Philosophy: Open Access
Open Access & Public Domain Resources
Open access (OA) is a contemporary movement in online research, designating websites, databases, and other resources that voluntarily place no restriction (paywalls, etc.) on access to their information and frequently also put up few or no barriers to the further use of that information (Source: Wikipedia, "Open access"). The public domain is a legal designation for the condition of intellectual property (books, music, etc.) for which the exclusive rights of distribution and reproduction have expired, been waived or forfeited by their owner, or are otherwise inapplicable (Source: Wikipedia, "Public domain"). The links listed in this section represent a mixture of open access and public domain resources, sometimes within the same site or service. We encourage you to bear in mind that certain legal restrictions on the use or reproduction of material in these resources may still apply, regardless of their designation as 'open access' or 'public domain' on this guide.
- Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new windowRich primary-source material from libraries, archives, and museums in the U.S., much of it either open access, in the public domain, or both.
- Google Books This link opens in a new windowThe world's most comprehensive index of full-text books.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowBroadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowA repository of millions of books and articles contributed by major research institutions and libraries in order to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future.
- New York Heritage Digital Collections This link opens in a new windowDigital collections which are freely accessible from libraries, museums, and archives throughout New York State.
- OpenDOAR This link opens in a new windowDirectory of open access academic repositories containing primary and secondary material.
- Digital Collections @ The Library of CongressDigital collections at the U.S. Library of Congress.
- Digital Collections @ The New York Public LibraryMore than 722,000 items digitized from the NYPL's archives, with new materials added every day, including prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
- Directory of Open Access BooksA directory of more than 1,000 open access scholarly books in the humanities.
- EuropeanaExplore more than 53 million artworks, artefacts, books, videos and sounds from across Europe.
- Google Arts & CultureA carefully curated, beautifully presented collection of digital texts, images, audio, and video from Google's vast libraries, connected with the art, culture, and history of countries across the globe and in every era.
- The Internet ArchiveA non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
- MERLOT: Humanities MaterialsThousands of open access resources - collections, exhibitions, softwares, etc. - related to the humanities.
- Wikimedia CommonsA collection of more than 41 million media files - images, sounds, and videos - to which anyone may contribute.
- World Digital LibraryMore than 16,000 multimedia items - text, image, video, audio - connected to the history of 193 different countries, from 8000 BCE to 2000 CE.
Marcus Aurelius (121 CE - 180 CE), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, author of the Meditations. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons 1)
Associate Librarian for the Humanities
Angela Davis (1944 - ), African-American activist, philosopher, and writer. (Image source: Blog)