Maybe don't try asking for a specific book. You might have more luck expressing you're after English-language items and asking how you might explore your options.

You seem to be saying: find out what you want and ask the library for it. I tried that once. I asked for a particular book. The librarian basically said “nope, we don’t have it.. but English bookstore X might have it”.

Note that I am generally interested in English content in a non-English region. There are some English books and media for whatever reason (certainly with DVDs it’s because the original film is often in English) but asking them to procure something in English is probably a long shot.. a bigger ask than asking them for a DB of what they have.

So, to me it seems like the main reason you would want this list in the first place is not to waste time deciding on something only for it to not be at the library in the end.

The point in doing an SQL intersection between a long list of some sort and their DB is to find what they already have that may be interesting. It’s not to discover what they don’t have.

(dupe deleted)

I’m friends with a few librarians. They will absolutely move mountains for you to connect you with what you need. But as I read, it doesn’t even really seem like this list would ultimately be useful to even you?

So, to me it seems like the main reason you would want this list in the first place is not to waste time deciding on something only for it to not be at the library in the end.

Otherwise you could just use any other resource (e.g. a list of banned books from elsewhere) for discovery, right? Then just go check out that content directly, which it seems like their system is dialed in well for?

But libraries have what’s called an “inter library loan” system, usually you can place a request online. I’ve actually never yet encountered a situation where I couldn’t access something I wanted, even pretty obscure textbooks and reference manuals.

Why not compile your own lists from other sources that are more suitable for your needs, then meet your library where they’re at when it’s time to go access the content?

It should be in here:

https://refli.be/fr/lex/1994000357

AFAIK there is no English translation published.

Do you have links to the source?

Yeah, that’s true. The open data law does not overturn or tamper with copyright. So the material itself still has the same copyright protections. But it’s the /catalog/ of books and media that I am referring to.

Just off the cuff here, but the contents of a library aren't government data. A library holds information that thousands of different people and entities hold publishing rights and copyrights over, and they loan that information to the public.

I’m asking if they are bound by the open data law, which is effectively a question of whether the data is held by a public or private entity.

Are you asking if libraries are public, or are you taking the opportunity to moan that they don’t accommodate your incredibly niche access whims?

That is an especially bizarre choice to prevent tor users from even looking at the forums.