22 Free Book Databases. 40+ Image Databases.
Compiled by Jesse
Project Gutenberg is a top destination for free ebooks on the web. It’s a first ebook initiative in the world, established by Michael S. Hart in 1971.
Over 44,000 publications were digitized by PG volunteers and are available for download (.mobi and .epub, among other formats) and to read online.
What’s more, over 100,000 free ebooks are available through Project Gutenberg’s partners and affiliates.
The site offers also a very convenient way to get complete works of selected authors in one file.
⇢ Project Gutenberg
Europeana offers access to millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, and archives.
More than 2,000 European institutions across Europe contribute to the site, including the British Library and national libraries from many countries.
To find free public domain books, search for the author or title, and in the left-side panel narrow results by file type (“text”), and by copyright (“public domain marked”).
⇢ Europeana
DPLA is aimed at giving universal access to digital resources of American libraries and archives.
Among contributing institutions there are New York Public Library, University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the LIbrary of Congress.
The Bookshelf catalog includes over 1.6 million items. Perform a search, and from a book detail page you’ll be redirected to a relevant website, where you can further read it online or download.
⇢ DPLA
The website is a huge repository of text, audio and video files, including public domain titles. You can browse and read online over 5 million books and items from over 1,500 collections.
The collections include the Library of Congress, American libraries, Canadian libraries, books from Project Gutenberg, and from the Million Books Project, as well as books for children.
On Internet Archive you will find book files in over 180 languages.
⇢ Internet Archive
The site is a project of the Internet Archive and is intended to create “one web page for every book ever published”.
There are over 1,000,000 free ebook titles available. Most of the titles are public domain, but you can also find here a growing lending library of over 200,000 contemporary ebooks.
If the book is available in digital form, a Read button is shown next to its catalog listing.
⇢ Open Library
This French ebook site is designed with mobile reading in mind. It’s tailored for mobile browsers, so you can download free ebooks directly to your tablet or smartphone.
Feedbooks offers thousands of public domain ebooks in five languages. Unlike in Internet Archive, most of the free books have covers to look good on your e-reader or e-reading application.
⇢ Feedbooks
This is a popular catalog of public domain ebooks, sourced from Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive.
The books are available in a vast number of different file formats, so if you are looking for less popular ones, like Plucker or FictionBook2, Manybooks is a good destination to explore.
Currently there are almost 30,000 titles in Manybooks.
⇢ Manybooks
The platform’s offer should suit modern-day people who are always in a hurry. You can read an ebook in daily installments, delivered by mail or RSS feed.
Apart from DailyLit’s own serialized fiction, you can find here hundreds of classic novels. Pride and Prejudice and War of the Worlds were two first books offered on platform’s launch in 2006.
The site lists books in 14 categories, including short stories, horror, and coming of age.
⇢ DailyLit
Perform any search and you’ll see a list of results. If you see Preview or Full View link under the book’s title, it means you can read its scan in the browser.
⇢ Google Book Search
⇢ Books Should Be free
Currently there are over 3,600 full books and over 4,400 short stories & poems from over 250 authors.
The key to explore the site is author index, from where you can browse linked books, quotes forum threads and quizzes.
⇢ The Literature Network
⇢ Bartleby
The site’s purpose is to bring public domain books from sites like Project Gutenberg into a form easily readable in a web browser.
⇢ Authorama
Free classics can be read online, and you can change colors, fonts, as well as increase font size to make the text more legible.
⇢ Read Easily
Volunteers record chapters of public domain books. Afterwards LibriVox releases the audio file for free in the public domain, and you may use it the way you like.
⇢ LibriVox
⇢ Legamus
Among several collections, you can find here a directory of over 500 free ebooks. Most of them are in public domain.
⇢ Open Culture
⇢ Classic Literature Library
⇢ The Online Books Page
The books in digital format can be read here online as html files.
⇢ Great Books and Classics
⇢ Classic Reader
⇢ Planet Publish
When you are adding images, videos and other content that you did not create to your presentation, it is important to make sure that you are not violating anyone's copyright. One way to do so is to find public domain images for your presentations. Copyright.gov explains the public domain as follows: "A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner." Because such works can be used without first seeking permission, they are ideal for many projects, particularly those that will extend beyond educational uses.
Note: Even if a work that you use is in the public domain, it is advisable to provide attribution for the work or, at a minimum, keep a record of the attribution of the work, so that you or other interested parties can find it later if necessary.
