College students spends a lot of time studying and often find themselves in a bind when it comes to getting their books.
Whether you are looking for an electronic or a physical copy, plenty of places on the Internet can help you out.
With our list of websites for free college textbooks, students can find reading easier and more fun, and that is what this article aims to achieve.
Websites For Free College Textbooks
1. College Open Textbooks
If you’re looking for free college textbooks, look no further than College Open Textbooks.
This site offers peer-reviewed open-access textbooks written by departments of various colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.
You can use this resource to find a wide range of topics, including:
- Chemistry (averaging more than 300 pages)
- English Language & Literature (averaging over 200 pages)
- History (averaging over 500 pages)
The site also provides information about each course’s syllabus, syllabus summary, textbook recommendations, and other helpful resources such as sample exams and past assignments.
2. Connexions
Connexion is a free, open-source web-based digital library of textbooks, videos, and other educational resources. It’s a project of Rice University and the Open Content Alliance.
Connexions aims to make high-quality educational materials available for free through its website or smartphone app.
The site offers over 4 million titles in 50 languages that you can search by subject or keyword, like biology or chemistry. You can filter results by publisher or availability, whether or not they exist.
If you want to know more about any particular book listed on Connexions’ site, and there are many, you will find links from its description page directly to Amazon, where users can buy it if they decide they want it after all.
3. Community College Consortium For Open Educational Resources
CCCOER is a nonprofit organization that provides free textbooks and other educational resources to students at community colleges and state universities.
The consortium was founded in 2006 by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which wanted to make sure that students had access to high-quality learning materials.
CCCOER allows students from all over the country to download their textbooks for free on its website. They have over 2 million titles available.
4. Flat World Knowledge
Flat World Knowledge is a nonprofit that makes textbooks available online. They have a variety of subjects and levels of difficulty, so you can find the right book for your child.
They also have an extensive collection of literature, history books, and math and science textbooks.
This website has been around since 1996, so they know what they’re doing when it comes to providing quality educational materials at affordable prices.
5. BioRxiv
If you’re looking for a free college book website that offers textbooks specifically for science, then look no further.
BioRxiv is a science website offering a catalog of books on topics such as dermatology, ecology, pharmacology, etc.
It is also a website that informs its consumers when they receive notifications of newly published articles and news. They also have a Twitter page that you can follow for updates.
6. Bookshare
It can be difficult to find a free college book website that offers lesser-known textbooks in lesser-known fields of study.
Fortunately, Bookshare is your go-to source for all things non-mainstream. From cooking to literature to graphics, there’s a book for your every need.
Also, if you need free college books to prepare for the SAT or MCAT, LSAT or GRE, look no further than Bookshare.
7. Free-eBooks.net
Free-eBooks.net is a recognized and great resource for finding free college textbooks. The site offers over 4,000 titles in PDF format and an ePub version for easier reading on your smartphone or tablet.
You can search for books by subject, author, or title to find the perfect resource for your coursework.
If you’re looking to download a textbook from this website, there are two options: either get it in.
- PDF form will be easier if you’re uploading from an app like Dropbox.
- Or convert it into an ePub file so that you can read it on your smartphone/tablet device later, which makes sense if someone else will be reading with you.
8. Cite Seer X
If you want to get free college textbooks, Cite Seer X is the site for you.
With a wide variety of books written before 2000 and created by Penn University, Cite Seer X offers a portal to the past and ensures that you will be excited to find the books you need.
Cite Seer X also offers citations for the content you use; handy tool.
9. Digital Book Index
The Digital Book Index links hundreds of thousands of digital books for all subject areas. These fields range from mathematics to the sciences, medicine, religion, law, philosophy, and history.
At Digital Book Index, you can access thousands of PDF books for free from authors, publishers, universities, and private websites.
10. Global Text Project
The Global Text Project is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that provides free open-access textbooks to students worldwide.
The Global Text Project has cataloged over 800 books and works with universities, colleges, and other organizations to provide this information.
The site offers its readers a variety of subject areas, including
- Business & Economics
- Education & Instructional materials (including literacy)
- Health & Medicine
11. HathiTrust Digital Library
The HathiTrust Digital Library is a nonprofit digital library. It offers access to approximately 10 million titles and 500,000 journals, newspapers, and magazines in over 200 languages.
The HathiTrust collection is funded by universities, libraries, and foundations that want to make their collections available online for free.
The organization also works as an advocate for open access initiatives on behalf of publishers’ rights holders.
The group has more than 25 million pages of content in its collection.
