Book Providers Megathread (Official Management)

Open Library is the specific section of the Internet Archive that lends out books (as opposed to archive.org which has everything and is kind of a mess to find what you’re looking for), so I’ll do a summary for that one:

Open Library is a project by the Internet Archive which lends out digital copies of the books in their catalogue, with books in dozens of languages available for free to anyone with an archive.org account. Materials are either lent in renewable 1-hour windows or have waitlists for longer 14-day borrows. All materials can be read in a browser using the site’s own reader, and some may also have DRM-controlled ebook downloads available. Scans are generally good quality, though text is not selectable in the online reader. Book titles are commonly romanized, unfortunately, which may make it difficult to search for books in non-Latin scripts.

Another library with Japanese ebooks is the Japan Foundation Digital Library, which offers free digital library cards to residents of Canada and the United States (you just have to fill an application using a Canadian/US address and wait to be approved). I’m not sure this one will work as a provider, though, because it doesn’t seem possible to link to individual book pages on Libby /:

3 Likes