“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder.”

Peter Suber, A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access

Open access is when academic research is made freely available for anyone to read and re-use. Open textbooks are textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. 

To learn about open access policies and their value to authors, readers, and the world at large, please watch the YouTube video Open Access Policies: An Introduction from COAPI and VPN is required.

• Directory of Open Access Books

  433 titles in Law and that can be downloaded for free

• H2O Open Casebook

  H2O helps law faculty create high quality, open-licensed digital textbooks for free.

• Mason OER Metafinder (MOM)

  Described as the "Google of OER's", this site allows you to simultaneously search across 15 OER platforms including HathiTrust, MERLOT II, OAOpen.org, OER Commons, OpenStax, DPLA, Project Gutenberg and more.

• Minnesota OER Commons

  Tools and resources for educators and subject matter experts in Minnesota to collaboratively evaluate, share, and develop Open Educational Resources for public education.

• OAPEN Library

  280 titles in Law.

• Open Book Publishers

• Open Source Casebook

  The Open Source Casebook provides an analysis of several key legal topics in open source, grounded in primary sources.

• Open Textbook Library

  A curated collection of open textbooks either in use at multiple higher education institutions or “affiliated with a higher education institution, scholarly society, or professional organization.”

• OUP Open Access titles

  Monographs on a range of potentially relevant topics like bioethics, gender equity, infrastructure, education, and government policy.

• Pennsylvania State University Press

• University of California Press

• University of Michigan Press

• University of Minnesota - Open Academics

• VIVA Open

• Project Gutenberg – Law books

  Project Gutenberg is an online library of free eBooks.

• SOCOLAR

  SOCOLAR is an open access database provided by CEPIEC ( Chinese Educational Publications Import and Export Corporation).

• CALI casebooks (The eLangdell® Bookstore)

• Aspen Digital Library (Limited free trail)

• European Law Open (ELO)

  European Law Open (ELO) delivers a dynamic, critical and contextual approach to European law in an Open Access format. The journal is open to different voices, different concerns, and different methodologies, offering a platform for rigorous analysis of both EU law itself and wider European law and governance in their political, cultural, social and economic contexts. Intellectually ambitious 'Core analysis' research papers will be published alongside shorter ‘Dialogue and debate’ pieces as well as reflections on books and classic articles. It is worth mentioning in particular that STL Professor Francis Snyder is on the Editorial Advisory Board and was the founder and editor-in-chief of its predecessor.

• Criminal law---Corey Rayburn Yung

• Arul George Scaria, Comparative Copyright Law (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Barton Beebe, Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook

• Bradley M. Kuhn et al., Copyleft and the GNU General Public License: A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed in multiple formats, including HTML and PDF)

• Brian L. Frye & Elizabeth Schiller, Professional Responsibility: An Open-Source Casebook (2019)

• Chris Bavitz, Music and Digital Media (2019) (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Chris Bavitz, Regulating Online Conduct: Speech, Privacy, and the Use and Sharing of Content (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Chris Bavitz, Sale and Licensing of Content Online (2017) (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Corey Rayburn Yung, Criminal Law (2019)

• Gary Myers, Copyright Law: An Open Source Casebook (2019)

• James Boyle & Jennifer Jenkins, Open Intellectual Property Casebook (2019)

• Jeanne C. Fromer & Engelberg Center, Copyright Law: Cases and Materials (2019)

• Jeanne C Fromer & Christopher Jon Sprigman,Copyright Law: Cases and Materials

• Jonathan L. Zittrain & Jordi Weinstock, Torts! 3rd, 2022

• Jonathan Zittrain, Contemporary Issues in Intelligence Gathering (2017) (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Jonathan Zittrain and Joichi Ito, The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence (2018) (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)

• Matthew Sag, Extended Readings on Copyright (2019) (Creative Commons-licensed PDF downloads)

• Michael Madison, Copyright (2019) (copyright-free PDF and .DOCX downloads and links)

• Richard White & Tina Bynum, Homeland Security: Safeguarding the U.S. from Domestic Catastrophic Destruction (2016)

• Stephen Clowney, et al., Open Source Property: A Free Casebook (2016).

• Steve Semeraro, An Introduction to Property Law in the U.S. (2019)

• William T. Fisher, Copyright (Creative Commons-licensed H20 playlist)