“Reading is always an act of power”. So says Argentine writer Alberto Manguel, director of the Argentine National Library. Freedom and the ability to read make the individual feared in almost all societies by allowing him to reflect on borders, influence of power and his own identity.
Fortunately, access to reading is getting easier. Works by Machado de Assis or doctoral theses approved at the best universities in the world can be read like this, with a simple click. This is possible thanks to digital libraries, platforms made up of digitized collections that allow remote access.
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Technical books, academic essays, historical documents and works by renowned writers can, through them, be consulted by cell phones, computers or tablets extremely quickly. The reader can access the work in full or in excerpts, both in material form and online.
Check below the seven best digital libraries in Brazil and the world whose titles are available for download or reading online.
Passa Direto Digital Library
Very recent, the Passei Direto digital library was launched in August 2018 and brings more than 5,000 complete titles for online study. The user also has access to handouts, solved exercises and video lessons prepared by specialists. Among the works is “Basic Histology”, by the Brazilian physician Luiz Carlos Junqueira, translated into 14 languages.
Unicamp Digital Library
One of the first in the field of digital libraries, Unicamp's library began by providing theses and dissertations produced at the institution. However, its collection was later complemented by rare works, first editions, electronic magazines and special materials. Among them, the first edition of Caramuru, from 1781.
New York Public Library
749,089 digitized items, including maps, manuscripts and videos. This is the collection that makes up the digital platform of the New York Public Library which, in the physical building, has more than 55 million titles. The NYPL has content available in English and, among the most recent acquisitions, are titles such as “The black experience in children's books”.
World Digital Library
The project developed by the United Nations (UN) brings together approximately 19,147 items from 193 countries between 8,000 a. W. and the current years. Among the documents made available are a Charter by Christopher Columbus and the Book of Fixed Constellations (by Al-Sufi), all in Portuguese.
National Digital Library Brazil
The National Digital Library Brazil was created in 2006 and, since then, has been publishing titles hosted by the National Library of Rio de Janeiro. The collection makes available around 700,000 files whose digitization is possible thanks to rescue programs. Among the titles are books, articles and photographs.
Brasiliana Guita and José Mindlin Library
The Brasiliana Library was created in 2005 and houses what is considered one of the most important academic and literary collections. The good news is that 10% of the 32,200 titles that make up the library are now available online. Content can be filtered by collections and has search suggestions across the platform.
Public domain
The Public Domain is a digital library created by the Ministry of Education (MEC) and provides free access to literary, artistic and academic works. The platform has more than 180,000 titles including sound, text, image and video media. Among the most popular are “Divina Comédia” and the classic “Dom Casmurro”.