Q. What is the HathiTrust? How do I use it?

What is HathiTrust?

HathiTrust is both a catalog and a digital library.

The organization is a non-profit collabrative of academic and research libraries. These libraries preserve materials by cataloging and scanning them so they are widely accessible to users.

Materials in HathiTrust are readable/downloadable to the fullest extent allowable by U.S. and international copyright law. HathiTrust also includes text and data mining tools for the entire corpus.

Contents:

Since WashU Libraries is a member library members of the WashU community have a higher level of access. The access chart outlines what WashU may access.

HathiTrust is especially useful for accessing out-of-copyright materials. Of particular note are digitized volumes of older periodicals,  which are not always easy to find or access elsewhere.

For more information about the contents of the HathiTrust collection is available.

Search Tips:

• The simple default search is a great option to get started.
• The Advanced Search screen is a great tool for creating specific searches
• Search Basics provides a helpful overview on how to use the catalog efficiently, and
• The HathiTrust Help Center provides many tips for how to search and use their content.
• WashU Libraries maintains a helpful guide about the HathiTrust, which also has some of the information included here.

Logging in:

To take advantage of WashU’s member status, you must login to HathiTrust. You’ll first be prompted to choose your member institution and then will need to login with your WashU Key.

You’ll find a login button on nearly every page of the HathiTrust’s website and catalog pages, and additional Login Help is available.

Try 24/7 Ask Us! chat for additional assistance.