The term public domain encompasses works that are no longer under the protection of copyright. Works in the public domain may typically be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner. There are four common ways materials enter the public domain:
The following resources can help you understand copyright term laws, determine if a work is in the public domain, and find interesting information on materials in the public domain:
The following resources can help you explore materials in the public domain:
Many famous books, films, and other materials are in the public domain. Here are a few books found in FDU Libraries' Catalog:
The Great Gatsby by
A true classic of twentieth-century literature--nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
Mrs. Dalloway by
"Moments like this are buds on the tree of life. Flowers of darkness they are." In this vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of preparation for a party while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house for friends and neighbors, she is flooded with remembrances of the past--the passionate loves of her carefree youth, her practical choice of husband, and the approach and retreat of war. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old. From the introspective Clarissa, to the lover who never fully recovered from her rejection, to a war-ravaged stranger in the park, the characters and scope of Mrs. Dalloway reshape our sense of ordinary life making it one of the most "moving, revolutionary artworks of the twentieth century" (Michael Cunningham).
In Our Time by
Many of these stories explore the world of growing up in the Middle West early in this century.
Those barren leaves by 
