Spotted this online:
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.
(https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-national-emergency-library-is-a-gift-to-readers-everywhere)
First question I had...... what the heck is the National Emergency Library ??
So I went to a trusted resource (tongue in cheek)....... Wikipedia.
And I found absolutely nothing.
So, I did some more web searching and came across this:
The Authors Guild is appalled by the Internet Archive’s (IA) announcement that it is now making millions of in-copyright books freely available online without restriction on its Open Library site under the guise of a National Emergency Library. IA has no rights whatsoever to these books, much less to give them away indiscriminately without consent of the publisher or author. We are shocked that the Internet Archive would use the Covid-19 epidemic as an excuse to push copyright law further out to the edges, and in doing so, harm authors, many of whom are already struggling.
IA is using a global crisis to advance a copyright ideology that violates current federal law and hurts most authors. It has misrepresented the nature and legality of the project through a deceptive publicity campaign. Despite giving off the impression that it is expanding access to older and public domain books, a large proportion of the books on Open Library are in fact recent in-copyright books that publishers and authors rely on for critical revenue. Acting as a piracy site—of which there already are too many—the Internet Archive tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world.
(https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/internet-archives-uncontrolled-digital-lending/)
Oh wow..... controversy!
If this does indeed cheat authors from $$$ due on works they have written, it is theft and it is wrong.
Wonder what the other side of the story is?
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
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.
(https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-national-emergency-library-is-a-gift-to-readers-everywhere)
First question I had...... what the heck is the National Emergency Library ??
So I went to a trusted resource (tongue in cheek)....... Wikipedia.
And I found absolutely nothing.
So, I did some more web searching and came across this:
The Authors Guild is appalled by the Internet Archive’s (IA) announcement that it is now making millions of in-copyright books freely available online without restriction on its Open Library site under the guise of a National Emergency Library. IA has no rights whatsoever to these books, much less to give them away indiscriminately without consent of the publisher or author. We are shocked that the Internet Archive would use the Covid-19 epidemic as an excuse to push copyright law further out to the edges, and in doing so, harm authors, many of whom are already struggling.
IA is using a global crisis to advance a copyright ideology that violates current federal law and hurts most authors. It has misrepresented the nature and legality of the project through a deceptive publicity campaign. Despite giving off the impression that it is expanding access to older and public domain books, a large proportion of the books on Open Library are in fact recent in-copyright books that publishers and authors rely on for critical revenue. Acting as a piracy site—of which there already are too many—the Internet Archive tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world.
(https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/internet-archives-uncontrolled-digital-lending/)
Oh wow..... controversy!
If this does indeed cheat authors from $$$ due on works they have written, it is theft and it is wrong.
Wonder what the other side of the story is?
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt