Copyright & Fair Use for Education

A guide for faculty introducing copyright and fair use.

Find Public Domain Resources

The following collections contain links to many books in the Public Domain but not everything available will be free from copyright. Some texts are free to use/access but remain under copyright protection.

HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources. You can locate items in the public domain by limiting your search to "full view only" or year of publication.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg offers over 56,000 free eBooks: Choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, especially older works for which copyright has expired.
Library of Congress Digital Collection
The LOC Digital Collection contains links and access to thousands of materials from the archives of the Governmentʻs collection. Make sure to check the copyright status of items before distributing.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive offers over 15,000,000 freely downloadable books and texts free to read, download, and print. (Some texts have restrictions on bulk re-use and commercial use, so check any restrictions set for the collection or by the sponsor of a book.)
Ulukau
Ulukau.org includes digitized books on Hawaiian culture, history, and language. The books in Ulukau are divided into 5 categories: Special Features, Beginners, Intermediate, General and Reference.
Online Books Page
A collection of over 3 million books free to read and access. Sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania.

Open Collections of Textbooks

The Open Textbook movement comprises organizations who create textbooks for student and faculty use at little or no cost for educational use. In most cases, these textbooks have been reviewed by peers and scholars in the field so as not to compromise quality.

No collection is complete. It is highly recommended to visit many different sites to see the variety of content and books out there.

Openstax
Based out of Rice University, OpenStax produces high quality college textbooks in a variety of disciplines. At last count, they had produced 25 different subject specialized textbooks. More than just textbooks, OPenStax includes additional learning materials such as quizzes and assements at no charge.
Open Textbook Library
Sponsored through the University of Minnesota, the Open Textbook Library provides a catalog of open textbooks that can be downloaded at no cost (or printed at a small cost). All books have been reviewed by various college faculty and are "currently in use by multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization."
California Open Online Library for Education
Maintained by the California Community Colleges, CSU, and UC systems - this site hosts textbooks in the 52 most popular general education courses taught in California. Each open textbook has been peer reviewed by discipline experts. using a standardized evaluation rubric.
LibreTexts
LibreTexts is a free online textbook collaboration, creation, and collection site. It can include syllabi, lessons, and content. Sponsored by the California State Universities Affordable Textbook Initiative.
Saylor Academy
An online selection of over 100 fre online textbooks provided by this online university. Many of these books are high quality and produced by experts in their field.
MERLOT
MERLOT is "a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community." MERLOT includes open textbooks as well as thousands of other OER materials. Sponsored by the California State University System.
College Open Textbooks
The mission of this consortium of OER adopters is simple: "To drive awareness, adoption, and affordability of college textbooks." This site allows you to search across multiple platforms to find appropriate textbooks for your courses.
BC Campus OpenEd
In an effort to make Higher Education more affordable, the British Columbia Minister of Advanced Education commissioned "A collection of open textbooks aligned with the top 40 highest-enrolled subject areas in the province." Subjects include Physical and social sciences as well as some humanities.
Textbook Revolution
"Textbook Revolution is a student-run site dedicated to increasing the use of free educational materials by teachers and professors." The site includes "links and reviews of textbooks and select educational resources" by student.
Open SUNY Textbooks
Open SUNY Textbooks is an open access textbook publishing initiative established by the State University of New York libraries to help publish high quality, low cost materials for students. The collection contains about 40 textbooks in a variety of subjects.

Open Collections for Articles & Materials

SkillsCommons
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, SkillsCommons contains OER materials from many different fields but specializes in the trades and technical subjects. Material comes from Community colleges and trade schools from around the country.
LibreTexts
LibreTexts is a free online textbook collaboration, creation, and collection site. It can include syllabi, lessons, and content. Sponsored by the California State Universities Affordable Textbook Initiative.
OER Commons
A clearinghouse for all things OER. Includes materials from around the world as well as subsets of curated collections. The site contains a vast amount of information but the materials can be searched by grade level, content type, and subject area.
OpenStax CNX
Includes a variety of subjects of "Educational material in small modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports or other academic assignments."
MERLOT
MERLOT is "a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community." MERLOT includes open textbooks as well as thousands of other OER materials. Sponsored by the California State University System.
Lumen Learning
Lumen Learning is a full service OER provider that helps create and provide open courses and materials for both students and educators in a variety of subjects. Although there can be a per student charge for their support and customization, the courses and course materials are available free of charge.
Open Oregon
A repository of the open materials used by higher education instructors across the state of Oregon.