HathiTrust: Exploring a World of Digitised Books and Historical Documents

HathiTrust is a digital library created through the collaboration of academic and research institutions from around the world. It brings together millions of digitised books, journals, historical documents and other publications, making a vast collection of knowledge available online. The project began in 2008 and aims to preserve library collections and make them accessible for future generations. 

The platform covers a wide range of subjects, including literature, history, science, technology, social sciences and the humanities. Users can search by title, author or subject, or use the full-text search function to find specific words and expressions within digitised publications. This makes it particularly useful for discovering historical sources, researching particular topics and locating information in older books and journals. 

One important feature is that many publications can be read online in full and accessed free of charge. Works in the public domain and those made available with the copyright holder's permission are labelled Full View. Other publications remain under copyright and can only be searched, without access to their complete contents. Access conditions may also vary depending on the user's location and institutional membership. 

For teachers and students, HathiTrust can be a valuable resource for exploring original documents, discovering literary works, investigating historical events and finding additional academic reading. It is particularly interesting for research projects involving primary sources, the history of literature, cultural heritage and the development of science and knowledge over time.

https://www.hathitrust.org/