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HathiTrust Guide: HathiTrust versus Google Book

This is a quick guide for students and faculty members who are interested in searching the HathiTrust digital library, building their own collections, as well as viewing and downloading PDFs.

Comparaison between HathiTrust and Google Books

Features

Google Books Project

HathiTrust

Numbers

15 million items.

13 million items and is growing.

Content Type

Books, journals, magazines, reports, and government documents.

Books, journals, magazines, reports, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, government documents and more.

Organization

Google owns the Google Book Project and decides how to manage it.

Partnership of libraries and institutions, with membership and shared governance. Membership needed to download titles
in the public domain

Full-Text Search

Full-text search within all the content. Browse to sections containing the search terms.                           

Full-text search within all the content.
Display pages where terms are found.

Full-Text Download

Full-text download of the whole item for those items that are out of copyright.

Full-text download for members of HathiTrust of the whole item for those items that are out of copyright.                           

Copyright status

Does not work on identifying copyright status of "orphan" works.

Will work on identifying copyright status of "orphan" works.               

WorldCat Records

MARC records in WorldCat that lead to the project's "landing page"
There will sometimes be duplicate records.                                
Leads to links to holding libraries
.         

MARC records in WorldCat that lead to the project's "landing page"
There will sometimes be duplicate records.
Leads to links to holding libraries
.

Long term archiving and reformatting as needed of full text

Not a key part of the mission.

Is a key part of the mission.

Replacement of library material

Not a source of replacements for missing library materials.

Is a source of replacements for missing library materials, under US Copyright Section 108.

Table courtesy of Barbara DeFelice and William Fontaine, Dartmouth College.