The library is closed

On November 4, 2022, the United States FBI seized the popular file-sharing site Z-lib, which is self-described as the “world’s largest ebook library.” More than two months after the fact, both faculty and students at U of T continue to express mixed reactions to the takedown. While some argue the library goes far to protect the livelihood of academic writers and publishing houses, others argue that it has proven detrimental to disenfranchised students.

The site’s seizure was carried out on the morning of November 4 last year, with two Russian citizens living in Argentina, Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova, having been identified by the FBI as the site’s operators. The pair were discovered when data provided to the FBI by Amazon and Google showed that their emails and phone numbers were connected to those used to manage the site and allegedly receive donations in the form of Amazon gift cards. It seems, from the data released in a report prepared by FBI special agent Brett Dohnal, that neither Napolsky nor Ermakova made any attempt to distance themselves from Z-lib at any point.

Z-lib, which first came online in 2009 as a mirror site of another shadow library, Libgen, had been subject to DMCA takedown notices earlier in 2021, with the “z-lib.org” domain seized in 2015 and other measures against it in 2021. Hosting an estimated 11 million books and 84 million articles, it was the largest of its kind. As of December 2022, the site was still accessible via a number of clearnet addresses not seized by the FBI and through a .tor domain. Several copycat sites have emerged since Z-lib’s closure.

Due to the illegal nature of the content it hosted—which consisted, in part, of academic texts pirated from digital copies in university libraries, or otherwise digitised and uploaded content—the site attracted the ire of the world of academic publishing. A number of faculty members, who declined requests for interviews with The Strand, noted their distaste for the website as well as others of its kind due to the potential for online piracy to disrupt the academic publishing market and therefore affect the livelihoods of many working within this field. Some have pointed out that websites like Z-lib are largely redundant for UofT students owing to the size and accessibility of University of Toronto Libraries (UTL).

“We acquire a vast amount of material electronically, almost all journals now are available electronically,” noted UTL’s Chief Librarian, Larry Alford. UofT’s network of libraries hosts one of the largest collections in the world, a large portion of which is undergoing digitization or comprises digital media. “[There] is something like 26,000 electronic journals, all of which 20 years ago were in print, and something like three and a half to four million electronic books.” Alford also noted that UTL digitises 150,000–500,000 out-of-copyright books as well as a significant number of copyright texts that it receives permission to scan. 

But many students still saw Z-lib as an important source of literature, both academic and otherwise. It has been pointed out that the site’s main appeal for some was its collection of non-academic titles.

Others have noted that, for students looking for expensive texts not available through the library, or for those studying in institutions without access to extensive library catalogues like those of UofT, Z-lib provided a much-needed lifeline. While University of Toronto Libraries contain an enormous wealth of scholarly resources, a comparable body is lacking in other countries. Compounding that is the fact that some texts available digitally on Z-lib were only held in print form by the library system, and therefore Z-lib provided a more accessible alternative to some.