The Internet Archive has put an end to its National Emergency Library program earlier than scheduled following a lawsuit filed by four commercial publishers earlier in June. The organization made the announcement via a blog post.
The National Emergency Library is a program that made more than 1.3 million books available online without restriction, a well-intentioned idea that was destined to get pushback. The system was designed to provide educators with free books, as libraries across the country have closed due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
The Emergency Library is part of the Open Libraries initiative, in which the Internet Archive scans libraries' books, allowing digital "check-outs" via a waiting list. But the Emergency Library did away with the waiting lists and made the scanned books immediately available.
The goal was to run the Emergency Library through June 30, but publishers Harper Collins, Wiley, Penguin Random House, and Hachete on June 1 sued the Internet Archive for copyright violations. In March, the Authors Guild called out the organization for "acting as a piracy site" that violates the rights of the authors to their works.
"Despite the 'Open Library' moniker, IA's actions grossly exceed legitimate library services, do violence to the Copyright Act, and constitute willful digital piracy on an industrial scale," Harper Collins, Wiley, Penguin Random House, and Hachete wrote in the New York federal court suit.
The lawsuit was enough to end the program. The Internet Archive decided to close the library on June 15, two weeks ahead of the original June 30 date.
The Internet Archive has since cited all of the educators who have benefited from the Emergency Library program, including a story of a librarian who utilized it to give life-support manuals to front-line workers. However, these stories didn't budge the publishers.
Among other things, the all four companies took issue with IA's lack of licensing fees and other agreed-upon restrictions like traditional libraries.
This isn't actually a new case for the Internet Archive, whose actions have been questioned due to copyright laws. The organization has long been accused of "willful digital piracy on an industrial scale."
But the Internet Archive appears to have hopes to reopen its program again, closing its post with a note saying, "Let's build a digital system that works." It did choose the path of least resistance, though.
It's not clear whether the Internet Archive's move will compel the publishers to stop the lawsuit.
