Flashes Home Search Notifications Sign in Post

Library Futures

@libraryfutures.bsky.social

4343 Followers 149 Following

Research and advocacy for the future of libraries. A project of @NYUEngelberg.

Public Domain Slider
Is it Protected by Copyright?

For works published in the U.S.A. Set the scenario that matches your work’s first publication to see whether permission is needed and the copyright status or term.

woman in Library Futures tshirt standing next to a conference poster depicting scenes from Imagine IF: An Intellectual Freedom Adventure as well as buttons and keychains

two women at a conference booth with a colorful Library Futures banner and merch

Ebook Friday ALA 2026 Friday, June 26 McCormick Place W190 / Library Futures with Readers First, Urban Libraries Council, ALA Office for Public Policy & Advocacy, ALA eBook Interest Group, and practitioners from from around the country

RELX don't do it and I'm with Big Library tshirts, Know Your Rights, Track 10, and Controlled Chaos zines, cat with Library Futures tattoo flexing a muscle / Library Futures buttons, zines, shirts, and surprise swag / ALA 2026 Exhibits Booth 2345

Library catalog record for Wild That We're Alive by Lauren Haldeman

library holdings for Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, showing editions and holds for book (9 copies, 112 people waiting), eaudiobook (12 copies, 259 people waiting), ebook (14 copies, 249 people waiting), and kindle (14 copies, 249 people waiting)

Myth: H 7606 / S 2525 threatens authors and independent bookstores.
Fact: Libraries pay for books and digital licenses, and they help readers discover authors.
H 7606 / S 2525 would let libraries stretch limited public dollars across more titles, which
can especially benefit midlist, debut, local, scholarly, and backlist authors who lose out
when libraries are forced to spend disproportionate sums re-licensing a small number of
high-demand titles. The bill does not regulate bookstores or consumer sales.

Are state laws killing the future of American authors? | Opinion
James Patterson
Guest columnist
Updated June 5, 2026, 5:47 p.m. ET

State legislators are waging an attack on the rights of American authors and we urgently need your help.

In states like Rhode Island, New Jersey, Illinois, and New York, lawmakers are pushing legislation to regulate digital library lending that will strip writers of the very rights that protect their creative works and livelihoods.

Imagine IF the Game: An intellectual Freedom adventure / cat librarian being chased by angry horde of animals / Library Futures

Library Futures Presents The House Archives Built and Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possiblities / book cover with black and white photos / Dorothy Berry in conversation with Zakiya Collier / headshots of two Black women / Wednesday, June 3 1 pm ET 10 AM PT

We're looking for a few good mentors! Woman holding megaphone with flower shapes emerging from it / Library Futures

Imagine what would happen at the Minot Public Library if a book publisher pulled up to the building in a big van and ran inside while grabbing every book they had published. It might attract the eye of the police station right across the street. The stunning truth is that in a way this does happen very often, only with ebooks instead of books made of paper and ink.

Amazon Announces Plan to Brick Your Old Kindle

Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles
In an email to customers, Amazon announced that it would be ending service for Kindle devices older than the 2012 edi…
WIRED / Boone Ashworth
Wired is among the many outlets reporting that "Amazon will stop supporting any of its Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier" as of May 20. "That means these devices—even if they’re perfectly functional—won’t be able to connect to the Kindle Store to download new ebooks," the report notes, although you'll still be able to read the books you have already downloaded. "It's unclear whether services like Libby will work, which uses the Kindle Store to deliver downloads," the report added, noting that Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher speaks on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives. (IL House Staff)

Last week, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the Digital Library Protection Act to prevent local libraries from facing extra restrictions when licensing eBooks, digital audiobooks, and other electronic literary materials that drive up costs. As the former Board President of Sycamore Public Library, State Representative Jeff Keicher saw firsthand the limitations of these arbitrary restrictions.

“Simply put, most physical books are checked out 50 times before they are too worn and need to be replaced by the library,” said Keicher. “To help libraries save money and keep property taxes in check, House Bill 5236 ensures that our local libraries can achieve similar usage levels with electronic content.

“This is a win for our local libraries and taxpayers!”

Library Futures Vendors and Libraries Survey / people approaching a library from the mountains and a city

Library Futures AI Policies Working Group Survey. For public librarians. Open through April 13! / bust with fragments of text coming from its ear

Ink Knows No Borders with Kaveh Akbar

April 22, 2026, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Library

Teen, Adult

Celebrate Poetry Month with local and renowned author Kaveh Akbar. Akbar is a poet and author of Martyr!, one New York Times' top 10 books of 2024. He will discuss his process of writing poetry and the inspiration for his poem in the collection, Ink Knows No Borders, have a Q&A session, and book signing. His books can be pre-ordered through Sidekick Coffee & Books and picked up at the event. They will have limited quantities of the books for sale at the event and preordering ahead of time is ideal. Register.

eAudio for libraries (OverDrive)

In contrast to the eAudio prices at retail, the prices on library eAudio licenses increased with all five publishers, ranging from a YOY jump of 2.9% from Penguin Random House to a 36% increase from Hachette. The annualized average increase over the last four years is 6.8%, a marked difference from the annualized rate for retail eAudio of -3.6%.

