“In response to the risk of materials falling into oblivion, humanity has built libraries and archives big and small, and developed rigorous preservation practices, so that the past need not be so easily lost. These institutions have not always collected fairly, nor have they always been accessible. Yet now more than ever, with the help of dedicated individuals and communities, these institutions seek to ethically collect and preserve culture broadly.”
“Corporate interests interfering with the library mission—that is, preserving and making culture accessible to the public—is far from new. Historically, legal protections for crucial library services such as interlibrary loan, electronic reserves for students, photocopying, and reformatting exceptions for patrons with print disabilities, were only secured after publishers attempted (and failed) to challenge these practices in court.”
Source: Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record (2026), Internet Archive
J.T.