Google Book Search: "Finding books is as easy as finding websites with Google Web Search."

• Use keywords, phrases, quotations; you get all the books whose contents match your search terms. You might also see a few snippets - sentences of your search term in context.
• Click on a book title and you'll see basic info like in a card catalog.
• If a publisher or author has given permission, you'll see a full page and be able to browse within the book to see more pages.
• If the book is out of copyright, you'll see a full page and you can page forward or back to see the full book.
• Clicking on "Search within this book," allows you to perform more searches within the book you've selected.
• You can click on any of the "Buy this Book" links to go straight to an online bookstore where you can buy the book. In many cases, you can also click "Find this book in a library" to find a local library where you can borrow it. 04/14/08

Bibliomania: Read, study, research, shop. Free online literature (fiction, drama, poetry, short stories) with more than 2000 classic texts. Study guides, literature book notes, reference books, book summaries, author biographies. TEACHER RESOURCES too. 07/02/07

Quotations (at Bibliomania): Click for Grocott's Alpha list or Grocott's Thematic list.

Folklinks: Folk and Fairy-Tale Sites: A colleague sent me this link and said, "I came across this great web site as I searched for short short stories that can be used in English classes. 2 great things about it: 1) it includes folktales from all over the world and 2) it is categorized by subject or topic or theme. Enjoy." 11/25/06

WikiBooks and WikiSource: Wikipedia's Free collections of textbooks. "Wikibooks went online on 10 July 2003, and there are 22,403 modules currently on the site." ..."Wikibooks differs from Wikisource because content on Wikibooks is expected to be significantly changed by participants. Raw source documents such as the original text of Shakespearian plays is hosted on Wikisource instead."..."Wikisource collects and stores in digital format previously published texts; including novels, non-fiction works, letters, speeches, constitutional and historical documents, laws and a range of other documents. All texts collected are free of copyright, either because this has expired or because the text has been released under a GNU Free Documentation License." 11/25/06

The Complete Works of Charles Darwin is online: "The largest collection of Darwin's writings ever assembled...contains every Darwin publication as well as many of his handwritten manuscripts. All told there are more than 50,000 searchable text pages and 40,000 images. There is also the most comprehensive Darwin bibliography ever published and the largest manuscript catalogue ever assembled. More than 150 ancillary texts are also included, ranging from reference works to contemporary reviews, obituaries, descriptions of Darwin's Beagle specimens and important works for understanding Darwin's context. Free audio mp3 versions of his works are also available." 10/29/06

Google Book Search: Starting August 30/06, readers can find new, and free, downloadable versions of some of the world's greatest books. "Working with our library partners, we're expanding access to books that are out of copyright and have become public domain material. Users can search and read these books on Google Book Search like always, but now they can also download and print them to enjoy at their own pace." 09/02/06

RealLiteratureDir.com ~ Author Biographies & Their Literary Works: FREE ONLINE. "...our site is the Reader's Ultimate Resource for Published Authors. Get the alphabetical list of authors. See the Biography picture and read Literary works of the eminent authors by clicking on their name." Categories of works available are extensive -- short stories, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, plays, novels, essays, children's literature, and more. 07/31/06

Google Books: In spite of the current controversy surrounding copyright issues, I think it's admirable that this and other sites are making texts more and more available. Here's what Google says about their initiative: "In May 1961, JFK said that he was going to put a man on the moon. The idea was unthinkable at the time, but within the decade, the goal was achieved. Google Book Search is our man on the moon initiative. We see a world where all books are online and searchable. How exactly will this be done? How long exactly will it take? We aren't sure, but we're committed to making it happen." When you get there, read their "about" page. 01/31/06

Project Gutenberg: That link is to the USA site; there's also an Australian site. There are 17,000 FREE books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog. "These ebooks may be read on a computer using a simple text editor or viewer. The books are in the 'public domain' and all have been prepared by volunteers." 01/31/06

free eBooks.net: Download free Fiction, Marketing, electronic publishing ebooks. "Free-eBooks.net specializes in collecting free fiction, tutorial, marketing and business eBooks as well as resources to aid you in promoting eBooks. Our featured eBooks are below, please click on the name of the eBook to download to your hard-drive. We also have links to useful resources for eBook Publishers....We now offer free subscriptions to your favorite trade magazine publications for a full year!"11/01/05

