Digital Libraries and Open Access Collections

Digital library collections and open access resources provide freely available information. This is an incomplete list, but it is a good place to start. Given the variety of catalogs, this is not a guide to searching them, but almost everything you have tried in HOLLIS will work in these, particularly keyword searching and linked subject headings. It's a good idea to keep that list of alternate search terms handy, and to update it as you work.

  • Hathi Trust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Click on the yellow Log In button, select Harvard University from the drop-down, and use your Harvard Key to access a greater variety of materials, and the ability to download the full-text of items to which Harvard has access. For anything you cannot get through Harvard's subscription, consider ordering it through your local public library's interlibrary loan program.
  • Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) connects people to the riches held within America's libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. It searches catalog records, not the full text of items, so using keywords and subject headings will be very useful.
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. 
  • Google Books: allows users to search the full text of all books available in Google Book search (whether contributed by Harvard, another library, or the publisher), with a Find at Harvard University link displayed on every item in a search result set. Clicking the link brings the user to the catalog record if an exact match is found in HOLLIS. If an electronic version of the book has been licensed by Harvard, the user will be taken directly to the full text of the e-book. If an exact match in HOLLIS is not found, a pre-populated HOLLIS search screen will open making it easy for patrons to launch a HOLLIS search session..
  • Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Now offers a full text search. Put your terms (phrases or personal names, in quotation marks (""), work best) in the search box and choose Text Contents.
  • The Online Books Page has a bare-bones search page, and does not search full text. Use the blank box to search single terms, and you will be guided to subject headings, and links. Texts are arranged by Library of Congress call numbers. Includes books not in Google Books, HathiTrust, or Internet Archive. Has many other useful features.
  • Digital Libraries by State: Brought to you by the Library of Congress, this websites list hundreds of local, state, and regional resources. These may not be complete, but they provide a good start to finding digitized collections by state.
  • World Digital Library from the Library of Congress is not a huge collection, but it does have primary source materials.