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Source: This post on Internet Archive (IA) and Digital book lending has been created based on the article “What the Internet Archive case in the U.S. means for digital book-lending”, published in Indian Express on 10th Sep 2024.
What is the news?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital book lending surged as libraries moved online. The Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library extended digital lending without usual restrictions due to which a copyright dispute with publishers arose, highlighting the tension between expanding access and protecting copyright holders’ economic interests.
About Internet Archive (IA)
1. The Internet Archive was founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle.
2. It is a nonprofit digital library dedicated to providing free and universal access to knowledge.
3. It offers an extensive collection of digital content, including books, websites, audio, video, software, and images.
4, One of its most notable features is the Wayback Machine, which allows users to view archived versions of websites, preserving the history of the internet.
5. IA has archived over 835 billion web pages, 44 million books and texts, along with millions of audio recordings, videos, images, and software programs. Additionally, it hosts a vast collection of old software and games, which can often be run directly in browsers.
6. It is especially valuable for researchers from the Global South, where access to academic content is often restricted by paywalls.
7. The Internet Archive plays a vital role in preserving digital content, protecting important cultural and historical materials from being lost.
8. It supports research, journalism, and education by ensuring that knowledge remains accessible to everyone, making it an invaluable resource for researchers, historians, and the public.
About Digital book lending
1. It is a method by which libraries and organizations make digitized copies of books available to readers, typically through online platforms.
2. This process mimics traditional library lending, where readers can borrow a book for a set period of time, with the digital copy being automatically returned after the lending period ends.
3. It has gained widespread attention for making books more accessible, especially to readers in remote areas or those without access to physical libraries.
4. One prominent method is Controlled Digital Lending (CDL), where libraries lend out a digital version of a physical book they own, maintaining a 1:1 ratio between the physical copy and the digital loan.
This ensures that only the number of physical copies a library possesses can be digitally loaned out at any given time, replicating the scarcity of physical lending.
5. Digital lending has proven vital for ensuring equitable access to books but remains legally complex due to copyright concerns.
UPSC Syllabus: Science and technology
