"If libraries were invented today, Publishers would make sure they were illegal"
the Internet Archive's appeals-court loss to Big Publishing is a disaster for everyone but the cartel of companies and a tiny number of A list authors.
The publishers will tolerate libraries only as long as they can control everything about how books can be loaned.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/4/24235958/internet-archive-loses-appeal-ebook-lending
I'm torn. Physical libraries can only lend as many copies of a book as they have purchased. This is an injunction for lending unlimited digital copies of a work.
Their prior lending scheme limited loans to the number of physical copies that the Internet Archive had in its possession. It appears it was the unlimited lending that got the publishers riled up.
I agree that scanning a book and making it available only for as many copies as they physically possess should be legal.