4 ms·

Z-Library Was a Lifeline for Students on Shoestring Budgets

usednet 4y ago
If the Department of Justice was economically rational it would be the obvious choice to further the intellectual development of the American youth through allowing free access to books and articles. The US just continues to hurt itself.
1letterunixname 4y ago
Textbooks are insanely expensive because corporations got involved. Lecturers should use free or independently published resources to prevent the extortion of student "consumers".
- metadat 4y ago
  Lots of times teachers are the author of the book, getting kickbacks and / or perks from the publishers, or are simply too lazy to care how atrocious the status quo is.
  - anfilt 4y ago
    I had one class were that was the case, but he also gave all of us a link to the PDF the book. I have heard of though what your describing being a thing.
  - 1letterunixname 4y ago
    Yep. It happened one time at uni that a physics lecturer used his buddy's book series. Monetizing students. I'm sure he got a cut.
    - metadat 4y ago
      Yeah, and an even sadder fact is usually only ~ $2-4 dollars goes to the professor / author on a book that costs $100-300 dollars for a student to purchase. A lot of times the person spent so much time and energy writing their book, this is a major motivator to mandate / force it's usage whenever possible. One time my art teacher made us buy his book, but it was only $30 and was pretty good actually, and I still have it on my shelf today. However, such cases are the exception.
EliasWatson 4y ago
Wasn't Z-Library just a more user-friendly interface for Library Genesis?
- examplary_cable 4y ago
  I believe Z-Library also allowed people(and incentivized) them to add books ... which would not get mirroed back to genesis. So not only was the UI nicer, it also had books that were not available in genesis.
  - hxugufjfjf 4y ago
    I can confirm that there are a ton of books on Zlib not on Libgen.
forgotmypw17 4y ago
I'm in a couple of classes with extensive reading. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the rest of this semester without zlib.
- Normille 4y ago
  >I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the rest of this semester without zlib. Telegram and Tor are your friends: https://t.me/firstlibrarybot https://t.me/firstlibrarybot http://bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6q http://bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6q... (books) http://articles24t2d47kb6rbabobokvrnymh2smkleosntcu6qxou6sxe http://articles24t2d47kb6rbabobokvrnymh2smkleosntcu6qxou6sxe... (articles)
rg111 4y ago
> Though Z-library has been seized officially, it seems to still be available on Tor, a browser that enables anonymous web surfing. These should not be available in public platforms, at all. Existence of helpful but illegal stuff should only be shared over one-to-one chat, small group chats, and in-person. Widespread coverage of Z Library is what it banned in the first place. Everyone knows Libgen now, but 6/7 years ago- not so much. We shared the news with classmates, friends, and peers whom we trusted and asked them to share it only with people that they trust. This is how seriously we took Libgen's (albeit open) secrecy. Now dumb people ruined LibGen by broadcasting on TikTok.

If the Department of Justice was economically rational it would be the obvious choice to further the intellectual development of the American youth through allowing free access to books and articles. The US just continues to hurt itself.

1letterunixname 4y ago

Textbooks are insanely expensive because corporations got involved. Lecturers should use free or independently published resources to prevent the extortion of student "consumers".

metadat 4y ago
Lots of times teachers are the author of the book, getting kickbacks and / or perks from the publishers, or are simply too lazy to care how atrocious the status quo is.
- anfilt 4y ago
  I had one class were that was the case, but he also gave all of us a link to the PDF the book. I have heard of though what your describing being a thing.
- 1letterunixname 4y ago
  Yep. It happened one time at uni that a physics lecturer used his buddy's book series. Monetizing students. I'm sure he got a cut.
  - metadat 4y ago
    Yeah, and an even sadder fact is usually only ~ $2-4 dollars goes to the professor / author on a book that costs $100-300 dollars for a student to purchase. A lot of times the person spent so much time and energy writing their book, this is a major motivator to mandate / force it's usage whenever possible. One time my art teacher made us buy his book, but it was only $30 and was pretty good actually, and I still have it on my shelf today. However, such cases are the exception.

EliasWatson 4y ago

Wasn't Z-Library just a more user-friendly interface for Library Genesis?

examplary_cable 4y ago
I believe Z-Library also allowed people(and incentivized) them to add books ... which would not get mirroed back to genesis. So not only was the UI nicer, it also had books that were not available in genesis.
- hxugufjfjf 4y ago
  I can confirm that there are a ton of books on Zlib not on Libgen.

forgotmypw17 4y ago

I'm in a couple of classes with extensive reading. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the rest of this semester without zlib.

Normille 4y ago
>I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the rest of this semester without zlib. Telegram and Tor are your friends: https://t.me/firstlibrarybot https://t.me/firstlibrarybot http://bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6q http://bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6q... (books) http://articles24t2d47kb6rbabobokvrnymh2smkleosntcu6qxou6sxe http://articles24t2d47kb6rbabobokvrnymh2smkleosntcu6qxou6sxe... (articles)

rg111 4y ago

> Though Z-library has been seized officially, it seems to still be available on Tor, a browser that enables anonymous web surfing. These should not be available in public platforms, at all. Existence of helpful but illegal stuff should only be shared over one-to-one chat, small group chats, and in-person. Widespread coverage of Z Library is what it banned in the first place. Everyone knows Libgen now, but 6/7 years ago- not so much. We shared the news with classmates, friends, and peers whom we trusted and asked them to share it only with people that they trust. This is how seriously we took Libgen's (albeit open) secrecy. Now dumb people ruined LibGen by broadcasting on TikTok.