Welcoming New Members
ETAS: Member Questions About Continuation
Changes Coming Soon to Book Viewer
Explore the Corpus with New Tools from HTRC
User Engagement Task Force Survey: Assessing Awareness & Support
Need Help Using the Digital Library?
New 1950 U.S. Census Collection
From the Collection: Contemporary Titles via Creative Commons
Welcoming New Members
We are pleased to announce that Smithsonian Institution , Trent University , University of Rhode Island , and Western Washington University have joined the HathiTrust member community. See the full membership list on our website.
ETAS: Member Questions About Continuation
In response to a number of inquiries by member libraries using the Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), we want to assure members that we will continue to offer ETAS for as long as libraries demonstrate a need due to health and safety concerns arising from the global health pandemic. The service will also continue to be available for non-pandemic, involuntary emergencies experienced by member libraries, such as fires or floods that compromise access to the library’s print collection. We will share additional information on the next assessment period in the near future. Questions on this or other ETAS matters should go to feedback@issues.hathitrust.org .
Changes Coming Soon to Book Viewer
At the end of April, logged in users will be able to try out a new version of the HathiTrust book viewer application. During this beta phase, users can switch back and forth between the new and the classic version. Our changes have been based on feedback we received from users about difficulties they encountered reading “temporary access” books in the HathiTrust interface but will benefit anyone reading and browsing books. We will solicit ongoing feedback from users to learn whether the changes meet their needs and what other changes we need to implement.
We have taken feedback provided by our users to create a better reading experience. Users will be able to:
Reorder search in book results by relevance or page number
View search results within a book at the same time as viewing the book
Remove search term highlighting
Clear the search
Discover featured collections that contain a book
Read the entire plaintext OCR of the book in scroll or flipmode
Explore different display modes for the book pages in an easier-to-read menu
Hide interface elements that interrupt their reading experience
Resize or collapse the sidebar and sections within it to meet their needs
Caption: This screenshot displays two pages of the book in Plain Text format. The View menu with different page format and view mode options can be accessed at any time to change how the book is displayed.
Thanks to all the HathiTrust patrons who have provided direct feedback on the current catalog interface. Submit suggestions for usability improvements to feedback@issues.hathitrust.org . We regularly assess our applications for continuous improvement.
Explore the Corpus with New Tools from HTRC
The HathiTrust Research Center is improving access to HathiTrust data and HTRC tools through recent updates to create additional paths for researchers to access and make use of HathiTrust’s text data. They include:
Recommended worksets : Find recommended worksets for analysis in HTRC Analytics . Recommended worksets are curated worksets created by real researchers of past and ongoing projects. They are meant to be a starting point for exploration with HTRC tools without having to build a new workset.
HTRC Workset Toolkit : The HTRC Workset Toolkit provides the command-line interface for downloading HathiTrust data into an HTRC Data Capsule . Recent improvements to the code allow researchers to elect to remove headers and footers from the data during download, which saves time and makes for a cleaner dataset.
HathiTrust Text Prep Python library : This Python library was developed to make it easier to accomplish some common tasks undertaken by researchers working with public domain data downloaded through HathiTrust’s dataset request process . The code helps users navigate the directory structure for the downloaded files and remove headers and footers.
Questions about these tools or HTRC in general should go to htrc-help@hathitrust.org .
User Engagement Task Force Survey: Assessing Awareness & Support
The HathiTrust User Engagement Task Force (UETF) formed in late 2019 to consider ways that HathiTrust can better understand user needs and to support member libraries in engaging their community on using HathiTrust. The group will soon issue a survey aimed at member library professionals engaging in user-facing services. Member Representatives will receive an email requesting their help identifying appropriate individuals in their libraries to complete the survey, which will be open through mid-June.
The goal of the survey is to understand how well informed librarians are about HathiTrust services, collections, and programs and how they could be better supported in communicating with and supporting HathiTrust end users. The results of the inquiry will inform improvements to HathiTrust’s outreach, communications, and training programs to educate and enhance member library communities’ knowledge of HathiTrust services. More information on the survey outcomes and actions will be published here.
If you would like to receive and complete a copy of the survey, please send a message to uetf@hathitrust.org . The UETF is one of several member-led groups charged by the Program Steering Committee (PSC) to focus on improving metadata, the collections, and outreach. See a complete list of the PSC groups and their charges .
Need Help Using the Digital Library?
There are a number of resources from HathiTrust to help members and patrons find and access items in the digital library. Find supporting documentation online for tips on logging in; searching, viewing, or downloading titles; and more.
Help Using the HathiTrust Digital Library : An online list of common questions and answers
Member Toolkit : A suite of promotional tools and tips on accessing and using the collection
HathiTrust 101 Webinar: Search & Collection Builder : An in-depth video tutorial on Search, Advanced Search, and Collection builder
Many members have also created their own LibGuides and videos to promote HathiTrust as a resource in their library. Examples include
HathiTrust Basic Search , video tutorial, University of Missouri, 2019
HathiTrust LibGuide , University of San Diego, 2020
New 1950 U.S. Census Collection
The HathiTrust Federal Documents Advisory Committee has completed a collaborative project to create a collection of the key publications of the 1950 U.S. Census of Population . We encourage browsing, use, and promotion of this collection of federal documents which is available to HathiTrust members and the public. More information about the collection, and the process to create it, may be found in the recent blog post, 1950 U.S. Census Publications Available in HathiTrust.
From the Collection: Contemporary Titles via Creative Commons
Caption: A collection of essays on environmentalism in classic and contemporary science fiction texts was made available in HathiTrust by the author via a creative commons license .
Title: Terraforming: Ecopolitical Transformations and Environmentalism in Science Fiction
Author: Chris Pak
Published: London: Knowledge Unlatched, 2016.; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016.