12. Internet Archive
The renowned Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library that makes millions of books and movies available free to everyone.
The site has over 3 million freely downloadable ebooks, music albums, videos, and many other great resources for students and teachers alike.
This is an excellent place to start if you’re looking for free college textbooks online.
13. Legamus
Legamus is a site that offers free textbooks in different fields of study. The site is a good source for students or readers who want to save money on textbooks and also for those who want to support open access.
14. Open Culture
Open Culture is a resource for finding free textbooks, including many in the humanities and social sciences. They also have a list of free ebooks, audiobooks, and language learning resources available online.
The site also offers videos from universities all over the world that can be used as lectures or tutorials on topics such as science or history.
Open Culture’s collection of music downloads includes songs from famous artists like Dave Matthews Band and lesser-known artists who are still worth listening to.
15. Open Textbook Library
Open Textbook Library is a free, open-access textbook library created by the Internet Archive.
It provides access to over 200 textbooks worldwide, and its content is available for download through its website or a searchable catalog of books on any topic.
Open Textbook Library is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and was developed in collaboration with Google, which donated $10 million worth of books from their library collection.
16. Project Gutenberg
The renowned Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works.
The goal of Project Gutenberg is to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks, but it also has over 50,000 free eBooks available for download. Project Gutenberg is a great place to find free college textbooks!
17. Students Of The World Books Catalog
This is the website to visit if you’re looking for free textbooks. It’s a catalog of over 1,000 titles available for download as PDFs.
If you don’t have time to read through all of them yourself but still want access to some quality material from professors at different universities around the world, this may be one of your best options.
18. Wikibooks
Wikibooks is the largest repository of free textbooks on the Internet.
It contains over 1 million distinct books in more than 80 languages, making it the largest source of open educational resources (OER) available today.
You can find everything from freshman-level math to advanced physics, computer science, and even some cooking.
Wikibooks aren’t just limited to academic subjects; there are also many popular fiction titles that have been translated into other languages as well.
For example: “The Harry Potter series” has been translated into Spanish by Project Gutenberg Mexico and into French by Éditions Gallimard.
FAQ
Are Free Pdfs Of Textbooks Illegal?
Understand that it is illegal to download a textbook from the Internet in the first place,” Oppenheim said.
What Is The Best Website For College Textbooks?
Websites include Better World Books, Textbooks.com, Campus Book Rentals, and eCampus.
According to the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid Report, a year’s worth of books and supplies for the average full-time student at a four-year college is $1,240.
Is The Z-Library Legal?
Copyright law is inherently against shadow libraries. As a result, Z-Library is an illegal website. Even if their intentions are good, they make available works that are not legally permitted.
Can I Pirate College Textbooks?
Copyright infringement, which textbook piracy falls under, is illegal and can result in fines ranging from $750 to $30,000, according to 17 U.S.C. Code 504.
Is Library Genesis Legal?
LibGen is a pirate site based in Russia and has been shut down more than once in the past but keeps resurfacing. The copy of [book required for class] is copyrighted, and the copy on libgen.org is not licensed.
Why Did Z-Library Shut Down?
Although the site helped its users save money and still complete their homework, Z-Library violated several copyright laws. Its alleged founders, 33-year-old Anton Napolsky and 27-year-old Valerija Ermaková were recently arrested and charged in Argentina.
Did Z-Library Get Shut Down?
This isn’t the only site that’s hurting us, but it’s the site that keeps showing up in TikTok videos.” After Z-Library went dark, Mary Rasenberger, C.E.O. of the Authors Guild, told Fast Company, “We’re happy that we heard that the domains were closed.
Will I Get In Trouble For Downloading From Z-Library?
According to Lipton, students commit copyright infringement by downloading PDF textbooks or e-books from websites like Z-Library. She said the F.B.I.’s decision to go after Z-Library instead of its individual users was practical, not legal.
Can You Go To Jail For Pirating A Book?
A civil lawsuit could make you liable for thousands of dollars in damages. A criminal charge can land you on a felony, and it is accompanied by five years in fines and prison of up to $250,000.
Can You Get Expelled From College For Piracy?
Most colleges and universities take plagiarism very seriously. Most educational institutions have academic integrity committees to police students.
Many colleges suspend students for their first plagiarism violation. Students are usually expelled for additional offenses.
Conclusion
There are many destinations where you can find free Websites for Free College Textbooks.
There are also many more places that offer a variety of other educational tools and resources for students, teachers, and parents.
We hope this article helps you find what you want, and you can do well to share this article with friends and family.