What is the public domain? The public domain consists of material that is not protected by copyright and is therefore considered to belong to everyone for every kind of use (find more info on the copyright guide). Items enter the public domain when their copyright expires, but the Sony Bono Copyright Term Extension Act stopped copyright from expiring on materials published in the U.S. for twenty years. In January 2019, items published in the U.S. 1923 will have their copyright expire. To celebrate the long awaited movement of the public domain, Digital Scholarship Services has selected 19 materials, based on a popular vote, to add to our digital collections.
CHILDREN’S LIT
The USF Libraries growing Children’s and Young Adult Literature Collections currently include over 25,000 titles of American fiction for adolescent and young readers, dating from 1870 to the present. Seven titles were selected as new additions to this digital collection for 2019.
“Blixie Bimber’s mother was chopping hash. And the hatchet broke. So Blixie started downtown with fifteen cents to buy a new hash hatchet for chopping hash. Downtown she peeped around the corner next nearest the postoffice where the Potato Face Blind Man sat with his accordion. And the old man had his legs crossed, one foot on the sidewalk, the other foot up in the air…” —Rootabaga Pigeons
- Cathalina at Greycliffe by Hariet Pyne Grove
- Tom Swift and His Flying Boat by Victor Appleton
- The Cowardly Lion of Oz by Ruth Thompson
- Rootabaga Pigeons by Carl Sandburg
- Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery
- The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
- The Story of a Wooly Dog by Laura Lee Hope
FLORIDA STUDIES
The Florida Studies collection contains materials relating to Florida’s history and culture, especially the Tampa Bay region and its relationship with the Caribbean Basin. Three titles were digitized for this collection in 2019.
- Pedro Menédez de Avilés, adelantado, governor and captain-general of Florida, memorial by Gonzalo Solís de Merás
- History of Florida: past and present, historical and biographical by Harry Gardner Cutler
- Citrus Culture in Florida by H.J. Wheeler
NATURAL SCIENCES
The Natural Sciences digital collection contains a variety of monographs about Natural Sciences topics.
SCIENCE FICTION
Recognizing that history and literature occur outside of the established canon, the University of South Florida’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Collections provides scholars and students the opportunity to explore the development and influence of popular fiction genres. Three titles were added to this digital collection for 2019.
“Springtime in Hades. A season of awakening for all Inferno. The air was surcharged with mephitic fumes of burning pitch floating lazily out of the Valley of Hinnom. Warm breezes told of the breaking up of winter. Here and there delicate petals of Sulphur flowers dotted the landscape…” —Efficiency in Hades
- The Clockwork Man by Edwin Odle
- Efficiency in Hades: The Romantic Adventures of an Enterprising Expert in the Lower World by Robert B. Vale
- The Barge of Haunted Lives by J. Aubrey Tyson
SHEET MUSIC
The Sheet Music Digital Collection was created as a part of this Public Domain Celebration to highlight USF Libraries Special Collections’ over 8,000 pieces of sheet music from the mid-19th century onward.