Conversations: The Open Libraries Project – Interview with Chris Freeland

Abstract

In this installment of "Conversations," Chris Freeland, director for the Open Libraries project with the Internet Archive, discusses his work with the Open Libraries project and the National Emergency Library.

Negotiating digital public spaces: context, purpose and audiences

“…Many libraries have expanded access to ebook titles, digital license numbers, or undertaken partnerships in endeavors such as the Internet Archive's pandemic project to lend digital versions of textbooks to at-home students (Freeland, 2020;Jaeger and Blaabaek, 2020;Vieira, 2020;Wang and Lund, 2020). The clamor for libraries to reopen in-person services highlights the importance of their physical presence.…”

“…These functions have been thrown into relief by closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: in the USA, libraries have faced pressure to reopen while librarians and library staff have not typically been prioritized for vaccination schemes. Many libraries have expanded access to ebook titles, digital license numbers or undertaken partnerships in endeavors such as the IA's pandemic project to lend digital versions of textbooks to at-home students (Freeland, 2020; Jæger and Blaabæk, 2020; Vieira, 2020; Wang and Lund, 2020). The clamor for libraries to reopen in-person services highlights the importance of their physical presence.…”

Controlled Digital Lending

“…If the book is in copyright, then the files are delivered to users through controlled digital lending, meaning that a user has to check out the book to view it for 14 days, and the files are protected by digital rights management (DRM) and cannot be redistributed. (Vieira, 2020, p. 225)According to statistics provided by the site (Internet Archive, n.d.), approximately 12 million unique users have accessed resources from the library since 2002. Usage unsurprisingly spiked in 2020 when libraries closed to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID‐19.…”

“…If the book is in copyright, then the files are delivered to users through controlled digital lending, meaning that a user has to check out the book to view it for 14 days, and the files are protected by digital rights management (DRM) and cannot be redistributed. (Vieira, 2020, p. 225)…”

“…After that, the waitlists will be reimplemented thus limiting the number of borrowable copies to those physical books owned and not being lent”. The aim of the temporary National Emergency Library was to make available approximately 650 million books that were inaccessible in libraries due to lockdowns (Vieira, 2020), many of which are characterized as being unavailable in formats other than print (Freeland, 2020).…”