Z-Library Opens ‘Z-Points’ Around the World to Share Paper Books

Sharing Paper Books

[...] a few months ago the site planned to [start] helping users to share physical copies with each other.

Books you have read should not gather dust on your shelf – instead, they can get a second life in the hands of new readers! This helps to preserve the literary heritage and spread the knowledge and ideas contained in books to more people

This is an interesting move from the site. Sharing a paper book with someone is something entirely different than offering pirated book copies online, from a legal perspective at least. But for Z-Library it all ultimately boils down to sharing stories and encouraging reading.

Z-Points in 11 Countries

A few days ago, Z-Library’s first physical libraries, known as “Z-Points”, went live. These initial locations are limited to 11 countries, including the U.S., China, and South Sudan, covering all inhabited continents.

This is just the initial phase of the project and more locations and Z-Points are expected to be added in the future.

This project has grown beyond our initial concept of a simple book exchange and has evolved into a global library of paper books. Our ultimate goal is to connect readers worldwide and make literature accessible to everyone, regardless of location or financial constraints

During the first phase, Z-Library focuses on building its paper book collection. If people have books they no longer use, they can send them to the Z-Points for further processing. That includes making digital copies, if legally possible.

There, we carefully store books, digitize them (if the laws of a particular country allow), and then send them to users and educational institutions in need

Next: Direct Sharing

Later on, Z-Library also plans to add an interface where users can list their available paper books, to facilitate direct sharing between users, without the need to go through a Z-Point.