Factsheet
Type of site Digital library index
Available in English, Czech, German, French, Croatian, Italian, Portuguese, Telugu, Chinese, Ukrainian
Founder(s) Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud
Type of site Digital library index
Available in English, Czech, German, French, Croatian, Italian, Portuguese, Telugu, Chinese, Ukrainian
Founder(s) Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud
Open Library
openlibrary.org
Welcome to Open Library | Open Library
Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Read, borrow, and discover more than 3M books for free.
Google Play
play.google.com › store › apps › details
Open Library - Apps on Google Play
Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.
Videos
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How to Read,Borrow & Download free e-Books from Open Library? Full ...
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Open Library Tutorial - YouTube
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Open Library - YouTube
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How To Use Open Library - YouTube
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Open Library Overview - YouTube
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Reading Books from Internet Archive & Open Library - YouTube
Reddit
reddit.com › r/books › open library is a website that allows you to "borrow" from an archive of over 137,000 books at no cost. just sign up and happy reading!
r/books on Reddit: Open Library is a website that allows you to "borrow" from an archive of over 137,000 books at no cost. Just sign up and happy reading!
March 12, 2014 - Nearly every book I've wanted has been available through my library this way. New releases are usually an exception, but I can trek down to a library the few times a year that matters to me. eBook lending is great and it already is catching on, big time. Exciting! ... Wow! Anyone living in the state can get a NYPL library card! How come I never knew this?! ... Oh hey, I do support over at Open Library and yeah it looks like we're under a bit of server load.
Libguides
jamessprunt.libguides.com › ebooks › ol
Open Library - E-books - Library at James Sprunt Community College
Learn how to find e-books from the library to download or read online. ... Open Library is a database of over two million digitized books, including classic and public-domain texts, as well as a growing collection of books of all kinds donated by libraries around the country.
Internet Archive
blog.archive.org › 2011 › 04 › 16 › open-library-buying-e-books-from-publishers
Open Library Buying e-Books from Publishers | Internet Archive Blogs
April 16, 2011 - This new twist on the traditional ... OpenLibrary.org offers an e-Book lending library and digitized copies of classics and older books as well as books in audio and DAISY formats for those qualified readers...
Reddit
reddit.com › r › libgen › comments › 1hxlvc0 › how_do_you_download_books_from_open_library
How do you download books from Open Library : r/libgen
January 9, 2025 - I found a book that I need in OpenLibrary, but it doesn't have any download or borrow buttons.
Project Gutenberg
gutenberg.org
Free eBooks | Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a library of free eBooks.
LOC
loc.gov › collections › open-access-books › about-this-collection
About this Collection | Open Access Books | Digital Collections | Library of Congress
This is a growing collection of contemporary open access e-books. The books in this collection cover a wide range of subjects, including history, music, poetry, technology, and works of fiction.
Libanswers
denison.libanswers.com › faq › 364329
How do I check out a book from Open Library? - LibAnswers
1. Create an account at https://openlibrary.org/ and then verify your email. 2. Log in. 3. Type the book name or topic you wish to find. (Example: "Poetic Edda"). You may also search by Title, Author, Text, Subject, Lists, or open the advanced search options.
Quora
quora.com › Why-hasnt-Open-Library-been-shut-down-yet-Theyre-literally-scanning-books-and-posting-them-for-everyone-to-use-without-the-permission-of-or-payment-to-the-authors-Its-mission-is-apparently-to-make-writing-an
Why hasn't Open Library been shut down yet? They're literally scanning books and posting them for everyone to use without the permission of, or payment to, the authors. It's mission is apparently to make writing an entirely $0 salary livelihood. - Quora
Answer (1 of 3): You’ve been misinformed about what they do. One of their goals is to preserve—forever!—physical copies of books. They do this by scanning the book, thereby producing an eBook copy, then putting the hard copy book into climate controlled “deep storage”. They then lend—as ...
App Store
apps.apple.com › us › app › open-library-reader › id1573989409
Open Library Reader App - App Store
Open Library is an online library with millions of books to browse or check out. You can track the books that you're reading, want to read, etc. and read many of them right there.
Gromeus
gromeus.com › home › knowledge › open library: a free online library that lets you borrow books like a real library
Open Library: a free online library that lets you borrow books like a real library - Project Gromeus
August 24, 2025 - Open Library is a public, open catalog run by the Internet Archive. Its goal is simple, one web page for every book ever published. Anyone can search by
Open Books -
open-books.org › home › buy books to build classroom libraries for resource-withheld schools in chicago.
Buy Books to Build Classroom Libraries for Resource-Withheld Schools in Chicago. - Open Books
November 17, 2022 - Option A: Make a general donation for a new book at only $3 per book.
