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HathiTrust Digital Library @ Denison

Why and How to use HathiTrust resources

Searching HathiTrust

HathiTrust offers two ways of searching their content. A Catalog Search searches a catalog record that lists basic bibliographic information, like title and publisher, as well as information about a book, such as subject terms. A Full-text Search searches the full content of a book, including title, table of contents, the text itself, and any other sections.

Each type of search offers a basic, Google-like keyword search option as well as an advanced search option.

Some general search tips are:

  • Use quotation marks to look for an exact phrase: e.g., "Grand Canyon"
  • Use boolean operators (and, or, not) to make your search more specific. "AND" combines search terms ("Grand Canyon" AND rafting), "OR" looks for either search term (rafting OR boating), while "NOT" excludes a search term ("White Russian" NOT "cocktail")

Catalog Search

Searching the HathiTrust catalog is similar to searching the Denison Libraries Catalog.  The default search option on the HathiTrust homepage is a keyword search for materials in full view.  Use the Advanced Full-Text Search or Advanced Catalog Search to search certain fields, such as title, author, publication year, language and original format.

 

Downloading content

Users must first log into HathiTrust to download content - see "Logging into HathiTrust" for instructions.

HathiTrust offers two options for downloading and saving material: downloading a single page or an entire book.  Either option is a simple process.  While viewing a book, click on the 'Download this page (PDF)' or 'Download whole book (PDF)' link on the left-hand side of the page. 

Downloading a single page prompts the PDF to automatically open in a new tab in your web browser.  From there you can save or print the page using the PDF menu.

When downloading an entire book the system may take a moment to generate the PDF.  Once it is ready, click on the 'Download PDF' link.  You will be prompted to open or to save the file.

What's Available to Denison Users?

Denison users have full-text access and downloading capabilities for those items in the public domain, including:

  • US federal government documents
  • Works published before 1929
  • Works still protected by copyright, but made available to HathiTrust with the permission of the copyright holder

Denison Libraries, 100 W College, Granville, Ohio 43023
Phone: 740-587-6235, email: reference@denison.edu
In order to view PDF documents, you will need to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer