Public domain guides
Web sources for public domain works
Further reading on the public domain

Public domain guides

These charts and guides can help determine the copyright status of a work:

• Gassaway, Laura. When Works Pass into the Public Domain
• Hirtle, Peter B. Copyright Duration for Unpublished Material Chart
• Minow, Mary. Library Digitization Projects: Copyrighted Works that have Expired into the Public Domain. Library Digitization Projects and Copyright. LLRX.com. June 28, 2002.
• Public Domain and Copyright How-To. Project Gutenberg (guide explains copyright duration in U.S.)
• How do I find out whether the book is in the public domain? The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania Library.
• How can I tell whether a copyright was renewed? The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania Library.

Web sources for public domain works

Many libraries and groups are digitizing public domain works and making them available to the public in order to ensure their continued free availability to scholars, educators, students, and the public at large. While there is no central listing of works in the public domain, there is a growing number of web sites that list many public domain works. The Creative Commons plans to provide a comprehensive registry of public domain works in the future.

• Bartleby.com contains a collection of online reference works.
• The Universal Library from Carnegie Mellon University. 
• Eldritch Press. Find free, public domain works. Electronic versions have special features that are useful for teaching and research.
• ibiblio. Collection from the Center for the Public Domain and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 
• Internet Public Library: Online Texts. The IPL lists numerous websites offering free online texts.
• Project Gutenberg. Oldest collection of free electronic books also includes music; searchable by author, title, subject and language.
• Read Print. Offers free public domain books for download. The author index includes biographical information about authors.
• OpenFlix. Identifies films that are in the public domain. Users may search the site or browse by genre. Includes descriptions and reviews of the films, and links to purchase DVDs.
• Public Domain Comedy. Public domain media clips from Public Domain Comedy.
• Public Domain Images. This company offers stock footage and photos for sale.
• Public Domain Music from the Public Domain Information Project. 
• Public Domain Pictures. Extensive list of sources to find image, clip art, icons and backgrounds.
• Public Domain Report: Monthly Guide to Significant Works in the Public Domain. Public Domain Research Corporation.
• University of Pennsylvania Library: 
• The Online Books Page has electronic versions of over 17,000 electronic texts.
• The Online Books Page: Archives Includes listings of large, general purpose collections, foreign language and literature resources, and a specialty archive.

Further reading on the public domain

• Baron, Robert A. Reconstructing the Public Domain: Metaphor as Polemic in the Intellectual Property wars. Copyright Town Meeting, National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). Mar 2002.
• Besser, Howard. Intellectual Property: The Attack on Public Space in Cyberspace. UCLA School of Education and Information. Sep 2001.
• Bollier, David. The Enclosure of the Academic Commons. Academe, 88(5).
• Boyle, James. The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain [PDF]. Duke Law School. Oct. 2001.
• Eldred v. Ashcroft. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. 2002 (entire issue devoted to Eldred v. Ashcroft).
• Litman, Jessica. The Public Domain [PDF]. Duke Law School. Fall 1990.
• Lutzker, Arnold P. Primer on the Digital Millennium: What the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act Mean for the Library Community. Law Offices of Lutzker and Lutzker. 1999.
• Public Domain. Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland University College (UMUC) (includes links to primary legal sources and print and electronic resources related to the public domain and copyright term extension).
• Samuels, Edward. The Public Domain in Copyright Law, New York Law School. Journal of the Copyright Society, 1993.
• Samuelson, Pamuela. Digital Information, Digital Networks, and the Public Domain [PDF]. University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. Nov 2001. 1-107.