San Francisco, CALIFORNIA — “Overnight, millions of people all over the world lost access to millions of physical books when libraries and schools closed to stop the spread of COVID-19. The nonprofit Internet Archive (IA) is now being sued by four big publishers for actions IA took to help communities during the pandemic and establish a National Emergency Library (NEL). The NEL is now closed, but the publisher’s lawsuit still seeks hundreds of millions in damages and the destruction of IA’s online collection of legally digitized books. This aggressive move from publishers imperils the ability of libraries to digitize and lend their collections, chilling the ability of libraries to meet needs of schools, teachers, and students preparing for a digital fall semester. At a digital press conference Wednesday, July 22 at 11:30 AM PT, experts will discuss the upcoming response to the publisher’s lawsuit and the implications for a longstanding and widespread library practice of lending digital collections to students, teachers and researchers.

• WHAT: Experts discuss publisher’s lawsuit against Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library and the future of controlled digital lending
• WHEN: Wednesday, July 22, 2020; 11:30 AM PT – 12:30 PM PT
• WHERE: Digital conference via Zoom (please RSVP via this link)
• WHO: Brewster Kahle, Founder and Digital Librarian, Internet Archive; Chris Freeland, Director of Open Libraries, Internet Archive; Kyle Courtney, Lawyer and Librarian, Harvard University; Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information, University of California, Berkeley; John Bergmayer, Legal Director, Public Knowledge.”