Library Genesis is an aggregator platform dedicated to collecting and cataloging item descriptions, primarily focusing on scientific, scientific and technical directions, alongside comics, fiction, scientific articles, magazines, and standards. The platform itself hosts item metadata and links to external, user-hosted third-party resources, rather than the files directly. All information is gathered from publicly available internet resources and is intended for informational purposes.

The platform continuously updates its features, with recent additions including bibliography search capabilities integrated with local databases of Worldcat.org and the Russian State Library (as of October 20, 2025), and Openlibrary.org (as of September 2, 2025). Additionally, database dumps categorized by sections were made available on September 21, 2025. The service is accessible via various alternative domains including *.lc, *.li, *.gs, *.vg, *.la, *.bz, and *.gl.

The search functionality offers both a default mode and an advanced "Google mode." The default search system processes queries by seeking all specified words, in no particular order, within a marked set of fields. Users can specify searches within various fields such as Title, Author(s), Series, Year, Publisher, and ISBN, and across different object types including Files, Editions, Series, Authors, Publishers, and Works. Furthermore, searches can be narrowed by topics like Libgen Comics, Fiction, Scientific Articles, Magazines, Fiction RUS, and Standards. Results can be displayed at 25, 50, or 100 items per page, with options to show covers and chapters.

The "Google mode" advanced search provides more precise query mechanisms:

• Exact Phrase Search: Enclosing a phrase in double quotes, e.g., "Physics and Chemistry", retrieves records containing that exact phrase.
• Wildcard Search: The asterisk * acts as a wildcard, matching any sequence of characters. It requires a minimum of three preceding characters, e.g., Basi* for words starting with "Basi".
• Exclusion: A minus sign - placed before a word excludes records containing that word, e.g., -technology filters out results with "technology".

These conditions can be combined, such as "Physics and Chemistry" Basi* -technology, which would search for titles containing the exact phrase "Physics and Chemistry", a word starting with "Basi", and *not* containing the word "technology".

Beyond the interface options, users can perform specific field searches using the syntax field_name:value. A comprehensive list of additional fields is supported:

• For the "Files" tab: md5, tth, sha1, sha256, crc32, edonkey, doi.
• For "Editions" and "Files" objects: issuevolume, issuesid (serial ID of the periodical), issuenumber (number within the volume of the periodical), issuetnumber (gross number of the periodical), issueynumber (intra-annual issue of the periodical), year, publisherid, authorid, lang (three-letter ISO 639 language code), fsize (filesize in MBytes, supporting range queries like $fsize>10$, $fsize<20$, $fsize=15$), ext (file extension), booktopicid (ID of the classifier for books), tags.
• For "Series" objects: comtopicid (ID of the classifier for comics), smtopicid (ID of the classifier for scientific journals), magtopicid (ID of the classifier for magazines), issn.

Two special view modes are also available: mode:last displays the last added entries for a given object (series, authors, editions, etc.), and fmode:last shows the last added files for a given repository.

Library Genesis maintains that it respects intellectual property rights and adheres to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). Its DMCA policy outlines the procedure for content removal. To submit a valid copyright infringement complaint, the following information must be provided to the Designated Agent (ianzlib@protonmail.com) via written, faxed, or emailed notification:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
3. Identification of the material claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity, along with information sufficient for removal.
4. Contact information for the complaining party (address, phone, email).
5. A statement that the complaining party "in good faith believes that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or law."
6. A statement that the "information in the notification is accurate," and "under penalty of perjury, the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."

Appeals are reviewed within 72 hours. The platform also accepts donations in Bitcoin and Monero.