf](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.188.0.pdf)** > > 292.63 KB And a statement from Internet Archive of its future plans, including an appeal: [https://blog.archive.org/2023/03/25/the-fight-continues/](https://blog.archive.org/2023/03/25/the-fight-continues/) I find this very disappointing as I have found Internet Archive to be useful.