Digital Book Index: World's Virtual Library

Welcome! Over the last decade, a quiet revolution has been going on in the development of a large library of "digital" or "electronic" books. While there are still large gaps, a very substantial body of "Western" thought is available in the form of downloadable or on-line books. Most major writers, from Plato to Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Proust, or John Le Carre, are accessible on the Internet. Subjects range from the highly scholarly to the contemporary and popular -- especially as more commercial publishers discover the virtues of "on-line" distribution. This index is intended as a "Meta-index" for most major eBook sites, along with thousands of smaller specialized sites. In some subject categories, the resources you find here are more comprehensive than those of all but the largest of research libraries, due to the budget & space constraints of smaller institutions.

Digital Book Index provides links to more than 165,000 full-text digital books from more than 1800 commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites. More than 140,000 of these books, texts, and documents are available free.

Here's some of what you will find:

• Reference Books: More than 2000 Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Thesauri, Glossaries,
  
  
  Bibliographies, Chronologies, Timelines, Literary Histories, Biographies, Writing & Style Guides & Student Study aids.
• Literature & Languages: About 12,000 basic texts in English & American Literature, ranging from Chaucer & other medieval texts to modern, contemporary Fiction & Literature. This includes the most comprehensive, openly-accessible collection of 19th century American Literature available on the Internet, as well as extensive collections on Shakespeare (at least eight different editions --  modern, old-spelling, & photo facsimiles of the original Folios & Quartos, etc.); the American Renaissance (Transcendentalism); the Harlem Renaissance; 3000+ Short Stories, Diaries, Sagas, and Ballads; along with 2500+ volumes of Canadian, Australian, ancient Greek & Latin, French, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish, Scandinavian, Indian (limited), Chinese (limited), & Japanese (limited) literatures. There are 3000 volumes of Poetry and more than 3000 volumes by women writers.
• History: About 15,000 volumes in North American history, from the early European voyages of Exploration and Discovery, early settlement, the colonial period, the Revolutionary War period, the fur traders & mountainmen, the Gold rushes, the pioneer expansion westward, the Civil-War, Reconstruction, etc. Other collections include English & Irish history, European, (ancient, medieval, & Renaissance texts through World War I & II), Latin American, Middle-Eastern, Asian, & African history, as well as Military history and the history of Science, Medicine, & Technology. Local & regional history are organized by states & regions. More than 1000 historical documents are arranged in chronological order
• Social Sciences: Collections in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Ethnology & Folklore, Mythology, & Legends; Economics, Political Economy, & Economic History; Politics, Political Science, Political philosophy.
• Medicine & Health: An extensive collection of about 1500 medical & health books for both professionals & patients (Anatomy, Radiology, Infectious Diseases, Endocrinology, Hematology, Neuroscience, Surgery, Oncology, Virology, Dentistry, Public Health, etc. etc.), along with medical history.
• Math & Sciences: Mathematics (1900+ vols.), Astronomy, Biology, Botany & Zoology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular & Cell Biology, Plant Biology, Genetics, evolutionary thought, Biomedical Ethics; Chemistry, Biochemistry, Inorganic & Organic Chemistry, Spectroscopy; Materials & Industrial Science; Physics; Engineering, Electronics & Communications Technologies, & Computer Science.
• Philosophy & Religion: Religion includes 1200+ titles on Christianity, Judiaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Daoism, Taoism, Sikhism, etc.; as well as Witchcraft, Occultism, Magic, etc.
• Law: Legal resources include US Constitutional history, state constitutions, treaties, legal-historical documents, state statues & laws, legal ethics rules, copyright, and consumer information.
• The Arts: Art & Graphic arts; Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Dance, Decorative Arts, Costume, Theatre & Drama (more than 1000 plays), Music, Photography, Film & Video, & the Book Arts
• Childrens eBooks: About 3500 contemporary & classic children's books and stories
• Other selections include Agriculture (1500+ titles); Business (600+); Education & Education History; Transportation (roads, bridges, canals, & railroads, etc.), Textbooks (free & commercial); Cooking & Food, Games (chess, etc.), & Pets; Travel books; environmentalism; & various "Area Studies:" Native-Americans, Afro-Americans, Women's Studies & issues; China, Egypt, India, Japan, &  Medieval & Renaissance Studies.

Recommended in the July 2014 issue of ALA's Choice.