If you can't find Public Domain media that fit your needs, you can also use Creative Commons-licensed content as long as you ensure that you correctly attribute this content to its creator and otherwise meet the terms of the license under which the image is offered. You can find more information about this on the Creative Commons FAQ.
Note: Even if content is covered by a Creative Commons license, you must always make sure that your use does not violate that license and that you properly attribute the content.
This video from CreativeCommons.org offers an overview of Creative Commons.
The following resources allow users to find public domain images for use in their projects. While these are certainly not the only sources for public domain materials, they do make it particularly easy to find images and ensure that they are in the public domain.
Before using images, be sure to read any terms of service to understand requirements on crediting and using the images.
If you can't find Public Domain images that fit your needs, you can also use Creative Commons-licensed content and the sources below make finding these images, and properly attributing them, quick and easy.
Free public domain books – 22 sources
1. Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a top destination for free ebooks on the web. It’s a first ebook initiative in the world, established by Michael S. Hart in 1971.
Over 44,000 publications were digitized by PG volunteers and are available for download (.mobi and .epub, among other formats) and to read online.
What’s more, over 100,000 free ebooks are available through Project Gutenberg’s partners and affiliates.
The site offers also a very convenient way to get complete works of selected authors in one file.
⇢ Project Gutenberg
2. Europeana
Europeana offers access to millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, and archives.
More than 2,000 European institutions across Europe contribute to the site, including the British Library and national libraries from many countries.
To find free public domain books, search for the author or title, and in the left-side panel narrow results by file type (“text”), and by copyright (“public domain marked”).
⇢ Europeana
3. Digital Public Library of America
DPLA is aimed at giving universal access to digital resources of American libraries and archives.
Among contributing institutions there are New York Public Library, University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the LIbrary of Congress.
The Bookshelf catalog includes over 1.6 million items. Perform a search, and from a book detail page you’ll be redirected to a relevant website, where you can further read it online or download.
⇢ DPLA
4. Internet Archive
The website is a huge repository of text, audio and video files, including public domain titles. You can browse and read online over 5 million books and items from over 1,500 collections.
The collections include the Library of Congress, American libraries, Canadian libraries, books from Project Gutenberg, and from the Million Books Project, as well as books for children.
On Internet Archive you will find book files in over 180 languages.
⇢ Internet Archive
5. Open Library
The site is a project of the Internet Archive and is intended to create “one web page for every book ever published”.
There are over 1,000,000 free ebook titles available. Most of the titles are public domain, but you can also find here a growing lending library of over 200,000 contemporary ebooks.
If the book is available in digital form, a Read button is shown next to its catalog listing.
⇢ Open Library
6. Feedbooks
This French ebook site is designed with mobile reading in mind. It’s tailored for mobile browsers, so you can download free ebooks directly to your tablet or smartphone.
Feedbooks offers thousands of public domain ebooks in five languages. Unlike in Internet Archive, most of the free books have covers to look good on your e-reader or e-reading application.
⇢ Feedbooks
7. Manybooks
This is a popular catalog of public domain ebooks, sourced from Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive.
The books are available in a vast number of different file formats, so if you are looking for less popular ones, like Plucker or FictionBook2, Manybooks is a good destination to explore.
Currently there are almost 30,000 titles in Manybooks.
⇢ Manybooks
8. DailyLit
The platform’s offer should suit modern-day people who are always in a hurry. You can read an ebook in daily installments, delivered by mail or RSS feed.
Apart from DailyLit’s own serialized fiction, you can find here hundreds of classic novels. Pride and Prejudice and War of the Worlds were two first books offered on platform’s launch in 2006.
The site lists books in 14 categories, including short stories, horror, and coming of age.
⇢ DailyLit
9. Google Book Search
Google launched its own ebookstore some time ago, but the earlier book scan project, Google Book Search, is still there.Perform any search and you’ll see a list of results. If you see Preview or Full View link under the book’s title, it means you can read its scan in the browser.
⇢ Google Book Search
10. Books Should Be Free
The site offers thousands of free public domain books, as audiobooks or text files. Titles in 30 languages can be found here.⇢ Books Should Be free
11. The Literature Network
The site calls itself a “searchable online literature for the student, educator, or enthusiast.”Currently there are over 3,600 full books and over 4,400 short stories & poems from over 250 authors.
The key to explore the site is author index, from where you can browse linked books, quotes forum threads and quizzes.
⇢ The Literature Network
12. Bartleby
The site offers free Harvard Classics – complete volumes of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time (read-online, no downloads offered).⇢ Bartleby
13. Authorama
This simple to explore site lists completely free books from a variety of different authors.The site’s purpose is to bring public domain books from sites like Project Gutenberg into a form easily readable in a web browser.
