Guides: E-Books: Free/OA E-Book Collections

Free / Open Access E-Books

Most Library collections of e-books are only open to current Georgetown faculty, students, and staff. However, the following collections are partially or completely open to anyone. The list also includes directories of e-books.

The Library does not endorse or recommend these collections (as always, caveat lector!), but they may be useful research gateways for readers who do not have a current University affiliation.

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) This link opens in a new window
Collection of Open Access ebooks covering a wide range of topics in the humanities and social sciences. These books are made available through a collaborative initiative of the OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks).
This collection is freely accessible.
Gallica This link opens in a new window
Digital library of French and francophone culture maintained by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Contains electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files of French and other publications in history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. Almost all "classic" works of French literature are represented.
Google Books This link opens in a new window
Portal to Google's massive library digitization project. Depending on copyright restrictions, you may either see full text or limited parts of books (tables of contents, book covers, sample chapters, etc.).
HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Mostly older material in the public domain.
To login to Georgetown's instance of HathiTrust click on the large yellow "Log In" button. Select "Georgetown University" as your partner institution and click "Continue". Once prompted, login in using your NetID and password.
IMF eLibrary This link opens in a new window
eLibrary simplifies analysis and research with direct access to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools. Freely available as of Jan 2020.
Internet Archive This link opens in a new window
Offers permanent access for researchers, historians and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. It includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages. E-book collections include Text Archive and Project Gutenberg.
National Academies Press Free E-Books This link opens in a new window
The National Academies Press (NAP) was created by the National Academy of Sciences to publish the reports of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council, all operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States. The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and medicine, providing authoritative information on important matters in science and health policy. A free NAP account or submission of email address is required to download books for offline use.
Online Books Page This link opens in a new window
Search or browse for thousands of online books, by author, title or subject. From the University of Pennsylvania Library.