Internet Archive website creates 'national emergency library'

Already a repository for billions of archived website pages and thousands of hours of free music, the Internet Archive has suspended the wait list for 1.4 million books in its online lending library, creating a National Emergency Library to help displaced students and researchers.

“The library system, because of our national emergency, is coming to aid those that are forced to learn at home, ” said Brewster Kahle, digital librarian of the Internet Archive. “This was our dream for the original internet coming to life: the library at everyone’s fingertips.”

The library brings together all the books from Phillips Academy Andover and Marygrove College, and much of Trent University’s collections, along with more than a million other books donated from other systems to readers worldwide that are locked out of their libraries.

Working with librarians in the Boston area led by Tom Blake of Boston Public Library, who gathered course reserves and reading lists from college and school libraries, Archive employees determined which of those books the Internet Archive had already digitized.

“Through that work we quickly realized that our lending library wasn’t going to scale to meet the needs of a global community of displaced learners,” site officials wrote in a news release. “To make a real difference for the nation and the world, we would have to take a bigger step.”

The digitized books were acquired with a focus on materials published during the 20th century, the vast majority of which are not available in an e-book format.

“This means that while readers and students are able to access the latest bestsellers and popular titles through services like OverDrive and Hoopla, they don’t have access to the books that only exist in paper, sitting inaccessible on their library shelves,” the release reads.

In addition to reading, those interested can sponsor a book to be digitized and preserved, or donate to Archive.org to support their efforts.

Public support for the National Emergency Library has come from more than 100 libraries, individuals and universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Ubiquitous access to open digital content has long been an important goal for MIT and MIT Libraries. Learning and research depend on it,” said Chris Bourg, director of MIT Libraries. “In a global pandemic, robust digital lending options are key to a library’s ability to care for staff and the community, by allowing all of us to work remotely and maintain the recommended social distancing.”

Details: Archive.org/NEL