Z library alternatives are out there, if you know where to look.
Last month, Z library returned after a long game of legal cat and mouse. The shadow library battled domain seizures and, in a bid to make the site as accessible as possible, is now launching a dedicated desktop application.
However, lost domain names sent traffic elsewhere. Inevitably, other sites offering free access to books cropped up – though without the same track-record as Z library. Let’s take a look at some of the alternatives out there.
PDF Drive technically doesn’t ‘create’ the content it provides – it’s more like a search engine or proxy, with resources from across the web site stored on its servers. As such, it’s legal to use.
The PDF Drie catalogue isn’t as extensive Z library’s, although textbooks and essays are available, making PDF Drive a useful alternative for students. There are two membership tiers, meaning that the best experience is only offered to those willing to pay. Accessing the site for free means popup ads and limited cloud storage.
Library Genesis
Library Genesis is a platform with more than two million books on offer, including rare and out of print titles. Downloads from the site are very unlikely to contain malware, and it’s also more secure than most torrenting sites.
LibGen is totally free, but might be too similar to Z library for its own good: in 2015 it was involved in a legal case, and the web site and its proxies are banned the US, UK and Germany. That hasn’t stopped it yet, but as we’ve seen with Z library, there are only so many loopholes, and the resource might not always be there.
refseek
For academics, refseek offers more than a billion sources of academic papers for researchers to use. You’re not going to discover a new John le Carré novel, but the platform searches more than one billion documents, including web site pages, books, encyclopaedias, journals, and newspapers for study.
This is a good alternative for students who might not want to risk reliance on Z library as, like PDF Drive, refseek functions as a search tool, rather than providing content itself. Some reviews say that it omits some sources, so it’s not exhaustive, but it’s a good start.
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalogue that itemizes the content of over 20,000 world libraries. It’s operated by OCLC and contains over 540 million bibliographic records in 483 languages. Everything is above board here, and rather than providing online versions, WorldCat directs you to an IRL library where you can borrow the resource.
The site certainly simplifies searching local libraries. However, for people in remote areas – who rely on Z library because of a lack of (well-stocked) libraries nearby – it won’t fill the shadow library’s boots.