Dissatisfied with the commercialization of Librusec, Russia's main shadow library, the website was established by a group of volunteers in October 2009.
The founder and administrator of the site was known as "Stiver", who lived in Germany.
The website had been the subject of legal action by Russian publishing houses on several occasions.
In 2016, the site was blocked in Russia according to a Moscow City Court's ruling.
In 2024, Stiver announced the closure of the site soon due to his terminal illness.