⇢ Authorama
14. Read Easily
The site is dedicated particularly for the partially sighted and visually impaired.Free classics can be read online, and you can change colors, fonts, as well as increase font size to make the text more legible.
⇢ Read Easily
15. LibriVox
Founded in 2005, LibriVox is an extensive library of free public domain audiobooks.Volunteers record chapters of public domain books. Afterwards LibriVox releases the audio file for free in the public domain, and you may use it the way you like.
⇢ LibriVox
16. Legamus
The site makes free audio books from texts that entered public domain in Europe.⇢ Legamus
17. Open Culture
Open Culture is a popular blog that curates access to educational and cultural media.Among several collections, you can find here a directory of over 500 free ebooks. Most of them are in public domain.
⇢ Open Culture
18. Classic Literature Library
Public domain books organized into collections. The complete works of William Shakespeare, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens or Mark Twain, among others.⇢ Classic Literature Library
19. The Online Books Page
The site, managed by the University of Pennsylvania, offers a clean interface to browse for over 1 million free ebooks from around the web.⇢ The Online Books Page
20. Great Books and Classics
A repository of works of classic writers and philosophers, from Sophocles to Epicurus, to Sun-Tzu.The books in digital format can be read here online as html files.
⇢ Great Books and Classics
21. Classic Reader
All books on this website are in public domain. You can choose from 3810 titles by 358 authors.⇢ Classic Reader
22. Planet Publish
A decent collection of popular works of classic literature, in pdf format.⇢ Planet Publish
What Do Public Domain & Creative Commons Mean?
Public Domain versus Creative Commons
When you are adding images, videos and other content that you did not create to your presentation, it is important to make sure that you are not violating anyone's copyright. One way to do so is to find public domain images for your presentations. Copyright.gov explains the public domain as follows: "A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner." Because such works can be used without first seeking permission, they are ideal for many projects, particularly those that will extend beyond educational uses.Note: Even if a work that you use is in the public domain, it is advisable to provide attribution for the work or, at a minimum, keep a record of the attribution of the work, so that you or other interested parties can find it later if necessary.
If you can't find Public Domain media that fit your needs, you can also use Creative Commons-licensed content as long as you ensure that you correctly attribute this content to its creator and otherwise meet the terms of the license under which the image is offered. You can find more information about this on the Creative Commons FAQ.
Note: Even if content is covered by a Creative Commons license, you must always make sure that your use does not violate that license and that you properly attribute the content.
This video from CreativeCommons.org offers an overview of Creative Commons.
How do the licenses work?
Check out this infographic by adityadipankar for a quick intro to the various types of Creative Commons licenses. If you are interested in learning more about these licenses, CreativeCommons.org offers more information.
All Creative Commons licenses require attribution to the creator. If you are interested in more information about best practices for providing attribution, Creative Commons Australia has created a handout with detailed information about proper attribution practices.
Disclaimer
While the resources on this guide all aim to provide access to Creative Commons and public domain resources, please note that we cannot guarantee that all of the resources found on these sites will not violate copyright.
Images
Public Domain
The following resources allow users to find public domain images for use in their projects. While these are certainly not the only sources for public domain materials, they do make it particularly easy to find images and ensure that they are in the public domain.Before using images, be sure to read any terms of service to understand requirements on crediting and using the images.
- 73 Best Sites To Find Awesome Free Images (Canva Design School)
Even more sites rounded up by the Canva design school team. - Bing
Once you run a search using Bing Images, you can limit your results to Public Domain images by clicking on "License" in the menu below the search box and selecting Public Domain. - British Library on Flickr
This is a collection of public domain resources from the British Library's collection. The albums included on this page are a great resource for inspiration and reuse. - Burst by Shopify
Shopify's new free stock photo site contains over 1000 high-quality images. They're available under the Creative Commons Zero license so users may free to use and edit them as they see fit. - Flickr & Flickr's The Commons
Flickr now includes an option to mark media uploaded to the site as being in the Public Domain. Though currently only a limited number of items bear this mark, this content is sure to grow over time.
