Directory of World's Best Free Online Libraries

Need to use the services of a library? You need not go out of your home to access one because there are several quality yet FREE libraries out there. All you need is access to the internet. Yes, several informative online libraries out there can be accessed FREELY without you having to belong to any organization or institution. And you also get to pay nothing.

Study & Scholarships have compiled, and will continue to add to this list, of best free online libraries spread across the world. We truly hope to add value to your learning and study experience!

General Libraries

Open source online libraries where a wide variety of scholarly works can be sourced - books, journal articles, theses and dissertation works, reference works etc

1. Project gutenberg: Free and open access to lots of digital materials that are no longer copyrighted under the australian copyright laws - books from wide variety of subjects and formats can be accessed and downloaded here freely
   
   
2. Questia: Free and open source library for accessing lots of scholarly works online (journal articles, textbooks, etc can be accessed here)
   
   
3. MIT Open CourseWare: Free access to the course materials of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.One can access the materials for over 1000 courses.
   
   
4. The University of Pennsylvania Online libraries: Free and open access to lots of online materials and e-books from The University of Pennsylvania.
   
   
5. La Trobe University Research Repository: Access and download over 12000 scholarly works such as chapters from textbooks, research papers/works from different disciplines
   
   
6. e-Prints from Cornell University: in partnership with National Science Foundation , National Institute for Theoretical Physics & University of Adelaide: Open access to over 100000 electronic prints that spans through different disciplines like sciences,statistics, physics, mathematics, computer etc
   
   
7. University of Canterbury e-Library: Open access to lots research works such as journal articles, conference papers and these works
   
   
8. Auckland University of Technology digital library: Open and free access to theses, dissertation and other research works archived in Auckland University of Technology's digital library
   
   
9. Bond University e-Library: Free and open access to over 1500 research works ( journals, theses, etc) from different disciplines
   
   
10. Deakin University's digital library archive: Free and open access to scholarly works from the Deakin University's digital library archive.
    
    
11. Flinders Digital Library Archive: Free and open access to over 3000 scholarly outputs from the Flinders electronic archive.
    
    
12. James Cook University ePrints/e-library: Browse and download scholarly works from James Cook University. ( research works, journals, theses and dissertations etc)
    
    
13. University of Nevada's Reno digital Library: Free and open access to journal articles from different subjects.
    
    
14. Oxford electronic and digital Archive: Free and open access to over 2500 scholarly works - journals, thesis, etc, written in different languages.
    
    
15. The Digital Book Index: Links to over 140,000 digital educational materials. Lots of the materials linked to can be accessed freely online.
    
    
16. University of Virginia Electronic and digital collections: Free and open access to over 10,000 texts written in different languages. Some of the texts are in formats compatible with some hand held devices. You can also browse listings of their collections
    
    
17. The E Server: The EServer is an arts and humanities e-publishing co-op based at Iowa State University where hundreds of writers, editors and scholars gather to publish over 35,000 works free of charge.
    
    
18. The Free Library: Browse and access free online resources - millions of news, trade publications, newspapers, magazine, journal, reference and more.

Free Online Libraries for Accessing Free Scientific Journals and Articles

1. Pubmed Central: Browse for free full texted articles from sponsored publications
   
   
2. Nativida Medical Centre: Browse for free full texted article from science related journals
   
   
3. Mercy Regional Medical center: Browse for free full texted article from science related journals
   
   
4. Highwire press: A digital library and electronic archive that linked to thousands of free full texted science-related journal articles )
   
   
5. Bioline: An electronic library that indexed lots of journal articles on bioscience related issues. Not all articles here are free
   
   
6. Chemistry: Links to lots of free full texted chemistry related journal articles
   
   
7. The Public Library of Science: An organizations of scientist that canvases for free access to scientific publications. Browse and access some collections of free science journals.

Free Online Library for Accessing Literatures in the Humanities and Arts

1. Australian e-Humanities Network: A network that consists of Australian Academy of the Humanities, is an initiative of the Australian e-Humanities Network, the University of Sydney and the University of Newcastle. Free access is given to their collections of literatures on humanities.
   
   
2. The E Server: The EServer is an arts and humanities e-publishing co-op based at Iowa State University where hundreds of writers, editors and scholars gather to publish over 35,000 works free of charge.

Free Online Library for Accessing Research Thesis and Dissertation

1. Australasian Digital Theses: Free and open access to the theses and dissertation reports from over 40 australian university.
   
   
2. Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: Links are made to the theses and dissertations of different universities.
   
   
3. Curtin University of Technology: Open access to research products of curtin university of technology.
   
   
4. The Digital Library of the Commons (DLC): Open and free access to scholarly works which includes articles, theses and dissertations.
   
   
5. The Virtual Technical Reports Center: Links to technical reports, research papers, theses , dissertations etc.
   
   
6. Deakin University's digital library archive: Free and open access to scholarly works from the Deakin University's digital library archive.
   
   
7. James Cook University ePrints/e-library: Browse and download scholarly works from James Cook University. ( research works, journals, theses and dissertations etc)
   
   
8. Bond University e-Library: Free and open access to over 1500 research works ( journals, theses, etc) from different disciplines

Free Online e-Libraries for Accessing Science Materials

1. Digital Library for Earth System Education: Free and open access to over 4500 scholarly works that spans through different physical sciences courses.
   
