Why are so many books listed as "Borrow Unavailable" at the Internet Archive?
Why are so many books listed as “Borrow Unavailable” at the Internet Archive – Internet Archive Help Center

	    
			
Summary




More than 500,000 books have been taken out of lending as a result of Hachette v. Internet Archive, the publishers’ lawsuit against our library, including more than 1,300 banned and challenged books.



We are appealing the decision that led to these takedowns in an effort to restore access to these books for all of our patrons.




Books that are shown as “Borrow Unavailable” mean they cannot be borrowed by our patrons, including books you may have previously read or consulted. 



In 2020, our library was sued by four of the world’s largest publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley—for lending books via the library practice known as controlled digital lending. That lawsuit, Hachette v. Internet Archive, is currently on appeal after the lower court (the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) heard the case and ruled in favor of the publishers. In this decision against our library, Judge Koeltl issued an injunction that limits what we can do with our digitized books—namely, we can no longer lend those books to our patrons. The injunction does not affect our accessibility program—the removed books are still available to patrons with print disabilities.



Additionally, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the trade organization behind the lawsuit, worked with some of its member publishers (listed below) that were not named in the lawsuit to demand that we remove their books from our library.



As a result, more than 500,000 books in our collection are not currently available for borrowing, including more than 1,300 banned and challenged books. We understand that this is a devastating loss for our patrons, and we are fighting back through the courts to restore access to these books. Fortunately, other countries and international library organizations are moving to support controlled digital lending. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we fight this long battle. For inquiries, please contact patron services at info@archive.org.



Plaintiff Publishers




Hachette Book Group



HarperCollins



Penguin Random House



Wiley




Other Publishers Coordinated by the Association of American Publishers (AAP)




American Chemical Society



American Reading Company



BiggerPockets Publishing



Bloomsbury



Bookpress Publishing



Cambridge University Press



Chronicle Books



De Gruyter



Elsevier



Fordham University Press



Getty Publications



Hansen Publishing Group



Harvard University Press



Holiday House-Peachtree-Pixel+Ink



Imbrifex Books



Lynne Rienner Publishers



Macmillan



MedMaster



Melville House Publishing



Moody Publishers



Pearson



Princeton University Press



Sage Publications



Scholastic



Simon & Schuster



Springer



Taylor & Francis



Teacher Created Materials



The American University in Cairo Press



University of California Press



University of Chicago Press



University of Massachusetts Press



University of Minnesota Press



University of Texas Press



University of Wisconsin Press



University Press of Colorado



Valancourt Books



W. W. Norton & Company



Wesleyan University Press



Wolters Kluwer



Yale University Press

			        
