Celebrating the Public Domain through digitization

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Cover of Citrus County Florida far enough south to insure semi-tropical
Citrus County Florida far enough south to insure semi-tropical. City, County, and Regional Histories E-book Collection. USF Libraries. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/regional_ebooks/43/

Join the USF Libraries in our annual celebration of the public domain through digitization!  The public domain consists of material for which copyright protection has expired, was forfeit, or does not apply.  The vast majority of materials in the public domain are there because copyright has expired.  Copyright law in the US has a complex history. Protection for copyrighted works currently lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, but changes in copyright legislation throughout the twentieth century mean that different types of material published between 1928 and 1977 have different spans of copyright protection.

As of 2023, all works published prior to 1928 are in the public domain. The USF Libraries have selected material from the Libraries’ collections published in 1927 that are newly in the public domain to digitize in celebration. This is the fifth year we have celebrated through digitization!  Once you are done perusing this year’s contributions to our Digital Collections, don’t forget to explore our previous celebrations:

Once again, we solicited public input on what titles would be digitized for our 2023 celebration in a vote.  23 individuals cast 306 votes on 58 possible titles in four different collecting areas.

Cover of Rural Home Life in Florida
Rural home life in Florida. City, County, and Regional Histories E-book Collection. USF Libraries. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/regional_ebooks/39/

Florida Studies

Environmental and Natural History

Cover of Mother Nature's Cheerful Children.
Mother Nature’s Cheerful Children. Children’s Literature Books. USF Libraries. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/childrens_lit_books/72/

Sheet Music

Children’s Literature

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