Rare booksellers in Australia are voicing concerns as bulk, seemingly random orders from a Canadian company called Zoom Books continue to arrive at their stores. Owners of secondhand shops report that while these transactions are paid in full, the sheer volume and the mix of niche titles raise questions about where the inventory is heading. Sellers like Delfina Manor and John Sainsbury noted that these orders lack the typical profile of a collector or individual reader.
The concern among the trade stems from reports of destructive scanning practices by AI companies. In these scenarios, physical books are purchased, their spines are sliced off to speed up the digitization process, and the remaining material is destroyed. A recent US court ruling deemed such destruction lawful under the classification of transformative use, leading to anxiety among those who view books as historical artifacts rather than just raw data for machine learning.
While some sellers acknowledge that moving large volumes of stock is helpful for business, the prospect of losing unique or rare titles to a shredder creates significant discomfort. Many booksellers in Australia consider the physical object to be an essential part of the story, distinct from the text contained within. For them, a book is not a generic commodity that should be sacrificed to feed software training programs.
Zoom Books has faced scrutiny regarding its operations. The company maintains that its primary focus is book reuse and responsible recycling. When questioned, a representative for Zoom Books stated that commercial confidentiality agreements prevent them from disclosing their client list. Meanwhile, industry experts continue to observe the patterns of these large-scale acquisitions, waiting to see if more tangible evidence emerges about the final destination of these thousands of secondhand volumes.