|
 1ST
CHOICE
The Internet Public Library
The
Internet Public Library was the the
first public library online for the
Internet community, and continues as
the most significant single resource
providing library services to Internet
users.
They
now catalog over 20,000 online books
that are available free on the
Internet.
These
freely available books range from
classic texts by the likes of
Shakespeare, Conan Doyle and Jane
Austen to more recent works available
from publishers such as the National
Academy Press, iUniverse, and Baen
Books.
The
listings can be browsed by title,
author or subject, and can also be
searched.
The
Internet Public Library began as a
course project at the University of
Michigan School of Information in
1995. It is now staffed by
professional librarians, students, and
volunteers.
Perhaps
a good indication of the success of
this project is it's popularity. At
the time of writing, The Internet
Public Library has more than 1.5
million visitors a month.
TOP CHOICE
Project Gutenberg
Project
Gutenberg is an outstanding modern-day
contribution to literature, with an
ongoing vision of making famous and important
texts freely available to everyone in
the world.
It
is now run by a large number of
volunteers and has converted over 6000
books to electronic text, all freely
available online.
They
convert mainly books in the public
domain to electronic text, which
includes a great many classics. All
are available from their network of
mirrored sites around the world, and
are indexed by online libraries.
Project
Gutenberg was recently awarded the
Stockholm Challenge Award, which
focuses on the positive effects of the
information society looking for
exemplary use of information
technology.
TOP CHOICE
The On-Line Books Page
The Online Books
Page is a substantial website that
indexes books that are freely
available on the Internet. At the time of
writing the index includes over 17,000
online books and texts.
It provides a
fast and convenient interface to a
large number of online works and
includes material from the major
online publishers like The Gutenberg
Project, Bartleby and Bibliomania.
Titles and
authors can be browsed or searched
from this fast, no frills style site
which gets you to the results you are
looking for quickly.
|
Artists