LibGuides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Public Domain

Public Domain

"Public domain" refers to materials that are freely available for use by anyone, typically because:

The copyright protection has expired, allowing the work to enter the public domain.
The copyright owner has purposefully relinquished their rights and dedicated the work to the public domain.
The copyright owner failed to comply with copyright renewal requirements.
The work is ineligible for copyright protection, including creations by U.S. Government employees within their official duties or materials that cannot be copyrighted, such as ideas, facts, and data points.

Public domain is different than "publicly accessible" or "free online." Read more about the public domain here.

Selection of Public Domain Resources

Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets
Primary Source Sets are public domain materials curated to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Drawing online materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, the sets use letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.
Guide to Finding Interesting Public Domain Works Online (Article)
From the Public Domain Review and Public Knowledge Project.

Finding Public Domain Resources

The Public Domain: How to Find & Use Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More

Even though grade school teachers have told us otherwise for years, writers and artists can copy other people's work and get away with it. How? By dipping into the public domain, where everything is free for the taking. The Public Domain is the definitive guide to the creative works that are not protected by copyright and can be copied freely or otherwise used without paying permission fees. The book explains step by step how to recognize when a work is in the public domain. Chapters cover: writings, music, art, architecture, maps, choreography, photography, film and video, computer software and databases.The book also lists hundreds of resources, such as websites, libraries and archives, useful for locating public domain works. Destined to become a classic reference guide, The Public Domain is indispensable for anyone who deals with creative works, including publishers, web developers, writers, musicians and composers, artists, librarians, photographers and filmmakers.