Mar 30, 2020 12:30:00

Internet Archive releases 1.4 million books that can be read for free

On March 24, 2020,

the Internet Archive , which records and stores all information on the Internet, opened the National Emergency Library , where you can read 1.4 million digital books for free. Some of the 1.4 million books do not have a copyright holder, but they also include works that are currently being published, such as the 'Harry Potter' series, and users can freely borrow and read up to 10 books at a time. can do.

Announcing a National Emergency Library to Provide Digitized Books to Students and the Public | Internet Archive Blogs
https://blog.archive.org/2020/03/24/announcing-a-national-emergency-library-to-provide-digitized-books-to-students-and-the-public/

Internet Archive offers 1.4 million copyrighted books for free online | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/internet-archive-offers-thousands-of-copyrighted-books-for-free-online/

You can access the National Emergency Library from below.

National Emergency Library : Free Texts : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

Below is the top page of the National Emergency Library.

On the left side of the screen, you can specify the publication date and category of the book...

You can also specify the facility that holds the book, author, language, etc.

Publication dates can be specified from 1925 to 2019. The number of books from 2017 to 2019 is small, but there were hundreds of thousands of books from the 2000s. Check from 2000 to 2019 and click 'Apply your filters'.

Then the cover and title of the book will be displayed like this. If things continue like this, the genres will be different...

Furthermore, specify 'Fiction' and click 'Apply your filters'.

Then, fiction works from various countries, mainly children's books, were displayed. As for Japanese books, Jiro Asada's ``

Railwayman '' and...

``

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets '' was lined up.

There are 2594 Japanese books in stock. When I specify it...

It was displayed like this. Click on Dickens' ``

Great Expectations .''

If you don't sign in, you can only read the preview, but once you sign in, you can read the entire book for free online.

The Internet Archive has had a lending program for digital scans of physical books for the past decade, but readers can only borrow a limited number of books at a time from this open library, and after a certain period of time, I had to “return” the book. Just like in a real library, books sometimes run out, and in order to borrow popular books, it was necessary to join a 'waiting list.'

However, at the newly opened National Emergency Library, the waiting list for 1.4 million books has been suspended, allowing students and others to freely read up to 10 books at a time. In the United States, where a state of emergency has been declared, many people are unable to go out, and some are deprived of learning opportunities. 'Those who don't have physical access to a library can still continue reading and develop themselves without putting themselves or those around them at risk,' the Internet Archive wrote in a blog post.

Some of the 1.4 million books are out of print or have no copyright holder, but they also include the 'Harry Potter' series and the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, which are currently being published as of 2020. . The legal basis for digital library books is unclear, but it is thought that ' fair use ,' one of the defenses to copyright infringement claims, applies. Furthermore, the Internet Archive blog that talks about the National Emergency Library does not mention copyright.

Since the National Emergency Library opened on the 24th, 20,000 new users have already registered, and 15,000 to 20,000 books are lent out each day.

The Internet Archive states that this measure will continue until June 30, 2020, but has indicated that it will continue until the state of emergency is lifted in the United States.