September 2012—Reaching out to the academic market in time for the new school year, the Library of Congress and Copia Interactive has announced the free eBook release of Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress, the Library’s hallmark publication, as well as a collection of rare lectures. Readers can now visit the Library’s page at Copia and download Jefferson’s Legacy for free. A fascinating read for historians, librarians, and anyone who loves books, Jefferson’s Legacy is a full color exploration of the national library, from President Jefferson signing the Library into law in 1802 to its struggle for space to its expansion that has made it arguably the world’s greatest repository of cultural information. In addition to the detailed history, the eBook showcases various stunning collections, the buildings that comprise the Library and the librarians that built the vast institution.

The Library has also republished as eBooks its collection of rare lectures, starting with 6 titles in the Bradley Series – lectures about Plato, de Toqueville, Clausewitz, and others. This will be followed by the release of a series of Literary Lectures, featuring out-of-print works by literary luminaries such as Thomas Mann, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, and T.S. Eliot. These historic publications are available for as little as $4.99 each.

“As a bookseller, we are honored to be working with the Library of Congress, an institution committed to housing ideas and knowledge in all their concrete forms: books, music, films, maps, atlases and data,” said Ben Lowinger, Copia’s Senior Vice President. “Sharing information and ideas is why we built Copia – to allow readers to share thoughts and research in the margins of their eBooks.”

Whether accessed through the cutting edge Copia social reading site, or as subscription-based or printed content, these new online offerings bring Library of Congress resources right into the classroom, fulfilling Jefferson’s insight that “education is the cornerstone of democracy.”