Acceptable Use Policy

Version: June 24, 2021

HathiTrust is hosted by the University of Michigan. By your use of these resources, you agree to abide by all relevant state laws, federal laws, and University regulations, including but not limited to:
SPG 601.07 – Proper Use of Information Resources, Information Technology, and Networks at the University of Michigan

You may use the publicly-accessible HathiTrust search and access interfaces in a web browser on any device. Download speeds are limited. Rapidly downloading multiple pages/items or rapidly paging through a book may result in our throttling or temporarily blocking your access.

You may not:

  • Attempt by any means to automate download of material from HathiTrust or otherwise attempt to obtain material from HathiTrust in bulk (including but not limited to page images, page text, or metadata), other than specific products intended for this purpose such as the Hathifiles and Datasets.
  • Engage in any kind of misuse resulting in denial of service for other users of the website.
  • Attempt to discover or exploit vulnerabilities in HathiTrust web sites, servers, or applications.
  • Share your credentials with others or otherwise furnish access to users other than those authorized by HathiTrust.
  • Access HathiTrust using credentials that belong to others.

Engaging in these activities may result in termination of access, referral to the users’ home institution (if applicable), as well as relevant civil or criminal penalties.

Use of any public HathiTrust APIs may be subject to additional terms and conditions noted in the documentation for each API.

Using Material from HathiTrust

  • HathiTrust includes materials that are copyrighted as well as many that are not. Because duration of copyright terms varies among nations, the access you receive to material in HathiTrust is based on your geographic location as determined by IP address, the bibliographic information we receive from libraries, on manual reviews of various sources of copyright, and on permission provided by rightsholders. Access to material in HathiTrust may also be restricted if it includes legally protected or culturally sensitive material. Our copyright policy provides additional information on how HathiTrust determines access.
  • In cases where access to copyrighted material is allowed, use of the material must comply with the terms governing those services. Those services include, for example, the Emergency Temporary Access Service, the Accessible Text Request Service, and computational (non-consumptive) research via the HathiTrust Research Center.
  • Allowable uses for each item are documented via the Access and Use policy linked to from the item. You need to make your own assessment of the copyright or other legal concerns related to uses beyond those provided by HathiTrust for particular works.
  • Metadata provided by HathiTrust may generally be re-used for any purpose, though some sets of metadata may have specific conditions of use that will be noted at the point of distribution. Refer to the Policy on Metadata Sharing and Use for more information.If you believe that HathiTrust is providing access to material in error, please contact us at support@hathitrust.org. HathiTrust is committed to providing high-quality digitized text, and works to improve quality of material over time. If you find a problem or error, please use the Feedback link located on each page to alert us, and we will work to fix the problem. However, not all problems can be fixed in a timely fashion, and HathiTrust cannot guarantee the correctness, completeness, or suitability for any particular use of the material in HathiTrust. For more information, refer to the HathiTrust Commitment to Quality.
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