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Hey John — if you’re a fan of public libraries, you’ve gotta sign this.
Straight up, mega-publishers and their lobbyists are being mean old Grinches. They’ve spent the whole year lobbying and suing behind the scenes to lock libraries out of owning digital books. Their actions threaten the quality, diversity, and accessibility of library shelves. For the holidays, we’re giving publishing’s biggest lobby a chance to reverse course. Want to add your name?
Sign our wishlist: Tell the US’s biggest publishing lobby to stop Grinching libraries.
Take Action
When we released our huge Authors for Libraries letter1 back in October, we caused mega-publishers (as Techdirt so cleanly put it) to lose their sh**.2 They really, really hate that authors and readers are taking a stand against their anti-diversity practices and vile lawsuits—like the suit against the Internet Archive that would strike many digital books from library shelves3 and enable mass reader surveillance.4
At Fight, we believe that libraries are a necessary public good. And we believe that all authors—not just the superstars—deserve to be on their shelves. But right now, corporate fat cats are acting like they can hold our books hostage.
In the spirit of the holidays, we think there’s still time for them to grow a heart. Check out our three demands, add your name, and share with all the book-lovers in your life. The bigger this goes, the more pressure the publishing lobby will face to do the right thing for readers, libraries, and diverse authors, too.
Thanks for working with us on this once-in-a-generation campaign to defend the future of libraries. We can do it!
Lia at ❤️Fight
Footnotes
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Authors for Libraries letter: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/authors-for-libraries
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Techdirt: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/03/publishers-lose-their-shit-after-authors-push-back-on-their-attack-on-libraries/
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Bloomberg Law: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/coronavirus/internet-archive-pandemic-library-provokes-broader-lending-fight
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Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/90773185/a-major-publishing-lawsuit-would-cement-surveillance-into-the-future-of-libraries
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