28 August,2022 08:22 AM IST | Mumbai | Raichel Martin
Dhruv Bhutani, a Delhi-based tech journalist, says he would constantly refer to these sites while studying engineering, and it didn’t make financial sense to buy multiple books or subscribe to sundry journals. Pic/Nishad Alam
Z-Library has been a saviour to Zoya Hussain for the last few years. Hussain is pursuing a Masters degree in Convergent Journalism at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, and used the shadow library for personal and academic books. "I am also a working journalist," says the 23-year-old, "often referring to research papers for my news reports." She covers socio-political issues, and her current role is to write explainers for a website.
Hussain is just one of many students who have been using shadow libraries to download books, articles, and research papers. This content may be hard to find elsewhere for a number of reasons: Paywalls, copyright controls, or other barriers placed by original owners.
âOnline databases of content that is normally obscured or not readily accessible' is Wikipedia's description of such a library; with 10.8 million e-books and around 89 million articles, Z-Library could be one of the world's largest. The other popular ones are Library Genesis (LibGen) and Sci-Hub.
Last week, Z-Library's four URLs were blocked in India after corporate law book publisher Taxmann took action when 10 of its titles were found on it, without authorisation.
The hardest blow has been dealt to the student community. Hussain states that teachers often recommend books which aren't pocket-friendly. Stating an example, she says, "A teacher suggested a journalism book that costs around R3,000." This is why they flock to such sites. "As a student, I can't afford such expensive books, so I download them from Z-Library." However, she mentions the book was not mandatory, but recommended for reference by professors.
Buying multiple books was also a problem for Taiba Mohammed, who is pursuing a Masters in Journalism and Communication in Mumbai. "Per semester, every subject has four to five books," says the 22-year-old, adding there are at least five subjects per semester. Within the books, professors recommend only a few sections or chapters for reference. "It doesn't make sense to pay for so many books only to go through fragments, that too, just once," says Mohammed.
Even academicians empathise. "Banning these platforms may disadvantage students who need access to high quality research, but cannot afford these journals and books," says a 30-year-old professor from a private university in Bengaluru. She worries that this may result in shoddy and inaccurate output, or worse. plagiarism among the students, because they can't access multiple sources for reference.
Amal Ghosh, who is studying Modern Indian Studies from the University of Göttingen in Germany, says his professors openly recommend shadow libraries. "They understand that it is not possible to keep paying for multiple research papers," says the 23-year-old.
Most colleges and universities in India subscribe to the relevant journals, which students can access. "My college has only subscribed to a few specific ones, so we resort to such sites," shrugs Hussain. She needed access to Sage Journal's website, which hosts all the material published by the leading independent academic publisher, but her college did not subscribe to it.
Besides the value of the content, its format also made Z-Library popular among students. "The research papers came in different formats which I could read on my Kindle, mobile phone, or any other device," says Hussain. Variety in format is crucial for those with visual disabilities, points out Kaish Mohammed Shaikh, who teaches at Aryabhatta College in New Delhi. The PDF format of research papers or books incorporates the Text-to-Speech feature, says the 30-year-old.
Manju Naika, Chief Library Officer at the central library at IIT-Bombay, points out that creation of research papers and academic books costs time and money. "Making copyrighted material available for free may benefit students, but hurts the ecosystem that creates such resources," he says, adding IIT-B subscribes to "all major journals, databases, and other electronic resources. It also has a good budget for purchasing books and/or electronic books as needed." Students can access more than 20,000 journals. "IIT Bombay doesn't encourage students to source academic material illegally, and always encourages them to use authentic resources and under fair use," says Professor Sudarshan S, Deputy Director (Academic and Infrastructural Affairs).
However, a student confessed that he did rely on shadow libraries, and that some professors suggested them. A fair pricing mechanism could be the solution, believes Sudarshan, adding that "most books are also published regionally as low-cost paperback editions."
Delhi-based tech journalist Dhruv Bhutani opines that banning such sites will do more harm than good. "Piracy is illegal," says the 31-year-old, "but the paths to access academic work are incredibly user-hostile. Such works should cater knowledge, but at the moment, they only cater profits. It's unfortunate that the power lies with corporations, in this case the publishing industry, which decides on how much academic works cost."
Aroon Deep, the Chennai-based journalist who broke the story about Z-Library being blocked, says it isn't the first shadow library to be banned in India. There have been lawsuits against LibGen and Sci-Hub too.
A concrete solution Deep proposes is the One Nation, One Subscription model. "The government should pay for access to research, articles, journals, and other academic material from around the world, and citizens pay a reasonable, recurring price to subscribe to them," he suggests, admitting that this is too much to expect from the Indian government. Another alternative would be changing VPNs to access these sites, to which Bhutani comments, "People have managed, and will always manage to search for alternative access to what they needâ¦"
