Great idea, Yann! Let's see who a good contact is there, I know there are Wikimedia contributors who have worked there in the past.
On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 1:23 PM Yann Forget via Wikimedia-l < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > HathiTrust (https://www.hathitrust.org/, HT) hosts a large and very high > quality collection of documents, mostly old books. Many of them would be > useful for Wikisource and other Wikimedia projects. However, access is > often restricted (see their answer below), which hinders getting these > books, and copying them to Commons. > > Access is also restricted to bots, so these books can only be copied one > by one, which is very impractical. There used to be a small program called > Hathi Download Helper which was very practical, but HT has changed their > API, and it doesn't work anymore. Also the command line version of Internet > Archive Downloader could be used to download books from HT, but it also > doesn't > work anymore. > > I don't have an account with a US university, which is also a possibility > to access these books. > > Would it be possible that the Wikimedia Foundation contacts HT to form a > partnership for getting privileged access to these books? > > Thanks, > Yann > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > De : HathiTrust General Support <[email protected]> > Date: mar. 23 juin 2026 à 00:13 > Subject: GS-16271 Please make this available for download > To: Yann Forget <[email protected]> > > Spruill Harder commented: > > Dear Yann, > > Thank you for submitting this request. In the HathiTrust collection, many > volumes are open for full view for everyone because they are treated as > being in the public domain worldwide: > > - Volumes published in the U.S. in 1930 or earlier > - Volumes published outside the U.S. in 1900 or earlier > - U.S. federal government documents > > Volumes published outside the U.S. between 1901-1930 are only made > available when someone is attempting to access them from a U.S. IP address, > and are otherwise restricted from view. > > Volumes published in 1931 or later are restricted from view for everyone > because they are treated as being under copyright. > > For more information about how copyright and access is determined in the > HathiTrust collection, please see the information on our Copyright and > Access > <https://www.hathitrust.org/the-collection/search-access/copyright-access/> > page. > > In the meantime, if you need to access the material, I’d recommend > pursuing options through interlibrary loan, or through document delivery > services such as the following: > > - TechSearch at the University of Wisconsin, Madison > <https://wts.wisc.edu/prices> > - Document delivery services at the New York Public Library > <http://www.nypl.org/help/research-services/interlibrary-loan> > - Document delivery services at Columbia University, Morningside > <https://guides.law.columbia.edu/fbs/documentdelivery> > - Document delivery services at UCLA > <https://guides.law.columbia.edu/fbs/documentdelivery> > > Please let us know if you have any questions. > > Best, > > Spruill Harder > > HathiTrust User Support > ------------------------------ > *Original message sent to HathiTrust User Support:* > > *GENERAL FEEDBACK* > > Book description or URL: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000483530 > > Hi, Please make this work available for download, as it is in the public > domain both in the USA and in Europe. > Thank you, Yann Forget > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/RLWXZHKMNN3S5GBRG4IVL2SHRA6OMXJB/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] -- Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266
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