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Internet Archive is now a federal depository library


The Internet Archive, thanks to its designation by California Sen. Alex Padilla, joins a network of over 1,100 libraries that make government documents accessible to the public.

Its Open Library was at the center of a yearslong legal battle after four major publishers sued the Internet Archive for temporarily lifting its waitlists in 2020 — instead of loaning its digital copies to one user at a time. A group of current and former university librarians wrote an op-ed in support of the Internet Archive, calling the organization “the most significant specialized library to emerge in decades” and a “modern-day cultural institution built intentionally in response to the technological revolution.” Kahle said that the designation doesn’t change the organization’s practices and clarified that government publications, such as environmental reports and congressional records, are not copyrighted, so they can be digitized, archived and distributed without issue.

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