HathiTrust Digital Library: Collections

HathiTrust Digital Library allows users to create lists or collections of items in the HathiTrust. These collections can be searched independently of the rest of the repository and are a great way to gather related resources together. Each collection can be kept private or made public so that other users can view them. HathiTrust has many different types of collections publicly available. Some featured collections could include Women Composers Collections, Records of the American Colonies, Islamic Manuscripts, and Ancestry and Genealogy.

Temporary Collections

Without logging in, you can create temporary collections. These collections have all the same functionality of permanent collections, but are only available until the end of the browser session.

Permanent Collections

If you are logged into a institutional account, you can create permanent collections. Permanent collections will be available any time that you are logged in and you can keep adding items to grow the collection. These collections can be shared via many different social media platforms and can be made public so they can be found on HathiTrust.

To create a collection:

• If you want to create a permanent collection you will need to log in with your UW NetID or you can create a temporary collection without logging in.
• Click on the "Collections" or "My Collections" option on the top of any HathiTrust page
• Click on "Create a New Collection"
• You will need to name the collection, give it a description, and if you are logged-in, you can choose where it is public or private.
• Click "add"

To add a work to a collection:

• Via Full-text search:
  • Search for items using the full-text search
  • Each result will have a box next to it, select the results that you would like to add
  • At the top of the results, choose the collection you want to add the selected results to
  • Click "add"
• Via individual item page:
  • Search for an item
  • Click on either the "Full View" or "Limited (search only)" option to get to the individual item page
  • In the menu on the left-hand side in the "Add to Collections" menu, select a collection
  • Click "add"

To find collections:

• Click on "Collections" in the upper menu
• Select either the All tab, the Recently Updated tab, the Featured tab, or the My Collection tab

• Type in keywords and explore the different collections available in HathiTrust

To search within collections:

• Click on "Collections"
• Choose a collections to search either in the Recently Updated, Featured, or My Collection tabs.
• There will be a search bar at the top of the page underneath the collection title that can be used to conduct a limited search within the items in the collection.