In addition, Flickr maintains The Commons, which offers access to images no known copyright restrictions from over 70 institutions ranging from NASA to the National Library of Sweden. In almost all cases, the images have already entered the Public Domain for one reason or another. Users can limit their image searches to a specific institution by navigating to an institution's photostream and then selecting that option from the dropdown options that appear as the user types a search into the search box. - Getty Open Content Program
The Getty recently started an Open Content Program to "share images of works of art in an unrestricted manner, freely, so that all those who create or appreciate art…will have greater access to high-quality digital images for their studies and projects." You can find these images by conducting a search on the Getty Search Gateway and then filtering your results by checking the box next to "Open Content Images", which is the second option in the Highlights section of the filters in the left menu. All images found through this program should be credited as "Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program" (see http://www.getty.edu/about/opencontent.html). - GoodFreePhotos
A large Public Domain photo repository with over 9000 high resolution free photos, images, clipart, pics and vectors categorized by location. Specializes in photos of state parks, national parks, national landmarks, and historical sites, and also contains business, tech, animal, plant, and food photos. - Metropolitan Museum
In early 2017, the Met Museum implemented an open access policy, assigning a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) to any images of artworks the Museum believes to be in the public domain, or those to which the Museum waives any copyright it might have, for any purpose, including commercial and noncommercial use, free of charge and without requiring permission from the Museum. See the link for more info about searching for and identifying these images. - NASA
NASA's website offers access to many of their images, audio files, videos and other media, which are generally not copyrighted and freely available for use. - National Gallery of Art (U.S.)
NGA Images is a repository of digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art. On this website you can search, browse, share, and download images. A standards-based reproduction guide and a help section provide advice for both novices and experts. More than 45,000 open access digital images up to 4000 pixels each are available free of charge for download and use. NGA Images is designed to facilitate learning, enrichment, enjoyment, and exploration. - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
As government images, almost all of the images in this collection are in the public domain, though the website states that you must credit NOAA if you use one of their images. They especially encourage educational use. - Pixabay
A site that provides free, public domain images that don't even require attribution. Unfortunately, it also offers Shutterstock images, which aren't free, but they are clearly set off so I don't think users will find that too confusing. The search feature is particularly nice, supporting Boolean connectors and also the ability to search by predominant color of the image. - Public Domain Image Resources
Wikipedia maintains a page of online resources for finding public domain images and other content online. While not all of the sites include exclusively public domain images, this list is a good place to start looking for content, particularly if you are looking for more specialized items. - Public Domain Photographs of Ireland
The Information about Ireland site offers thousands of free public domain photos of Ireland, Irish history, scenery, castles, landscapes, etc. as well as photos of items that can be applied to any project including animals, houses, buildings, etc. - Public Domain Pictures
This site offers access to free photos. Users have the option to pay the photographer for the image, but this is not required. - The Public Domain Project
Pond 5's large public domain collection contains over 80,000 HD and 4K files for research and free consumption. Pond 5 also has an online marketplace for stock footage, images, audio, and other creative elements. - The Public Domain Review
This resource curates a collection of images, books, films and audio files that are available in the public domain. The collection can be browsed by medium, time period, tag and source. Once you are in a collection, you can also sort by the type of public domain rights that apply to the items (for example, whether it is in the public domain everywhere in the world). - Rijksmuseum
Images on the Rijksmuseum website are fully searchable and downloadable. Each item that has entered the public domain includes this information in the section of the item description entitled acquisition and rights. Over 300,000 images are available. - Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: as seen in prints and archives
This digital exhibition by the British Library and the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) includes images of 235 prints held by the British Library which have been released into the public domain. Available in both English and Japanese. - U.S. Department of Agriculture Image Gallery
The United States Department of Agriculture maintains a database of images pertaining to their work and areas of purview. Because the images were mostly taken for the government, virtually all are in the public domain. Any images that are not in the public domain are marked as such. - Yale University Art Gallery
The Yale University Art Gallery has stated that, pursuant to the University's Open Access policy, "anyone may use the Gallery’s open-access material without further application, authorization, or fees due to the Gallery or to Yale." Unfortunately, at this time, there is no way to limit search results to only items that are in the public domain, however, when you click on an item, the entry will state whether the image is in the public domain (see image). You can find more information on properly attributing images on the Art Gallery's Terms of Use page.
Creative Commons
If you can't find Public Domain images that fit your needs, you can also use Creative Commons-licensed content and the sources below make finding these images, and properly attributing them, quick and easy.
