Internet Archive appeal in digital lending fight
AN appeal has been launched to overturn a court ruling
which
threatens the use of widespread controlled digital lending (CDL) – a practice which many see as the best way for libraries to maintain and provide access to their collections in the digital age. Back in March, the Internet Archive
(IA) lost the case brought against it by four big publishers – Hachette, Harper- Collins, Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Ran- dom House – with the judge ruling that it had committed copyright infringement by scanning and distributing copies of the books online. The publishers took the action when the
IA’s National Emergency Library, set up during Covid, didn’t stick to the IA’s usual CDL principles of only lending one elec- tronic copy per physical copy owned. However, the case and the judge’s find-
ings in relation to it, include the IA’s long-running Open Library programme,
with publishers describing both pro- grammes as “wilful digital piracy on an industrial scale.” Announcing the appeal in a blog post
on the IA’s website, Chris Freeland, Di- rector of Library Services at Internet Archive, said: “When the decision was handed down in March, we believe the lower court made errors in facts and law, so we are fighting on in the face of great challenges. We know this won’t be easy, but it’s a necessary fight if we want library collections to survive in the digital age.” The post also included a comment from Brewster Khale, founder and digi- tal librarian of the Internet Archive, who explained what was at stake in the appeal: “Libraries are under attack like never before. The core values and library func- tions of preservation and access, equal opportunity, and universal education are being threatened by book bans, budget cuts, onerous licensing schemes, and now by this harmful lawsuit. We are counting
Choose your favourite for Yoto Carnegies 2024
NOMINATIONS for the Yoto Carnegies are open now – but act fast because the deadline is just a few days away. The nominations process for individuals is exclusively for CILIP members, who can put forward one title for each of the categories – writing and illustration. Titles must meet the eligibility criteria, which includes being written in, or translated to, English, and having been published in the UK or Ireland between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023. A number of external organisations are also part of the nomi-
nation process, including Amnesty International, Book Trust, RNIB, The National Literacy Trust, and CILIP’s School Libraries Group. All nominations need to be submitted by 29 September –
to find out more about eligibility criteria and how to nomi- nate, visit
https://yotocarnegies.co.uk/nominations/.
Open push continues
BY 2028 Academic publisher De Gruyter aims to have transferred 85 per cent of its 320 subscription journals to Subscribe to Open (S2O). Currently it offers 16 journals as open access via Sub- scribe to Open with five more in 2024 and plans to transfer around 40 journals to open access by 2025. But by 2028 around 270 De Gruyter journals are planned to be available as open access titles via Subscribe to Open.
September 2023 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 11
on the appellate judges to support librar- ies and our longstanding and widespread library practices in the digital age. Now is the time to stand up for libraries.” The day before it submitted the appeal,
the judge in the case, had made a conces- sion to the IA by agreeing with its view that the injunction the judge imposed on its CDL only applied to books that are also published as ebooks. Books that are not sold in an ebook format being excluded from the injunction. The IA has explained the potential effect of the injunction, saying: “So what is the impact of these final orders on our library? Broadly, this injunction will result in a significant loss of access to valuable knowledge for the public. It means that people who are not part of an elite institu- tion or who do not live near a well-fund- ed public library will lose access to books they cannot read otherwise. It is a sad day for the Internet Archive, our patrons, and for all libraries.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
