HathiTrust
A massive digital library of scanned books — the scholarly record, digitized.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- HathiTrust (a library consortium)
- Coverage
18M+ digitized volumes from research libraries, a large share public domain and fully readable, with full-text search across all of it (verify current counts).
- Access
Free full-text search; public-domain works fully readable; in-copyright access via member institutions.
- Free alternative
- Internet Archive, Google Books.
- Regional
Strong North American research-library holdings; many languages.
Our Take
HathiTrust is the scholarly counterpart to a mega-library’s stacks, digitized — 18M+ volumes contributed by research libraries, with full public-domain reading and full-text search across everything, even in-copyright works you cannot fully open. For historians and anyone working with older books it is a goldmine, and its full-text search finds a phrase across millions of volumes. The limit is copyright: in-copyright works are searchable but not readable without institutional membership. Use it for digitized books and full-text search of the historical record; pair with Internet Archive for broader public-domain reading.
Power Tips
- Use full-text search to locate a phrase across millions of volumes, then read what is public domain.
- For in-copyright hits, note the volume and get it via your library if you cannot read it here.
- Pair with Internet Archive and Google Books to widen public-domain access.
Alternatives & Complements
Internet Archive, Google Books, JSTOR, ProQuest
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026