HOW IT WORKS

One copy. One reader. A line, if you need one.

本 borrows its entire circulation logic from a physical library, because that model already solved the problem we care about: giving people access without giving everyone the same thing at once.

THE CIRCULATION CYCLE

1·4

Find it on the shelf

Browse by genre and era. Every title shows its status plainly: on the shelf, checked out, or how many people are waiting.

2·4

Check it out

One tap reserves the only copy to you for 14 days. It disappears from the shelf for every other member the moment you do.

3·4

Read at your pace

Full pages, cover to cover, in our reader. No related content, no autoplay into something else.

4·4

Return it

The copy releases back to the shelf, or straight to the next person in line if one has formed.

WHEN SOMETHING'S TAKEN

You wait. That's the point.

If a title is already checked out, you can join the queue instead of being shown something else. You'll see exactly how many people are ahead of you and when the current reader's copy is due back. When it's returned, it's automatically reserved for whoever's next in line. First come, first served, visible to everyone.

BURST · Vol.17 CHECKED OUT

Due back in 6 days · 2 readers waiting

You'd be #3 in line JOIN QUEUE →

WHY IT WORKS THIS WAY

Controlled digital lending, not distribution.

本 is built around a practice called controlled digital lending: the idea that a library can lend a digital scan of a physical item it owns, as long as it enforces the same limits a physical library would: one active reader per owned copy, no permanent downloads, and a real return before anyone else can borrow it. It's the same logic your local library uses for its physical stacks, applied to a scanned page instead of a printed one.

It's worth saying plainly: this model is legally contested in the United States, and courts have not settled it the same way for every kind of institution. We're not presenting this as settled law. We're presenting it as the most honest framework we found for what we're trying to do: circulate real material responsibly, at the scale our own collection actually supports, rather than publish it freely to anyone.