   
2. E-Library of Science: Free access to different educational resources on mathematics, economics, linguistics, physics, philosophy,and other science courses
   
   
3. Digital Library of Information Science and Technology: Free access to materials on many subjects especially on library science, IT etc. Not all of its collections are free.
   
   
4. Electronics-ee: An electronic archive of freely accessible resources on different areas of electrical and electronics engineering.
   
   
5. The Electronic Library of Mathematics: Free and open access to educational resources on mathematics
   
   
6. Math World: Complete maths resources and encyclopedia for students, researchers and maths tutors.
   
   
7. Free Maths eBooks from Trillia.com: Free access to different textbooks on mathematics.The ebooks are in PDF format.
   
   
8. Free maths ebooks on NewsSciTech: Browse and download free maths e-textbooks.
   
   
9. Free downloadable Books from Freebookcentre.net: Links to collections of free science textbooks including computer books, technical books, medical books, mathematics books, engineering books, etc
   
   
10. Free Tech books: Links to sites that offer free downloadable ebooks, textbook, lecture notes and other educational resources on science related courses.

Free Online Libraries for Accessing Medical and Biological Works/ Materials

1. Free Online Medical Dictionary: Search for the meanings of medically related words with the free online medical dictionary
   
   
2. Online Medical Encyclopedia: Free access to an online health encyclopedia with information on over 1000 medical topics.
   
   
3. Free books for doctors: Access and download free medical eBooks (ebooks are written in different languages)
   
   
4. handheldsfordoctors.com: Free access to medical ebooks for doctors
   
   
5. Cochrane e-Library: Free access to contemporary information on health care treatments and practices
   
   
6. Kurt Stüber's Online Library: Free access to historic and modern biological text books
   
   
7. Mesothelioma Cancer Center: An educational resource center for issues on asbestos-induced cancer.
   
   
8. Surgery and Laboratory Investigations: Free access to lots of information and guide on different biological laboratory practices.

Online e-Libraries for Accessing Free Online Textbooks

1. National Academy Press: Access to over 3000 free science related texts.
   
   
2. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Bookshelf: Browse and download free textbook chapters from biomedical related issues like cell, glycobiology, genes, etc. The books are formatted in HTML.
   
   
3. Internet Public Library: Free access to over 15,000 free e-textbooks.
   
   
4. The University of Pennsylvania Online Books Page: Browse and access lots of free eBooks.
   
   
5. University of California Press: Free access to browsable chapters of over 500 ebooks.

Free Online Libraries for Accessing Reference Materials

1. Free encyclopedia from AllRefer.com: Free access to online encyclopedia on different subjects, gazetteers and other interesting reference material.
   
   
2. Online Resources from online-dictionary.net: Free access to online dictionaries in both specialized(e.g. sciences) and non specialized topics( like languages)
   
   
3. Free Online Medical Dictionary: Search for the meanings of medically related words with the free online medical dictionary
   
   
4. Online Medical Encyclopedia: Free access to an online health encyclopedia with information on over 1000 medical topics.
   
   
5. International Islamic Digital Library: Free access to scholarly works on islamic religion- scholarly write ups, articles, theses, dissertations etc. Requires registration.
   
   
6. The Catholic Encyclopedia: Interesting reference resource for catholic related inquires.

Free Online Libraries for Accessing Classics and Literature Works

Listed here are websites were you can browse and download different sorts of classical literatures - science fiction novels, fantasy novels, medieval works, poems, children book collections, etc

1. Bartleby.com: Free access to many classic works
   
   
2. Literature Post: Free access to lots of classic works-plays, novels, poems and other literatures
   
   
3. Public Bookshelf: Free access to fiction and non-fiction classic works.
   
   
4. Bibliomania: Browse and access lots of free classic works and other research works.
   
   
5. William Shakespeare works: Access complete works of william shakespeare online.
   
   
6. Pennsylvania State University Classics collections: Access many classical works of literature published by the Pennsylvania State University
   
   
7. Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts: Free access to lots of English and American Literatures.
   
   
8. Elfwood literature collections: Free access to lots of science fictions and fantasy novels and other literature works.
   
   
9. Online Medieval and Classical Library: Free access to online medieval and classical works.
   
   
10. Online Novels: Links to lots of free accessible online novels
    
    
11. On-Line Novels by RLC Authors
    
    
12. Baen Free Library: Collections of different free novels and classic literatures
    
    
13. Cyber-Books to Explore On-Line: Free access to lots of online literatures and novels
    
    
14. The Internet Classics Archive: Access to free online literature works (Mainly Greco-Roman works, some Chinese and Persian, all in English translation)
    
    
15. The Literature Page: Free access to lots of free fiction works
    
    
16. Classic Bookshelf: An online collections of free classic literatures
    
    
17. International Children's Digital Library: A free online collection of children's literatures
    
    
18. Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project: A free online collection of children's literatures.

Download Free eBooks Compatible with Mobile Phones and Hand-Held Devices

1. Audio books for free: Browse and download free classic works in audio(MP3) formats- categories found here includes Adventure, Crime Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Westerns, Thrillers, Martial Arts, Spy Stories,etc
   
   
2. tx2ph.com collections of mobile ebooks: Download lots of free classic literatures and novels adapted for mobile and hand-held devices
   
   
3. BooksInMyPhone.com: Browse and download lots of classic literatures adapted for mobile and hand-held devices
   
   
4. Ebookhood: Free access to tools for converting web pages and other document to formats that can be read with mobile phones and other hand held devices.