Usage

HathiTrust can be searched using three distinct search interfaces:

•  Basic Search

• Advanced full-text search - search the full text of items cataloged in HathiTrust

• Advanced catalog search - search the metadata of items cataloged in HathiTrust

Unless stated otherwise, the following information applies to all three search forms noted above.

Booleans:

HathiTrust supports AND and OR Boolean operators, as well as NOT. AND and OR are specified by typing in "AND" or "OR". NOT is specified by placing a minus sign - before the term you would like to exclude, e.g. "-education" to exclude "education". Additionally, in the full-text advanced search, you can use a drop down menu to add an implict AND or OR between all search terms by selecting "all of these words" or "any of these words" respectively.

By default, an implicit AND connects all search terms not connected by another boolean term.

Wildcards:

Several special characters can be used for substitution.

• ?: Represents a single unknown characters, e.g. "f?r" matches "for" and "far"
• *: Represents zero or more unknown characters, e.g. "parent*" matches "parent", "parents", and "parenthood

These substitution characters cannot be used at the beginning of a search term. Wildcards still function within quoted phrases.

Quoting:

Quoted phrases will be treated as a single search term, regardless of internal whitespace. Wildcards still function within quoted terms.

Useful Links