shadow library

English

Noun

shadow library (plural shadow libraries)

  1. (Internet, publishing) An unlawful online book distributor that hosts free copies as PDFs, EPUBs, and the like for download.
    Synonyms: pirate library, black open access (science publishing)
    • 2025 September 5, Cade Metz, “Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 February 2026:
      Judge Alsup ruled that this approach was fair use under the law. But he also found the company’s previous approach — downloading and storing books from shadow libraries like Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror — was illegal.
    • [2026 July 25, Felix Bazalgette, “Word war Z”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18:
      To their supporters and their users, organisations such as Z-Library are known not a book piracy websites but as “shadow libraries”, and [Balázs] Bodó has written extensively on their history.]

Further reading

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