Internet Archives: Extensive archives of existing internet audio, moving images, texts, and software. "The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public....an ‘Internet library,’ with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.... The Internet Archive is working to prevent the Internet — a new medium with major historical significance — and other "born-digital" materials from disappearing into the past. Collaborating with institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, we are working to preserve a record for generations to come." 06/11/05

The eGranary Digital Library: "...provides millions of digital educational resources to institutions lacking adequate Internet access. Through a process of garnering permissions, copying Web sites, and delivering them to intranet Web servers INSIDE our partner institutions in developing countries, we deliver millions of multimedia documents that can be instantly accessed by patrons over their local area networks at no cost." 05/01/05

The Free Library.com: The EduResources Weblog says this about it: "A short biography of each author accompanies the e-texts, which include both short and long works; writers of fiction and non-fiction (such as Aristotle, Abraham Lincoln, and John Kennedy) are included. Additionally, a selection of famous quotations and additional resources accompany each listing. Textual searches, both within the entire library, and within a selected e-text can by made. Perhaps some evaluators might be critical about who is included in this e-library and who is missing, but I'm grateful to find such a readily available free library." 04/10/05

Encyclopedia of World History: Another reference tool at Bartleby.com. Sixth Edition. "Renowned historian Peter N. Stearns and thirty prominent historians have combined their expertise over the past ten years to perfect this comprehensive chronology of more than 20,000 entries that span the millennia from prehistoric times to the year 2000." 02/11/05

National Academies Press (NAP): NAP is a valuable resource for free online books of academic value, books that can be used for instruction and for research. The online inventory includes more than 3000 books on subjects ranging from Agriculture to Urban Development. 01/03/05

The GOOGLE LIBRARY: "In announcing Tuesday, December 14/04, that it is working with five major libraries to scan millions of books for inclusion in its Web index, Google opened another battle in the intense competition among the leading search engines." 12/25/04

Google Scholar (Scholarly Research tool): "Aimed at academic researchers and scientists, the new search service will make the world's scientific and academic literature universally accessible. Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. GOOGLE wants "everyone to be able to stand on the shoulders of giants." GOOGLE is "giving back to the scholarly community," so the service is free and without text based ads." 11/20/04

ProQuest Library Resources: "The ProQuest® online information service provides access to thousands of current periodicals and newspapers, many updated daily and containing full-text articles from 1986. Our deep backfiles of archival material are also expanding daily as we digitize 5.5 billion pages from our distinguished microfilm collection." 04/20/04

ProQuest's K-12 Library Resources are extensive. They include: 04/20/04

• eLibrary: "...the next-generation easy-to-use general reference tool -- features more than 800 full-text magazines, newspapers, books, transcripts, maps and images for support of student inquiry."
• eLibrary Curriculum edition: "...delivers one of the largest collections of periodical and digital media content designed specifically for K-12 schools and libraries. Students find the answers they need from more than 2,000 full-text magazines, newspapers, reference books, and transcripts -- plus thousands of pictures, maps, weblinks, and audio/video content."
• History Study CenterT "...offers valuable historical reference material that covers 14 centuries of history -- from ancient to modern, old world to new world."
• ProQuest Historical NewspapersT "...provides the full run of The New York Times from 1851 to 1999 -- an indispensable source for historical study."
• ProQuest Learning: LiteratureT "...features thousands of original full-text works of poetry, prose and drama, as well as author biographies and contemporary criticisms -- in one integrated source."

Shakespeare Search: Browse comedies, tragedies, histories, poetry, coined words, most popular lines, etc. 11/06/03

Bigwords.com: A place to find the best textbook prices available online. You can also search for the best prices for DVDs, games, and music. 09/14/03

Children's Books Online ~ the Rosetta Project, Inc.: "The largest collection of illustrated antique children's books on line...we think. Download Entire Books for FREE. ...The Rosetta Project's collections currently contain about 2,000 antique children's books which were published in the 19th and early 20th century. We shall be putting these combined collections on line as funding permits. Our current goal of putting 2,000 volumes on line will create an online library of aproximately 65,000 html pages. However, as we are still collecting books from around the world, we expect the Rosetta Project online library to eventually reach millions of html pages." 06/02/03

