The content on this page has been adapted with permission from UTL's Images and Visual Resource Collections guide by Harriet De Sonne de Torrens
Works in the public domain are not protected by the Canadian Copyright Act and can be freely used and copied by anyone. Just because something is publicly available (e.g. on the Internet) does not mean it is in the public domain!
In Canada, most works pass into the public domain after fifty years following the end of the calendar year in which the author died but there are exceptions for recordings, performer's performances, communication signals, Crown publications, jointly-authored works, anonymous works, and posthumous works. Works can also enter the public domain earlier (even immediately upon publication) if the author explicitly waives copyright and places them in the public domain.
An important reminder, while a work may be in the public domain, a specific edition or image of the work may still be under copyright.
There are a number of sources where you can download books in the public domain. Here are few places to search (for additional collections, take a look at this guide's eBooks page):
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