Public domain titles have fallen out of copyright, allowing legal distribution of books and other materials at no cost. Generally, the ebooks found on the sites below will not be those written by current authors like James Patterson and Janet Evanovich. Use your library card and Libby to find current titles.

The following websites are not maintained by the Newport Beach Public Library. If you have questions or concerns about the content from one of the websites below, you may need to consult their support services.

Project Gutenberg - Offers over 42,000 free ebooks, including great historical works like Shakespeare and many of the classics. Choose from various file formats and download them or read them online. All ebooks were previously published by bona fide publishers. Digitized and diligently proofread with the help of thousands of volunteers.

LibriVox - LibriVox provides free, public domain audiobooks read by volunteers around the world.

Digital Public Library of America - The DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items—photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more—from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists; and share their lists with others.

Google Books - Google has partnered with academic libraries all over the world to digitize their materials. Public domain titles are available for full-text browsing and copyrighted works are still often indexed and available for searching.

Open Library Project (Internet Archive) - Browse and read over 5 million books and items from over 1,500-curated collections. You will find a wide range of literature, historical texts and research materials; and wonderful thematic collections like Children’s Classics, Cookbooks and Genealogy.

The Smithsonian Digital Library - The Smithsonian Libraries collections cover subjects ranging from Art to Zoology and everything in between - a diversity that reflects the research that goes on "behind the scenes" here at the Smithsonian in our Museums, Zoological Park and Research Centers.