Last but not least in our series on Open Access resources: Public Domain publications. Whilst these books are technically speaking not open access publications, they are freely available as their copyrights will have expired or are no longer applicable. As such, many of these books include classics like Pride and Prejudice, Alice in Wonderland and Little Women. 

Project Gutenberg

The go-to for books in the public domain and a project in existence since 1971. It contains over 44,000 digital publications in various formats. Nearly every classic imaginable (certainly in English) is available on Project Gutenberg, and many of them are available as nicely formatted e-books through its partners/affiliates.

Legamus and LibriVox are essentially Project Gutenberg, but for audiobooks. All books are read and recorded by volunteers in various languages. Librivox also includes non-fiction works from various subject areas. Overall, they are perfect if you have been wanting to read one of those big, daunting classics but struggle to pick up the book.

Daily Lit
Perhaps less relevant today, but a good way to start reading that one book you promised yourself you’d read. Daily Lit provides you with small instalments, designed to read during your commute or coffee break at a time you’ll have specified. It provides many Public Domain books and even provides some still under copyright for free by arrangement with publishers. Others you will still have to pay for as these books will not yet be in the public domain.

Digital public library of America -or DLPA for short- is a resource dedicated to providing access to the digital resources of American libraries and archives. Over a million books are included in the DLPA and various other resources.

Open Library is an online library that was created by the same team as the Internet archive. Over one million books are available in the Open Library, most of which in the public domain. However, it also hosts an ever-growing library of contemporary books you can loan. FeedBooks is similar to Open Library, except that it focuses on public domain books, but provides them in a format adapted for mobile reading, including a nice cover page for e-readers. In addition, Feedbooks also hosts both free and paid contemporary books.

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