Librarians, faculty and scholars eagerly await “new titles” (books, music, movies) that exit from under US Copyright restrictions and enter the public domain. This year, titles originally published in 1925 and now freely-available include:
- F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
- Irving Berlin’s Always
- Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Doolittle’s Circus
- Gertrude “Ma” Rainey’s Counting the Blues
“Works from 1925 were supposed to go into the public domain in 2001, after being copyrighted for 75 years.” The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, aka the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, extended their copyright term to 95 years. Wait no longer! Access to these and other older titles will soon be available – in full-text version – in the Internet Archive, HathiTrust, and Google Books.
Happy Belated Public Domain Day!
Grand Rapids Community College Library 