The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts free online art history texts. It has expanded to 390 volumes. All of the books can be read online or downloaded as PDFs (warning, some of them are massive files). You can search through the catalog of books by thematic category, format, and publication type. And, of course, you can search through the books by title, author, and keyword.
Today's reality is that readers and information seekers are having increasingly less need to visit a physical library to meet their basic information needs. Digital information sources, readily accessed from classroom, home or mobile computing devices, are the choice of many learners and teachers. The "Net Generation" student increasingly prefers the visual and the virtual rather than the printed text. Why, many educators are asking, does a school need a physical library when seemingly all resources can be obtained using an inexpensive netbook and a wireless network connection? How can these large physical spaces in our schools be re-purposed for greater educational impact? Doug Johnosn
The online exhibitions in the Google Cultural Institute feature images, videos, audio, and text about significant historical and cultural people, places, and events. Some of the exhibitions like the Eiffel Tower Exhibition incorporate the use of Google Maps Street View imagery too.