Ph.D. resources: The European Library

The European Library (version 2.1) is  less a “free online book” source than a tool that helps you organize and coordinate your search for certain books across Europe (but it has an  overview on accessible digital collections, too).

Ph.D. Leisure: World Digital Library

Everyone who’s ever had to write a paper knows the hunt for sources and the increasing difficulties when working on topics that require older, even older and very, very old reading materials that are hardly available and, unless you’re independently wealthy and can afford to travel to every library in the world, expensive to come by.

Every grad student and Ph.D candidate will also know that the costs for long-distance loans even of more current volumes can amount to uncomfortable heights, which is why I’m always happy to stumble across another project that offers digitalized, free access to older works (works so old that the copyright is twice removed, unlike some of the entries in GoogleBooks).