Is It Safe To Download Books From Libgen
Cristy Borovetz
I did download some articles from libgen and by then I didn't know it wasn't right to do so, well some people say that there's no problem but honestly I think it is and I'm scared for what this articles where used for without me knowing about it.
I downloaded articles. I started writing my protocol thesis with advisor/professor supervision, based on parts of these articles. Advisor then asked me to do a summary of some of them, I did it and then sent it to his mail. We then stopped working due to him "I'm very busy, lot of work at uni, COVID-19" (I then realize he was lying, he was indeed working on my topic preparing to show it as his own work) and I said "don't worry, I understand". For some time I kept studying on my own until I felt lost with no direction and it was during this time also that I knew that the articles and content from libgen is, in general, illegal to use. I didn't scare, I just thought that I had nothing on my protocol since it's based on libgen content. I just thought on commenting this to advisor next time I saw him (personally, didn't want to say this through mail) and ask permission or purchase if needed, the articles that I was going to use. About 3 months later (end of august) since the last message of advisor, he said "Sorry for speaking until now, I've been working on the topic, I've structured how your thesis would be, are you still interested on working?" I said "I understand, don't worry. How the structure of my thesis is (perhaps here was the time to say: stop working on it there's something I need to tell you, but I didn't, I didn't think things would go further whiout telling me previously)? Yes, although right now I'm taking a summer course" (course that started at beginning of august). A month passed and I never got a reply. A few days ago, I realized that advisor is going to give a talk (within days) about my thesis topic.
He plans to give a talk about topic "x applied on AB, BC, CD" and on his summary, he mentioned parts contained on my protocol that I proposed, i.e. my original ideas, and also he plans to use Y aswell, not sure if the same Y as mine, wouldn't surprise me if it's the same Y.
Why did he steal my work? Because it is new, this kind of works have been done in other parts of the world but not on ours. But there's a major problem that really worries me, as I said this -work on my protocol (which was never completed nor registered)- it's based of articles that I downloaded from libgen, fortunatelly only 5 of them are in the case of "need to purchase, free to reuse on thesis/dissertation but need to comply some terms", the rest of them, afaiu, are free to use, they are on ResearchGate and you can download them.
Notice that I am not the one publishing anything, I'm not giving a talk, I would never use work taken without permisson or withouth purchasing when authors are requiring this actions for their works. The thing that I did was to take part of some from these restricted articles for my protocol and a summary, and sent to advisor. And it's highly likely that these content is going to be used to give a talk and to publish a paper. Am I in trouble? Am I in legal troubles?
I really don't think you should worry about the fact that you downloaded articles from libgen or similar websites. Nobody is going to come arrest you because of that... I doubt anyone will know the articles were illegally downloaded and I highly doubt anyone will be enforcing copyright laws to the point where you will see any consequences. If you think it's wrong, then just don't do it in the future, but I am pretty sure that most academics get "illegal" articles from the internet or their peers every once in a while, cite them in their work, and don't think twice about it and most people will not even judge you for it.
To add to the potential consequences: The worst thing that will happen to you is your internet company might send you an email threatening to fine you or something. If you stop the illegal downloads, (or get a VPN/other ways of making your traffic anonymous), they will not pursue the issue any further. At least that has been my experience with pirating things in the past.
The first point is fairly simple. It may be illegal to download articles from libgen and the likes (depending on the jurisdiction). But using this content in other scientific papers and projects is perfectly fine as long as it is properly referenced.
As for the second point, you may want to talk with your supervisor as to how he thinks to share credit for the work. If you have indeed contributed to the research or project your contribution should be acknowledged. If a paper gets published with significant input from you but without you being mentioned could be a violation of ethics codes.
Besides everything that has already been said, the biggest problem is stealing someone's finished work without referring to the original author. However, you did not do this. The moral deviant here isn't you - and no legal consequences are going to will to you.
The open-access or on libgen books are more downloaded and cited than others behind the paywalls. A lot of studies are finding this (e.g. see -access-books-are-downloaded-cited-and-mentioned-more-than-non-oa-books). And considering that the scientists will do their jobs aiming large range of readers as well they are already paid for the development of their studies by private or public institutions, seems like ok if you read books from libgen and do the reference. Imagine that you could borrow the book from one friend or the library school.
Besides that, assuming you are not making any harm to nobody as well as helping to amplify the reach of those studies, in fact, you are helping people to access knowledge. (And knowledge must be free for all!!)
Nevertheless, if you not confident yet and have the conditions to reimburse, so you could just send the money directly to the author. Because, in the end, she/he receives a little part of the price!!! If you take into account that the big publishers are who retaining the money and not the authors, using libgen and sci-hub is a big favor for the authors.
It is especially true outside of renamed US and EU universities, where we don't have money to access knowledge and don't have a choice. Is very common to ask for the authors for their work if isn't present on the web for free.
Library Genesis (LibGen) is a renowned website used to share files that comprise of academic books, comics, scholarly journal articles, and magazines. The LibGen comprises of all the articles collected from public resources and uploaded them for the users. It has all the content in English and allows the users to get free access for all the stuff. This guide will help you easily download all the free eBook PDFs in an easy way.
Owing to the accusations by famous publishers, this powerful website has five mirror sites. They have to keep changing their web address to retain their services operational. You can use any of the sites to download your required content. As Library Genesis provides access to almost all links you search for, you can download links from their mirror sites.
You need to pay attention to three crucial aspects: extension, size, and language. LibGen imparts multiple attachments for each e-book. To make the document universally available, it comes in many compatible formats to aid the readers. Even if you plan to break the PDF, you will have to use a different PDF separator available online to get that.
The best part about this website is that all the content is available in multiple languages other than English. Thus, all the users can easily opt for any language they are searching for on the platform.
Open the link, search your desired book and select the mirrors given under the column Mirrors, and now a detail page will open like shown in the image above. Now select the link to download the file given at the top of the page, and immediately the PDF book will be downloaded.
Z-Library (abbreviated as z-lib, formerly BookFinder) is a shadow library project for file-sharing access to scholarly journal articles, academic texts and general-interest books. It began as a mirror of Library Genesis, but has expanded dramatically.[6][7]
According to the website's own data released in February 2023, its collection comprised over 13.35 million books and over 84.8 million articles.[8][9] Z-Library is particularly popular in emerging economies and among academics.[10] In June 2020, Z-Library was visited by around 2.84 million users, of whom 14.76% were from the United States of America.[11] According to the Alexa Traffic Rank service, Z-Library was ranked as the 8,182nd most active website in October 2021.[12]
The organization describes itself as "the world's largest e-book library", as well as "the world's largest scientific articles store", and operates as a non-profit organization sustained by donations.[13][14] Besides sharing ebooks, Z-Library plans to expand their offerings to include physical paperback books, at dedicated "Z-Points" around the globe, as well.[15]
Z-Library and its activities are illegal in many jurisdictions. While website seizures reduced the accessibility of the content,[16] it remains available on the dark web.[17] The legal status of the project, as well as its potential impact on the publishing industry and authors' rights, is a matter of ongoing debate.[6][7]
The site is financed by user donations, that are collected twice a year (September and March) through fundraising.[18] Over the years, various URLs and IP addresses have been used for Z-Library as domain names have been confiscated by various legal authorities.[10]
Not much is known about Z-Library in terms of its operation, management, and commercial status. Notably, Z-Library does not open its full database to the public. Despite that, its database, excluding books from libgen, was mirrored by archivists in 2022.[6][19][20]
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