Catalogues
This page compiles links to general eBook and audiobook repositories, eBook apps, and eBook stores.
eBook Repositories
- The Internet Archive
- The Internet Archive is such a wonderful resource. It is a non-profit company which digitises book resources, on every subject. Once you make an account you can borrow books from their library. I've found many useful public domain historical resources here in addition to books I wouldn't be able to find in the public library.
- Open Library
- Open Library is a part of the Internet Archive and has a more stereotypical online library format. If you wanted to, you could even volunteer with Open Library as a librarian to help maintain their records, which can teach you a little about the MARC Standards and other cataloguing identifiers used by the Library of Congress.
- Project Gutenberg
- This site compiles public domain eBooks to read. Like the Internet Archive it includes some resources not available in your public library.
- Google Books
- I have found Google Books invaluable for finding image references for design assignments, especially if we are asked to look up advertisements in magazines. It has digitized a lot (not all) magazines back multiple decades so if you are looking for some 70s, 80s, or 90s magazines to read Google Books probably has something for you.
- Archive of Our Own
- A non-profit and non-commercial archive for transformative works, fanart, and fanfiction. So this example is not like the others but I include it because I use it a lot to read fanfiction. Once you've searched the terms you want, unless you are a seasoned veteran I would suggest filtering by Kudos which will mean the most popular works are suggested first. You can download the fanfiction as eBooks to read on your preferred device.
- BookLive
- A Japanese eBook site, but you can find some eManga here not on other sites (although they are in Japanese), I've bought a few for visual reference as they weren't legally available in English. You may want a translator plug in to browse. These are not free but they are pretty affordable as far as eBooks go.
Newspaper Archives
- Google News Archive Search
- An archive of newspapers on Google, a somewhat different method of searching than using Google Books.
- Trove Newspapers & Gazettes Home
- An archive of Australian newspapers.
Libraries and eBook apps
- OverDrive
- An eBook and Audiobook library which you can download for Desktop or Mobile. Although it's been succeeded by an app called Libby for connecting with libraries, I still much prefer the uncluttered and more text-based interface of Overdrive which you can use to read eBooks.
- The Queensland State Library
- Located in Brisbane, Queensland, if you are a local resident you can make a free account to get free access to LinkedIn Learning tutorials, and borrow online resources. If you have a chance to check out the library in person I would strongly recommend it because of their extensive Asia Pacific Design Library.
Audiobook Repositories
- Librivox
- Volunteers create audiobooks of public domain works which are free to download and listen to.
Audiobooks
I am including an example audiobook in the public domain here.
- Thoughts On Art and Life by Leonardo da Vinci
- Exerpts from Leonardo da Vinci's diary on art and life, essentially. I found it interesting because back then art, religion, and science tended to merged together instead of mostly separate like they are in culture today. I think this perspective is very rich, and it is interesting to hear Leonardo's thoughts on art and why he chose specific mediums to work in.
