"Publishers accused the nonprofit of infringing copyrights in 127 books from authors like Malcolm Gladwell, C.S. Lewis, Toni Morrison, J.D. Salinger and Elie Wiesel, by making the books freely available through its Free Digital Library.

The archive, which hosts more than 3.2 million copies of copyrighted books on its website, contended that the library was transformative because it made lending more convenient and served the public interest by promoting "access to knowledge.""

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If you'd like to learn more, Open Library has curated some excellent resources on banned and challenged books.

If you've been a frequent, repeat visitor to this tumblr and you actually follow my "source" links, you'll know that many (if not most) of those links refer you back to the Internet Archive. I spend many hours combing through the archive for images I find interesting and aesthetically pleasing from artist's whose work I enjoy. I then transfer that labor, freely, into "content" for your viewing pleasure (or so I hope). If you were not aware of this, the book industry (which is basically controlled by 5 companies) brought a suit against the Internet Archive in 2020 that claimed that the Open Library program offered by the IA was financially damaging to the publishers themselves through "copyright infringement." During the COVID-19 lockdowns, the IA created the 'National Emergency Library' which removed lending restrictions on lent digital material allowing for expanded access to books at a time when public libraries were, in many cases, not operating (or operating at a very limited capacity). In response to the NEL, four book publishers sued the Internet Archive claiming that CDL (controlled digital lending) was not an example of fair use and that offering books without wait restrictions was a violation of their copyrights. The argument made by the publisher's was only partially aimed at the NEL, the ACTUAL target of their lawsuit was with the process of CDL itself. A lower court agreed and the Internet Archive appealed. The case was taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit only to have that court affirm the lower court rulings on a unanimous decision (with some seriously questionable reasoning involved).

There is always place for you at the library. Librarians normally have a master's degree in Library Information Science (yes, science!) and are professionally trained and educated to help you find what you need.

Libraries are one of the most wonderful places in the world and they are in danger now more than ever in many places so please, add to your library's statistics!

WorldCat is a free, global recourse that helps you track down library materials in just about any country in the world so you can find what you're looking for near you! they have 916 million recourses listed from local libraries worldwide, including books, articles, musical scores, maps, audio recordings and thesis papers.

LibDex is a free directory of libraries worldwide so you can find a library close to you. They don't have the option to search materials directly on their website, however they do have a pretty comprehensive list of libraries across the world including African, South Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries, which are often forgotten in "global" recourses in favor of the global north. They do, however, have links to the listed Library's websites and catalogue's so you can quickly find what you're looking for!

OpenLibrary is a completely online, free to use library run by the internet archive, the same folks in charge of the wayback machine! This website is great if you can't get out to an in-person library or don't have anything local that's close or accessible enough for your needs. Libraries are for everyone!

And while we're on that note, The Wayback Machine (if you haven't heard of it yet) is a massive internet archive that keeps records of all internet sites across the web so you can access any website at any point in the internets existence (with reasonable limitation to what's been archived, of course.)

GCFGlobal is an online (yes, free!) library of essential life skill courses catering to the 21st century, aka the digital age we currently live in, and has the option to set the website to either English, Spanish or Portuguese! They have over 200 courses on everything from math, technology, work skills like career planning, job searching and job applications, core skills such as reading and finance, GED prep, online safety and digital skills, photography, social media, how to use tons of common digital application, and tons more!

Khan Academy is also great for learning essential skills like mathematics, science, social studies and history, college readiness and admissions, some arts and humanities stuff, LSAT and MCAT test prep, careers and financial literacy, I think you get the idea.

Alison also has tons of free courses on a much wider range of topics, including cooking basics and essential car maintenance.

On Censorship (for all those who resist) ...