National Academy reports and books on a wide range of subjects are now freely available as downloadable PDF files.

The National Academies now are making available to all Web users free PDF copies of more than 4,000 of its reports currently sold through the National Academies Press (NAP) website and the vast majority of its future reports.

The Academies — the National Academies of Sciences and of Engineering and the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine — on June 2 announced its plan to make its “authoritative and independent” studies and books freely available as PDFs. With that new service, “we can reach out even further to inform government decision making and public policy, increase public education and understanding, and promote the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge,” the organization said. It said that only a “small number” of reports having never had PDF files and titles in the “Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals” series will not be available.

For information on the new service, and to sign-up free as a “MyNAP” user, go to this site to register and specify particular interests from among 18 different fields of research and investigation.