Library Systems and Digital-Rights Management: Towards a Blockchain-Based Solution for Enhanced Privacy and Security

The rapid digitization of library resources has intensified the need for robust digital-rights management (DRM) mechanisms to safeguard copyright, control access, and preserve user privacy. Conventional DRM approaches are often centralized, prone to single-point-of-failure, and are limited in transparency and interoperability. To address these challenges, this article puts forward a decentralized DRM framework for library systems by leveraging blockchain technology and decentralized DRM-key mechanisms. An integrative review of the available research literature provides an analysis of current blockchain-based DRM library systems, their limitations, and associated challenges. To address these issues, a controlled experiment is set up to implement and evaluate a possible solution. In the proposed model, digital content is encrypted and stored in the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS), while blockchain smart contracts manage the generation, distribution, and validation of DRM-keys that regulate user-access rights. This approach ensures immutability, transparency, and fine-grained access control without reliance on centralized authorities. Security is enhanced through cryptographic techniques for authentication. The model not only mitigates issues of piracy, unauthorized redistribution, and vendor lock-in, but also provides a scalable and interoperable solution for modern digital libraries. The findings demonstrate how blockchain-enabled DRM-keys can enhance trust, accountability, and efficiency through the development of secure, decentralized, and user-centric digital library systems, which will be of interest to practitioners charged with library IT technology management and to researchers in the wider field of blockchain applications in organizations.