Need something new to read during the outbreak? An archive of over 1.4 million digital books is now available for free!
The non-profit Internet Archive just launched its National Emergency Library, and is suspending all waitlists during the outbreak.
"The library system, because of our national emergency, is coming to aid those that are forced to learn at home, " Brewster Kahle, the group's digital librarian, said in the announcement. "This was our dream for the original Internet coming to life: the Library at everyone's fingertips."
The library, which includes everything from Shakespeare to The Hobbit to The Da Vinci Code, was opened up so students could access assigned reading while public libraries are closed - but the rest of us are free to check it out as well!
“Users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized for the remainder of the US academic calendar, and that people who cannot physically access their local libraries because of closure or self-quarantine can continue to read and thrive during this time of crisis, keeping themselves and others safe,” the Internet Archives explained in a blog post.
Check out the National Emergency Library here.