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Apr 19, 2021 10 tweets 7 min read Read on X
10 good reasons to digitize every #book in our #libraries:

1/ 2021 - Cape Town Library: Today's tragic fire at the @UCTLibrary has destroyed its Special Collections in African Studies, including some of the oldest & rarest materials about Africa.
2/ 2018 - Nat'l Museum of Brazil in #Rio: fire destroyed much of this 200-year-old institution's collections, including its scientific library.
theguardian.com/world/2018/sep…
3/ 1992 - National Library of Bosnia & Herzegovina was completely destroyed by bombing during the Siege of Sarajevo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_…
4/ 2001 - University of Houston Law Library, flooded during Tropical Storm Allison.
5/ 1976-79 - National Library of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge destroyed most of the books & records. Less than 20% of Cambodia's National library survived.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_…
6/ 1865 - University of Alabama Library -- destroyed by Union troops during America's Civil War.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universit…
7 & 8/ 1851 & 1814 - US Library of Congress. The @librarycongress was first destroyed by British troops during the War of 1812 during the sack of Washington DC. Then fire ravaged it again in 1851, burning 2/3 of the Thomas Jefferson collection--an est.35,000 books in total
9/ 262 AD - Library of Celsus, in Ephesus, Anatolia, now part of Turkey. Destroyed by an earthquake, the Library of Celsus was the third-largest library in the Roman world, believed to have held around twelve thousand scrolls.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_o…
10/ 48 BC - Library of Alexandria, perhaps the largest library of the ancient world was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during a civil war in 48 BC. But historians say it had suffered centuries of decline before that, beginning in 145 BC.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_o…
11/ 🔥Whether by fire, flood, quake, war, or neglect, the knowledge housed in our #libraries is at risk.

That's why @InternetArchive is working w/ global partners to preserve the "missing digital books" unavailable anywhere online.
#BeforeItsTooLate
blog.archive.org/2021/02/03/int…

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More from @internetarchive

Sep 25
From @communia_eu: "The [Hachette v. Internet Archive] decision highlights more general problems with the e-lending business model, not just in the US but also in the EU....Six issues stand out in particular:" 🧵
"1. Licensing contracts expire and need to be renewed after a certain number of loans, in theory simulating the physical degradation of books, but leading to disproportionate prices overall."
"2. Many ebooks are only licensed to libraries after a windowing period to avoid competition during the market introduction of a book, leading to undue delays for library users."
Read 8 tweets
Aug 18, 2022
This is why libraries need to be able to own digital media instead of just renting it from corporate landlords…who is preserving these shows?
Disappearing titles are bad for libraries & the patrons we serve. Libraries want to #OwnBooks.
With VHS & DVD, libraries could buy sets, lend to patrons & safeguard copies for cultural posterity. With streaming, the shows just vanish 👻 We don’t want books to suffer the same fate! We want a digital future for libraries where they can own & preserve digital books. #OwnBooks
Read 5 tweets
Aug 9, 2022
The Hachette vs Internet Archive lawsuit is about much more than our own library collection, explains @mariabustillos in @thenation. 🧵 thenation.com/article/cultur… #EmpoweringLibraries “In reality, the publishers...
What’s bad about that idea? Well, it could mean libraries, as public institutions, are no longer protected from corporate greed. “The real renegades here ar...
Libraries may no longer be able to choose the books in their collections, preserve works for posterity, or protect patron’s privacy.  “Libraries will no longer ...
Read 4 tweets
Jul 15, 2022
A group of intellectual property law professors lead by @rtushnet submitted a “friend of the court” brief in support of @internetarchive and controlled digital lending today in our case against Hachette, PRH, HarperCollins and Wiley. 🧵eff.org/document/hache…
@rtushnet 2/ The law professors’ brief notes that nonprofit libraries “serve important democratic interests” and “enable a richer, more democratic culture.”
3/ They explain that, in contrast to @internetarchive’s CDL, the publisher’s “putative licensing alternatives regularly come with policies that harm the larger mission of libraries to preserve information and make it available to citizens on a nondiscriminatory basis.”
Read 5 tweets
Jul 14, 2022
The publishers & lobbyists @AmericanPublish would have you believe their lawsuit is abt @internetarchive hurting poor authors.
But none other than @ChuckWendig writes "It’s not authors. It’s the publishers. They’re the ones doing this. Go be mad at them"
terribleminds.com/ramble/2022/07…
2/ More & more authors are speaking out against this lawsuit: @sgcarney NYT bestselling author of "What Doesn't Kill Us" writes:
3/ Bestselling author @neilhimself (Coraline, Stardust) has made himself clear writing "I've condemned the current legal case."
Read 9 tweets

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