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One of the virtually exciting back-to-school rituals is to head to your university's bookstore, peruse the jotter and bank check off everything on your required reading list, all while anticipating the fresh start of a new semester. Just y'all'd be forgiven if your excitement wears off once you stack your books at the register and find out your yard total. For years, paying costly textbook prices has served as a disheartening rite of passage for college students beyond the country. Equally plenty of students can attest, being required to spend a couple hundred dollars on a book you'll employ for precisely i semester isn't the lasting memory you want to make of your fourth dimension in college — or the lasting impact yous want to make on your wallet.

Fortunately, technology has led to the development of eTextbooks — digital copies of books that you lot can access right from your telephone, tablet or calculator. In some cases, you may even be able to cutting the toll entirely and obtain eTextbooks for gratis. To help you lot manage your college budget even better, we've rounded up some of the meridian complimentary eTextbook providers where you can start your search for next semester'south reading fabric.

The Benefits of eTextbooks

For decades, the textbook industry made its earnings by selling books that students had substantially no option but to buy, no matter the cost, because they were required reading. Ultimately, however, these companies' principal competition became the used textbook marketplace. Students realized they could resell their sometime books to recoup some of their initial investment, and incoming students were happy to save extra coin by purchasing gently used — and subsequently discounted — textbooks over new editions.

The rise of eTextbooks — electronic versions of books you lot tin can read from a digital device — has served equally a swell compromise for everybody. It decreases printers' overhead while giving college students a more affordable option for obtaining their required class reading. Additionally, as anyone who's ever lugged xx pounds of books around campus can tell you, eTextbooks are much lighter, accessible from most devices and friendlier for the environment.

While it may not always be possible to find free eTextbooks for every course, the odds you can are better than ever earlier. Let's expect into some of the best places to search.

Free Classic Literature eBooks

You're almost certainly in luck if you're looking for books for a class that requires you to get your hands on copies of classic literature. About classics are now freely available for both students and casual readers alike at sites like Project Gutenberg, where you lot'll find over 60,000 free eBooks.

Cost-wise, one of the perks of classic literature is that information technology tends to include a wide array of books whose copyrights accept expired. Consequently, in that location are no legal issues with making these titles available for free. Project Gutenberg lets you browse or search past author, title, subject field and other filters. Just select the volume you need, and you can read information technology online or download a copy to check out at your convenience.

In the unlikely event you don't find what yous're looking for, here are some other great sites you can endeavor:

Complimentary Archetype eBooks
Planet eBook
Open Culture

OpenStax

If you're a professor looking for a way to win the instant appreciation of your students, consider using ane of the free eTextbooks from Rice University's OpenStax collection. OpenStax is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable corporation that publishes openly licensed textbooks your students can admission for no cost.

Teachers tin also savor their ain perks when they use OpenStax, as the arrangement integrates plenty of free instructor resources. Virtually of the courses come up with a complimentary collection of PowerPoint guides, videos, study guide questions and answers, and more.

OpenStax likewise makes it easy to incorporate its courseware into your digital learning heart with Canvas and D2L course cartridges or a Blackboard course package. Check out the wide range of courses, complete with Spanish language options.

Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)

DOAB is a customs-driven project that offers gratis access to over fifty,000 academic peer-reviewed books. DOAB has found a powerful ally in SCOSS, the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services, which has deemed the project essential infrastructure for working towards a sustainable, open-source educational solution.

Simply head to the website to cheque out DOAB's massive selection of offerings. You tin spring directly to a direct search or browse by subject, author, title, language or publisher. Once you lot find the volume you need, just click "download" to read it. There's even an "consign citation" push button that generates a citation to Endnote or RefWorks if you desire to use it as a reference in a paper.

InTechOpen

If you're on the chase for science, medicine or engineering science eTextbooks, then InTechOpen may be your best bet. The site currently offers five,700 free peer-reviewed eBooks, and its operators are well aware of the e'er-evolving nature of scientific research fields. That's why InTechOpen is constantly updating its collection with new eBooks covering the latest developments.

For the same reason, the site always accepts new submissions for publication. If yous're an teacher, researcher or grad pupil, it's a great place to get your work in front of the scientific customs. At that place'south even a selection of books open up for individual chapter submissions.

To access the InTechOpen Book Series, simply use the search box at the elevation of the page or browse by bailiwick, popularity, latest releases and other filters.

Open Textbook Library

Open Textbook Library is some other excellent resources to check out for high-quality textbooks currently available under a Creative Commons license. The site tends to exist refreshingly picky about which books information technology includes and stipulates that each must actually be used at multiple higher education institutions, scholarly societies or professional person organizations.

Open Textbook Library currently offers over one,000 selections, many of which have been reviewed by instructors who have used them in their courses. Browse a wide range of topics and subtopics, or search for specific books to download.

MERLOT

No, not the vino. In this instance, MERLOT stands for Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching. Created by California State Academy, MERLOT is sort of like Google for free eTextbooks and learning tools. Geared towards students, educators and researchers alike, the online library has pulled together searchable links to over 98,000 gratuitous educational resources from various sources.

Since MERLOT is so massive, information technology's not a bad thought to create a gratuitous account to build your ain collections, exit comments and fifty-fifty contribute your own resources. MERLOT's strength lies in the fact that its search results are nigh as thorough equally it gets.

But, it's important to keep in mind that it doesn't limit results to eTextbooks alone. While you'll detect plenty of gratis eBooks, a casual browse volition also yield hundreds of other results from case studies, quizzes, and presentations — even unabridged gratuitous online courses. If y'all're looking for free eTextbooks specifically, it's best to check the Open (Access) Textbook box in the advanced search tab to help narrow things downwards.