The Internet Archive is a non-profit public digital library founded in 1996.  In addition to its archiving function, the Internet Archive is an activist organisation, advocating for a free and open Internet. Books published prior to 1927 are available for download, while modern books can be borrowed through their Open Library site. It also gives access to billions of web pages via the Wayback Machine. In a recent court case the Internet Archive were found liable for copyright infringement for their scanning and lending of books still in copyright as part of their National Emergency Library and they have been ordered to cease making unauthorised scans of commercially available books.

The University advises students to exercise caution in using the Internet Archive as a source for books that are still in copyright as the electronic copies may be infringing.  We recommended sourcing materials through the resources made available by the University library. Occasionally a reading list may link to content on Internet Archive where the work is out of copyright or where appropriate copyright checks have been made to assess the risk. We recommend that you use the material online only and do not download, print or transfer the work.