Knowing Poe Thinkport: A wonderful site to explore, even if you're not a grea Edgar Allen Poe fan. 05/10/03

Ancient Scripts.com: "The aim of Ancient Scripts is not to replace texts books or instructional web sites. Instead, it is designed to give an introduction to writing systems, which hopefully will tantalize the reader into searching for more information on the web or in books and publications." 05/10/03

The Online Books Page: Search 18,000+ Listings (by New Listings, Authors, Titles, Subjects, Serials) in the categories of News; Features; Archives (General, Foreign Language, Specialty). 12/27/02

Banned Books on-line: special exhibit of books that have been the objects of censorship or censorship attempts. The books featured here, ranging from Ulysses to Little Red Riding Hood. 12/27/02

Free Library from informIT: WebSource says: "A complete online directory of free online books. This is a great resource." Topic categories are Business & E-Commerce; Database; Design & Creative Media; IT Management; Networking & Communications; Operating Systems; Programming; Web Development. 12/27/02

Classics for Young People: "A growing number of children's literature classics are out of copyright, and are among the books available in full-text on the Internet. Here are some of the more popular and interesting titles that are available in HTML format." 12/27/02

Editec's Children's Collection: "The largest collection of antique children's books on the World Wide Web, we think. ...The Rosetta Project's collections currently contain about 2,000 antique children's books which were published in the 19th and early 20th century. We shall be putting these combined collections on line as funding permits." 12/27/02

Project Gutenberg: "...the Internet's oldest producer of FREE electronic books (eBooks or eTexts)." To this date, a total of 6267 Project Gutenberg eBooks, divided into basically 3 portions, as follows: 12/27/02

• Light Literature; such as Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, Peter Pan, Aesop's Fables, etc.
• Heavy Literature; such as the Bible or other religious documents, Shakespeare, Moby Dick, Paradise Lost, etc.
• References; such as Roget's Thesaurus, almanacs, and a set of encyclopedia, dictionaries, etc.

Online Computer Library Center, Inc.: Lots of resources, a librarian's toolbox, searches, etc. 10/18/01

Worditude.com: A small selection of links to online texts (html and pdf versions). 10/02/01

WireTap Electronic Text Archive: "Wiretap is a free public service to provide electronic text to citizens of the Internet. One of the earliest e-text repositories. All of this material was gathered and organized in an Internet world prior to creation of the World Wide Web. As such, it still resides in the archaic Gopher form." 11/13/00

eBook Library: 1,200 publicly-available ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center, including classic British and American fiction, major authors, children's literature, American history, Shakespeare, African-American documents, the Bible, and much more. 11/13/00

Electronic Texts Center Collections: Contains over 14,000 titles that can be serched, or browsed by author, by title, or by Dewey Decimal Classification. 11/13/00

Great Books Online: plus a HUGE database of reference materials with excellent search facilities. 05/16/01

netLibrary
Questia
ebrary
The above are all MetaText providers. "A MetaText is a textbook that is read through a web browser. Every MetaText edition is surrounded by a pedagogical framework designed to make educational content easier to present, customize, extend, explore and discuss." Most often available by purchase and/or subscription, Metatexts "provide instructors and students with a full range of interactive learning tools." Some online book sellers support eBooks/MetaTexts purchases, such as Blackwell and Coutts.

eBook Library: 1,200 publicly-available ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center, including classic British and American fiction, major authors, children's literature, American history, Shakespeare, African-American documents, the Bible, and much more.

Electronic Texts Center Collections: Contains over 14,000 titles that can be serched, or browsed by author, by title, or by Dewey Decimal Classification. 05/10/01

Shakespeare Search: 04/26/01

Mother Goose: Search all by title. 04/26/01

Holy Books: Search the old and new testaments by word. 04/26/01

American History: Search major historical documents. 04/26/01

Internet Public Library 03/29/01

WireTap Electronic Text Archive: "Wiretap is a free public service to provide electronic text to citizens of the Internet.One of the earliest etext repositories. All of this material was gathered and organized in an Internet world prior to creation of the World Wide Web. As such, it still resides in the archaic Gopher form."