Digital Public Library of America

The DPLA is a platform. Developers make apps that use the library’s data in many different ways. The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. DPLA aims to expand this crucial realm of openly available materials, and make those riches more easily discovered and more widely usable and used, through its three main elements:

1. A portal that delivers students, teachers, scholars, and the public to incredible resources, wherever they may be in America.

Far more than a search engine, the portal provides innovative ways to search and scan through the united collection of millions of items, including by timeline, map, virtual bookshelf, format, subject, and partner.

2. A platform that enables new and transformative uses of our digitized cultural heritage.

With an application programming interface (API) and maximally open data, DPLA can be used by software developers, researchers, and others to create novel environments for learning, tools for discovery, and engaging apps.

3. An advocate for a strong public option in the twenty-first century.

For most of American history, the ability to access materials for free through public libraries has been a central part of our culture, producing generations of avid readers and a knowledgeable, engaged citizenry. DPLA works, along with like-minded organizations and individuals, to ensure that this critical, open intellectual landscape remains vibrant and broad in the face of increasingly restrictive digital options. DPLA seeks to multiply openly accessible materials to strengthen the public option that libraries represent in their communities.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader or other portable device. Project Gutenberg, aptly named after the inventor of the movable type printer, provides web access to over 30,000 books. It is the largest collection of free books on the internet. Works include everything from "The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci" to A History of China by Wolfram Eberhard. If you still can't seem to find a text, the site links up with other free online providers, giving you access to over 100,000 books in total.

Library of Congress

Most people have heard of the Library of Congress, but few realize the amount of information it offers online. The American Memory Collection contains a wealth of materials on American history including thousands of photos, maps, documents, and even sheet music. In addition, the site offers online exhibits, and if you can't find what you're looking for there is online resource to ask a librarian. For anyone interested in American history, the Library of Congress is an invaluable resource that can provide you with a wealth of information not available anywhere else.

Intute

Intute is a free online service that helps you to find the best web resources for your studies and research. With millions of resources available on the Internet, it can be difficult to find useful material. Their subject specialists review and evaluate thousands of resources to help you choose the key websites in your subject. They can also help you develop your Internet research skills through their Virtual Training Suite tutorials, written by lecturers and librarians from universities. Intute is created by a consortium of seven universities.

INFOMINE

INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information. INFOMINE is librarian built. Librarians from the University of California, Wake Forest University, California State University, the University of Detroit - Mercy, and other universities and colleges have contributed to building INFOMINE.

Digital History

An valuable resource for those who seek information on U.S. history, Digital History offers an up-to-date textbook, as well as essays on film, private life, and science and technology, and visual histories about Lincoln's America and America's Reconstruction. The site also makes use of primary sources such as gravestones, historical advertising, and letters to give a more vivid picture of American History. The site also includes numerous reference materials including an extensive audio-visual archive. And if you have a question you and you can't find the answer, there is a feature that allows you to pose questions to professional historians.

Artcyclopedia

If you're looking for information on artists or art movements, Artcyclopedia is a great place to begin. The site provides links to museums worldwide where works by over 8,200 artists can be viewed. While most of the artists listed are painters and sculptors, you can also find photographers, decorative artists, and architects. Any art or art history research can benefit from this site, at least as a starting point.

HighWire - Stanford University

Free Online Full-text Articles - HighWire Press is the largest archive of free full-text science on Earth! HighWire is assisting in the online publication of 2,011,458 free full-text articles and 6,250,034 total articles. There are 16 sites with free trial periods, and 45 completely free sites. 287 sites have free back issues, and 1220 sites have pay per view! (List limited to journals published online with the assistance of HighWire Press)

The Free Library (19,462,065 articles and books)

Since 2003, The Free Library has offered free, full-text versions of classic literary works from hundreds of celebrated authors, whose biographies, images, and famous quotations can also be found on the site. Recently, The Free Library has been expanded to include a massive collection of periodicals from hundreds of leading publications covering Business and Industry, Communications, Entertainment, Health, Humanities, Law, Government, Politics, Recreation and Leisure, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences. This collection includes millions of articles dating back to 1984 as well as newly-published articles that are added to the site daily. The Free Library is an invaluable research tool and the fastest, easiest way to locate useful information on virtually any topic. Explore the site through a keyword search, or simply browse the enormous collection of literary classics and up-to-date periodicals to find exactly what you need.

California State University Library -- Free Government Databases

Pollak Library Guides: Government Documents -- Freely Available Databases

ERIC: Education Resources Information Center

ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center - is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research. The ERIC Mission - The ERIC mission is to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable, Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information that also meets the requirements of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002

The Internet Public Library

What is the Internet Public Library? http://www.ipl.org/: The Internet Public Library is a public service organization and a learning/teaching environment founded at the University of Michigan School of Information and hosted by Drexel University's College of Information Science & Technology.

Internet Archive

What is Internet Archive? http://www.archive.org/index.php: The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, they provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

Google Book Search

How does Google Book Search work? Taking from Google's own description: http://books.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=43724&cbid=-1njbjme0ojqke&src=cb&lev=index : Finding books with Google Book Search is as easy as finding websites with Google Web Search; just enter the keyword or phrase you're looking for into the Google Book Search box. For example, when you search for "rock climbing" or for a phrase like "one small step for man," Google Book Search will find all the books whose contents match your search terms. Click on a book title and you'll see basic info about the book just like you'd see in a card catalog. You might also see a few snippets - sentences of your search term in context. If a publisher or author has given us permission, you'll see a full page and be able to browse within the book to see more pages. If the book is out of copyright, you'll see a full page and you can page forward or back to see the full book. Clicking on "Search within this book," allows you to perform more searches within the book you've selected. You can click on any of the "Buy this Book" links to go straight to an online bookstore where you can buy the book. In many cases, you can also click "Find this book in a library" to find a local library where you can borrow it. Future of Google Book Search: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/