365 Things Austin
365thingsaustin.com › home › uncategorized › free access to open library
Free Access to Open Library - 365 Things Austin
January 24, 2024 - It’s a great time to dive into those books you’ve always wanted to read but haven’t had the time for. Open Library is an online library that began in November 2007 and has been inhaling catalog records from some of the biggest libraries in the world ever since.
UMass Amherst Libraries
openbooks.library.umass.edu
Open Books – Open Education Books published by UMass Amherst Libraries
Welcome to the UMass Amherst Libraries repository of openly licensed books and textbooks. Launched in the fall of 2018, our goal is to support the UMass Amherst community in creating, adapting, and adopting open education resources. This catalog is populated with openly licensed educational ...
Openlibraries
openlibraries.online
Open Libraries | Everyone deserves to learn
Working with US libraries and organizations serving people with print disabilities, Open Libraries can build the online equivalent of a great, modern public library, providing millions of free digital books to billions of people.
The Projector
kawisniewski.com › 2019 › 02 › 26 › free-books-open-libraries-15-resources-for-everyone
Free Books, Open Libraries: 15 Resources for Everyone | The Projector
February 26, 2019 - OAPEN is based in the Netherlands and was established by the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the University of Leiden (UL), the University library of Utrecht University (UU), the Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and Amsterdam University Press (AUP). Its library provides free, peer-reviewed, open access e-books (monographs), and edited volumes pertaining to the Social Sciences and the Humanities.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/books › is openlibrary.org really legal?
r/books on Reddit: Is openlibrary.org really legal?
August 9, 2022 -
I just found the website openlibrary.org and it seemed almost too good to be true lol. There are a couple of books on there that aren't available to borrow at my local library and that I want to download. However I am unsure if I should because when I was looking it up there seems to have been some controversy over whether their practices with scanning and uploading ebooks is in the clear. For example, this article: https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/update-open-library/. The books I wanted to download are mostly 20th century works whose authors are dead but that are still covered by copyright, so I would not be worried about taking money from an author, but I also don't want to get in trouble or to be contributing to something unethical
So, is using open library to borrow books legal/ethical?
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Yes. I mean, they're the subject of ongoing litigation, but they're not a piracy site. They're doing everything above-board. They are also not as convenient as it might at first seem. Most books have a 1-hour timer on them, and they're not ebooks—you're reading scanned book pages. You definitely can't send the files to a Kindle, and probably not to any e-ink reader. You usually can't even download the file but have to read it in your browser. (At least, the books that I've seen.) They're incredibly useful if you need to, say, check a table of contents, read a few pages to see if you like the style, look something up quickly, etc. But I've never actually read a book of theirs in full.
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So, is using open library to borrow books legal/ethical? The former - is it legal - as noted, is under litigation to establish the answer to that question. To me, it's pretty clear that it's not legal. They are taking liberties with the first sale doctrine etc by buying a physical copy, scanning it, and then lending the resulting digital file. Doing it this way means the author is seeing no money from the digital lending whatsoever. Which isn't right. It's even worse when they're buying books second-hand. Legitimate library systems pay for a license for the ebook(s), and when the license expires, they pay for another one if the demand for the book is still there (this is intended to replicate the way libraries would buy physical copies and then buy further copies to replace the old ones as they wear out). Also, some countries have what is known as a Public Lending Right (or similar). What this is is a pot of money that is distributed to authors whose books are borrowed from public libraries, so they get paid for the loans. Open Library/The Internet Archive pays no money to the authors. Which brings me to the second part of the question; is it ethical? No. Use your local library. Ask them if they can get the books for you. As eBooks. In most cases you will find that if they can, they will. But libraries are heavily reliant on patrons letting them know what books they want. Many library services in my country have a form on their website that you can fill out to express interest in books they don't yet carry. And my own local library service has added books to their catalogue many times after I've filled out a form. So to me, the ethical thing to do is to try and exhaust all avenues with a local library service first. Should such avenues be exhausted to no avail, my next step would be to see if it's possible to get the book(s) for 1p+postage from online marketplaces. Even if it's a shitty copy and I throw it away after reading, 1p+ postage is less than I'd pay for an Inter Library Loan, so I can justify it on myself that way. If the book isn't available, or is incredibly expensive, then. Well. You could use Open Library/Internet Archive. But don't kid yourself it's ethical (or, depending on the outcome of the litigation, legal).
Scribd
scribd.com › document › 680844408 › Welcome-to-Open-Library-Open-Library
Welcome to Open Library Online | PDF | Libraries | Cyberspace
1. Welcome to Open Library, a free online library catalog with millions of books available for reading through Controlled Digital Lending. 2. The library allows users to browse books by subject, author, or lists created by other members, keep ...