How to Read a Contract (Part 2) with Library Futures Staff Attorney Layla Maurer April 7, 1 pm ET/10 am PT / mobsters holding a contract in front of a suspicious librarian

Imagine IF: The Game / Library Futures / an intellectual freedom adventure / horde of angry animals chasing librarian cat

woman in a graphic tshirt depicting a person with a bullhorn

SharkTank: E-Book Licensing Models, Moderated by Micah May, Lyrasis Ellen Paul, Connecticut Library Consortium
Michael Blackwell, St Mary's County Library, ReadersFirst
Amy Mikel, Brooklyn Public Library

IndieLib Forum program with list of sponsors and dedication to Fobazi Ettarh, author of "Vocational Awe and Librarianship"

News From Library Futures
March 26, 2026

Our partners and friends at Library Futures have released their annual report for 2025. Check it out for a review of their important publications and research, book talks, and webinars. Their advocacy for the freedom to read and better library digital content terms is as inspiring as their work on the proliferation of A.I. slop into into publishing is chilling. Congrats to the Library Futures team on a great year.

How to Read a Contract (Part 2) with Library Futures Staff Attorney Layla Maurer April 7, 1 pm ET/10 am PT / mobsters holding a contract in front of a suspicious librarian

March 20, 2026
Senators Coons, Cornyn, colleagues introduce Pro Codes Act to protect and improve [crossed out and replaced by restrict] access to safety standards

Library Futures Intern Showcase, Wednesday, February 25, 1 pm ET/10 am PT

5 February 2026
Dear Esteemed Members of the Committee,
I am the Executive Director of Library Futures, a project of NYU Law’s Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy. Overdrive CEO Steve Potash’s recent testimony regarding B26-0490: Library E-book Pricing Fairness Amendment Act of 2025 contained a number of factual inaccuraciesabout Library Futures, including: (1) our role in advocating for the bill, (2) our organization’s mission, and (3) the bill's relationship to the practice of Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). I would like to take
this opportunity to provide the Committee with more information about our organization, the work we do, and the importance of B26-0490.

Films Selected for the 2025 National Film Registry
(chronological order). The Oath of the Sword, The Maid of McMillan, and The Lady are crossed out.

The Tramp and the Dog (1896)
The Oath of the Sword (1914)
The Maid of McMillan (1916)
The Lady (1925)
Sparrows (1926)
Ten Nights in a Barroom (1926)
White Christmas (1954)
High Society (1956)
Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
Say Amen, Somebody (1982)
The Thing (1982)
The Big Chill (1983)
The Karate Kid (1984)
Glory (1989)
Philadelphia (1993)
Before Sunrise (1995)
Clueless (1995)
The Truman Show (1998)
Frida (2002)
The Hours (2002)
The Incredibles (2004)
The Wrecking Crew (2008)
Inception (2010)
The Loving Story (2011)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

We believe in empowering readers and respecting choice. We will disclose what AI can and cannot do, its limitations, and how human oversight is maintained. [highlighted]We believe in providing access, not restricting it.[end highlight] OverDrive makes a wide range of titles available through partnerships with publishers, but librarians curate their own collections based on the needs of their communities. Libraries make purchasing decisions, and we respect their expertise and autonomy. [highlighted]OverDrive does not exclude titles created with AI tools from the catalog. We ask that publishers self-identify content that was created with AI assistance.

Last call for hoopla: Buffalo & Erie County Public Library to discontinue popular streaming service / Jan 1, 2026

Louisville Free Public Library sets record for digital checkouts / WDRB Digital Staff Dec 29, 20205

Public Domain Film Remix Screening and Party January 21, 6-10 pm, Internet Archive, San Francisco / person with unlocked padlock head kicking back on a folding chair

The Case of the Disappearing Copyright Public Domain Day 2026 January 21st @10 am PT: virtual / person with a lock head exiting a chest with a copyright symbol

Woman at conference poster session with Library Futures swag

ST. LOUIS (First Alert 4) -- Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins announced Monday he was suspending payments to a company called Overdrive, which provides apps to access ebooks and audiobooks. He said he was withholding a $30,000 quarterly payment after allegations that minors were able to access inappropriate materials.

Newcast caption: children can't access inappropriate material, digital material through apps.

Three white women posing in a group. Two look at the camera, the third has one hand on her hip and leans her chin on the other.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA / ANDREA BARTZ, CHARLES GRAEBER, and KIRK WALLACE JOHNSON, Plaintiffs, V. ANTHROPIC PBC, Defendant. No. C 24-05417 WHA ORDER ON FAIR USE

three women posing like Charlie's Angels against a wall of graffiti

Love city gardens with a beer can painting outside a garden

Legal

Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions

Contact

Follow

Bluesky Instagram Threads

Flashes for Bluesky Get it on the App Store