- Creative Commons
The Creative Commons website includes an option to search for Creative Commons content across numerous sources, including Flickr, Google and Wikimedia Commons among many others. - Compfight
Compfight is another tool that shows both commercial and Creative Commons images, but it sets off the non-Creative Commons images in a separate section to make the distinction clear. Once you have run a search, you also have various facets in the left menu that can help you narrow your results by license type (along with other features of the image) - PhotoPin
This image search engine returns both Creative Commons and non-Creative Commons images. When you download any image, you can also download the necessary HTML to appropriately attribute the image to its creator. - Bing
As with Google, not all images available via Bing's image search are available under a Creative Commons license. However, once you run a search using Bing Images, you can limit your results to appropriately licensed images by clicking on "License" in the menu below the search box. Though users are not able to limit by specific types of Creative Commons licenses, there are definitions of their categories to help you match the license to your needs. You can also limit by Public Domain images. - Flickr
This section of Flickr offers images that are available under a Creative Commons license and also explains the different types of Creative Commons licenses. You can also search for Creative Commons-licensed images on Flickr by going to the advanced search link in the upper right hand corner of the page and checking the appropriate boxes in the Creative Commons section at the bottom of the advanced search page. - flickrCC
This is another tool that uses the Flickr API to access images licensed under a Creative Commons license on Flickr. One advantage of this site is that it offers a mobile interface. - Flickr Storm
This is another tool for finding Creative Commons images on Flickr. It allows you to save images you are interested in and either view them on Flickr or download them and also provides information on proper attribution. - Foter
This website searches through 190 million Creative Commons-licensed images and allows users to retrieve the code necessary to embed the images on the web with the proper attribution. Foter also offers a Wordpress plugin to integrate the process into your Wordpress site. - Google Images
While not all images on Google Images are Creative Commons licensed, it is possible to limit your search results to only images available under a Creative Commons license. To do so, run your search in the standard Google Image search bar and then on the results page, click on search tools just below the search box. A further drop down menu will then appear with usage rights as one of the options. From there, users can limit results to the proper rights. Unfortunately, they do not use the exact language of Creative Commons licenses, but you can nevertheless use the service to find usable images. - Wikimedia Commons
This site offers fully searchable access to media, including images, sounds and videos, that has been uploaded by users, mostly for use on Wikipedia. Most of the content is available under some sort of Creative Commons license and licensing information is clearly provided at the bottom of each piece of media's individual page. - Europeana
Europeana is an online collection of content from European libraries, archives, museums and other institutions. Once you run a search in their search bar, you can limit your results to items that are freely usable or available under a Creative Commons license using the facets under Copyright in the left menu. - Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Library
As of August 2014, the Folger Shakespeare Library has licensed all of its images in the Digital Image Library under a CC BY-SA license. - IM Free
This site offers a searchable collection of Creative Commons-licensed images. Unfortunately, users must click on the Creative Commons icon on the image's page to know the exact license being used, but all images are available for commercial use. - The Stocks
This website collects sites that offer access to high-resolution images available for use under Creative Commons licenses. Most of the sites offer the images under CC0 licenses and all of the sites clearly state how their images are licensed. - Startup Stock Photos
This website collects stock images that are focused on start up companies. While you cannot search for specific subjects, browsing through the images is simple. All of the images are licensed under a CC BY license. - Photos for Class
Designed for teachers, this tool allows users to search through Creative Commons images that are appropriate for the classroom. As an added bonus, citation information is automatically included when the images are downloaded. - Multicolr Search Lab
This tool from TinEye allows you to search for Creative Commons-licensed images by color. Users can enter up to five colors simultaneously and will return dozens of images that include all of the selected colors. Images are pulled from Flickr. - Gratisography
The images on this website are all by Ryan McGuire and have all been released from copyright restrictions using Creative Commons 0 (or CC0). This means that they have been dedicated to "open, public domain," but this is not synonymous with the legal concept of the public domain. It does, however, mean that these images can be used without attribution. While there is no way to search for a specific type of image, you can browse easily and the images are all freely available for high resolution download. - Unsplash
As with Gratisography, the photos on Unsplash have been licensed under a Creative Commons 0 or CC0 license, which means that you can use these high-resolution images for any purpose and can even use them without attribution. - Openclipart
This site offers a wide range of clip art images that are released under a Creative Commons 0 or CC0 license and are therefore available for any use with or without attribution. - Splashbase
This website searches a number of other sites that offer Creative Commons-licensed images. It offers a high percentage of CC0 licensed materials. - Skuawk
This site offers images that are licensed under a CC0 license, which means that they can be reused for any purpose without attribution. Users can navigate by category of photo or by recent photos. Note that photos in the Premium Bundle are not CC0 licensed. - Pexels
Another resource for CC0 images that can be used without attribution, this site sets itself apart by offering advanced search option such as searching by color or excluding search terms from your results.
