Sometimes you just need to hold that old book in your hand.
Oh sure… it’s much easier to spend hours online downloading all those great Public Domain books onto your hard-drive. It’s already in a digital format, just ready for you to chop up and create your next brand new project.
But… did you know that you can sit at home and plunder your local Public Domain treasure trove? It’s all available online!
Yes… I’m suggesting you use your local library database. Now we can all sit in our easy chair and find some really great “physical books”.
Why would you want to do that?
Well, chances are no one else has that information digitized yet.
Just think… you could be the first one to actually digitize the content!
Doesn’t that seem powerful to you? It should.
I decided to do a quick check of a library that is within 3 hours of my hometown. I could have done a check of any library… anywhere in the U.S. and get most books in my hot little hands within days.
But… there are collections that aren’t available with interlibrary loan. These will be the very old treasures that you should start looking for in local libraries.
This is the Phoenix Public Library – http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/index.jsp
Every library website is different… but they all have a search box. You will need to find the link to the area for “advanced search”. This is so you can narrow down your search by date and fiction/non-fiction.
The only thing I put into the advanced search was a date criteria. I choose the 1923 cutoff because anything returned would certainly be considered Public Domain.
On the next page I found an easy way to sort by fiction/non-fiction:
I could have used the filtering buttons for more focused results… but I want to see everything that is available. Notice… I didn’t use any keywords. I want to see everything that the Library has available. If it’s too large a list, I can start filtering. It’s like shopping for FREE!
After about 5 pages of links I found something that interested me:
One branch of the Phoenix Library holds almost a complete run of the “The Writer’s Digest”. This magazine is still in publication, but I can see here – the listed date is 1921. Hmmm. I love old magazines… so I do a bit more investigating.
I performed a good old Google search -
And the very first post was an article about someone who spent an entire weekend reading through the Writers Digest archives. The author of the article tells a bit about some of the great finds they discovered in some of the older editions!
Wow… someone did most of the research for me! From the website I can see that these magazines are not available for checkout. I know I will be calling this library to see what they have available for scanners… or if I need to bring my own portable scanner.
What I also found in the 1922 – 23 date range:
- Book about growing cactus.
- Book filled with 25 large illustrations of the most interesting views along the Southern Pacific Railway.
- Book “Basketry designs of the mission Indians”
I then expanded the date range and started finding even more great “stuff”:
- Mountain scouting: a hand-book for officers and soldiers on the frontiers : profusely illustrated and containing numerous notes on the art of travel / by Edward S. Farrow. published 1855
- Just for fun – check out this link: http://www.pronto.com/Mountain-Scouting-A-Handbook-for-10200700785-CG
- Of course it’s available on http://www.archive.org/details/mountainscouting00farrrich
- I love to find this stuff on the local library websites. Some libraries are really catching up with technology and the fact that lot’s of us want to research from home.
- Hundreds of online images related to my local area… (Now I have to go check for copyright status)
Are you as excited by this as I am???
Is this a Hidden Treasure or what???
Okay… now for the good part - the Diva is going to dig deeper!
Yup… I’m going to dig in and see what I can find that I can actually “take home” and scan.
Doing the “icky” work (scanning) is so much easier if we can work on a project from the comfort of our own home.
Stay tuned for the “rest of the story” next week!
About The Author:
 Debra Conrad is an online entrepreneur, information publisher, and author that has been using Public Domain material to create profitable products and businesses since 2007. She is also co-author of "The Public Domain Treasure Hunter's Survival Kit" available here. For more info Debra, click here. |
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Last 5 posts by Debra:
- Public Domain Content Makes Great Products For Aspiring Artists
- Using Halloween Public Domain Content On Micro Niche Blogs
- Where Can I Find Public Domain Content For My Blog?
- New Blog Ranks With Public Domain Content
- The Worst Public Domain Content Site Ever Still Gets Google Love
Recommended Reading:
It had been years since I went into a public library but a few weeks ago, my wife and I did so. You opened my eyes as to the possibilities in mining for public domain.
Thanks!
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But Deborah, finding things to reprint and sell isn’t the problem. There’s TONS of content out there. It’s finding the market and getting people to buy what you’re selling. How do you do this? Good ideas are useless without a monetizing strategy.
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Find Public Domain Treasure by Touring Your Local Library Online! Part II // May 29, 2010 at 4:19 am
[...] Last week, we talked about “Finding Public Domain Treasure by Touring Your Local Library Online!”. [...]
You mention a portable scanner. Could you go into that a little more? What kind to get, what to look for, what to expect in terms of end results, etc.
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Logan Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 7:14 am
Hi Virginia, great question! We’ll see if we can put together an article about this soon.
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