I know that Robert McDonald lurks around here -- so he could clarify this -- but what folks need to realize here is that the research center is providing tools that allow research access to materials within the hathitrust that are within the public domain. However, the digitized materials themselves, are not public domain any more (as I understand it). These materials, as I understand, are governed by the agreements institutions made as part of the google project. So, while the materials that the research center is currently providing access to are ones identified as within the public domain, access to the research center is curated due to those agreements. Robert or someone else can clarify if I've misspoken based on my understanding here.
--tr -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of davesgonechina Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 10:58 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] hathitrust research center workset browser They just informed me I need a .edu address. Having trouble understanding the use of the term "public domain" here. On Mon, Jun 1, 2015, 9:58 PM Eric Lease Morgan <emor...@nd.edu> wrote: > On Jun 1, 2015, at 4:33 AM, davesgonechina <davesgonech...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > If your *institutional* email address is not on their whitelist (not > > sure if it is limited to subscribing ones, they don't say) you > > cannot register using the signup form, instead you can only request > > an account by briefly explaining why you want one. Weird, because > > they'd have potentially > learned > > more about me if they just let me put my gmail address in the signup > form. > > > > I don't get it - can all users download public domain content? If > > they > give > > me an account, will I be indistinguishable from a subscribing > institution? > > If not, why the extra hoops? > > > Dave, you are the second person to bring this “white listing” issue to > my attention. Bummer! Yes, apparently, unless your email address is a > part of wider something or another, then you need to be authorized to > use the Research Center. Weird! In my opinion, while the Research > Center’s tools work, I believe the site suffers from usability issues. > > In any event, I have enhanced the auto-generated reports created by my > “Browser”, and while they are very textual, I also believe they are > insightful. For example, the complete works of: > > * William Ellery Channing - http://bit.ly/browser-channing-about > * Jane Austen - http://bit.ly/browser-austen-about > * Ralph Waldo Emerson - http://bit.ly/browser-emerson-about > * Henry David Thoreau - http://bit.ly/browser-thoreau-about > > — > Eric “Beginning To Suffer From ‘Creeping Featuritis’” Morgan >
