On Nov. 3, the FBI officially shut down Z-library, a website that offered over 11 million books and 84 million articles for free. What led to the arrest of the creators and site runners Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova is unconfirmed, but social media speculation has placed the blame on TikTok creators who offered tutorials which highlighted the site’s existence. 

While it was still operational, Z-library was the world’s largest digital library and pirated books from every genre. This made it an essential tool for students who wanted or needed to avoid massive textbook costs. By many of us students, the shut down of Z-library is being referred to as the “Burning of the Modern Library of Alexandria.” As a former user of Z-library myself, I understand the frustration over the loss of this free and convenient resource. My true frustration, however, lies with the reasons Z-library needed to exist in the first place. Between astronomical textbook costs and inaccessible academia, Z-library and other websites like it, have acted as the band-aid on a bullet hole. 

On average, textbooks can cost students thousands of dollars a year in addition to already rising tuition costs. The cost of textbooks has increased long past the rate of inflation; in the United States, the average college student will spend $1,200 a year on textbooks. This means since the late 70s, textbook prices have on average increased around 1,000% . This figure is incredibly concerning when coupled with the troubling trend of increasing costs to higher education overall. 

So, why have textbook prices been able to increase so dramatically? Currently, five companies control around 80%  of the textbook publishing market. Textbooks can also be thought of as essential goods: regardless of the cost, students are required to buy them if they wish to succeed in a class. Furthermore, most classes also require students to use a specific textbook, a specific edition from a specific publisher, so professors can create assignments around the textbook itself. Because textbooks are an essential good and the market lacks competition, publishers are able to dramatically increase the prices of textbooks. 

In response to claims that their materials were inaccessible, many textbook companies have begun offering digital copies of their textbooks in order to make these resources more financially accessible; this method is problematic in its own right. When purchasing textbooks online students are given the option of renting the PDF for a 6-12 month period or purchasing the PDF for themselves. In either scenario, students are unable to resell their books at the end of the semester, leaving them unable to earn any money back nor give future students the opportunity to purchase textbooks at a discounted price. 

Additionally most textbook companies have also started adding digital modules to their textbooks. These digital modules require students to purchase access codes in addition to their textbooks. While these digital modules provide additional resources to professors, making it easier to assign and grade homeworks, it places additional financial burden on students and disincentivizes students from purchasing textbooks from smaller retailers, maintaining the oligopoly of publishing companies. 

Wellesley College currently advises students to set aside around $800 a year for textbooks, a typical value among most universities. Additionally, the College offers many resources to students through LTS, such as Interlibrary Loans: a wide array of digital databases, and a comprehensive catalog system for the over 1.3 million books, periodicals and other sources in their collection. While many Wellesley students still struggle with high textbook costs, the college has done its part to make textbooks more accessible for all students. 

Z-library offered millions of students accessible materials and alleviated a financial burden; however, it was never going to be a permanent solution to the problem. Despite the benefits given to students from this platform, there were also significant downsides because of its reliance on piracy. Pirating can often feel like a victimless crime, and when it comes to pirating textbooks, the main victim is publishing companies’ bottom line. However, Z-Library and sites like it didn’t just offer pirated textbooks from major publishing companies. Online pirating sites also steal from new and independent authors. These authors rely on individual book sales significantly more than larger publishing houses. So, for all the good Z-library was able to achieve, it was far from perfect. 

As more and more students attempt to further their education, it is the responsibility of educational institutions and companies to offer more accessible course materials to students. At some universities, this could mean providing greater resources to adjunct professors. Many adjunct professors often receive little notice of their class schedule, so they do not have the time to work with librarians to build new curriculum based on resources available on campus. The government can help limit inflated textbook prices. This could mean preventing company mergers, as they did with the Cengage and McGraw-Hill Education merger, which failed in May 2020 after intervention from the Department of Justice. When it comes to textbooks someone needs to pay, and it shouldn’t be the students.  Students should not have to pirate the educational materials that are mandatory for their success.