HathiTrust Rights API

HathiTrust partners (and any other interested parties) need a way to get information unique to HathiTrust (handle data, rights information) into their own systems. This documents begins to describe an HTTP interface that aims to provide:

data about a small number of records at once (other avenues will be available for larger queries)
only data unique to HathiTrust, along with enough unique identifiers to make sanity-checking possible
an interface amenable for use within a browser environment

The initial target of the design will be a typical “Full Record” page in a web-based OPAC; other uses may reveal themselves and influence the design along the way. Something I’m going to want help with from all comers is how to deal with serials. They’re a mess.

Why not just use SRU/OpenURL/Whatever?

The short answer is that all those technologies are much, much heavier than what we need to get off the ground and all would be a huge pain to try to deal with in browser-embedded javascript. I’m not averse to adding interfaces as the need arises and time permits, of course.

Phased Development

Development will be segmented into phases, with ever-increasing functionality until we have…enough.

Phase 0 (FINISHED) will focus on getting a single non-serial record by passing in an OCLC number and providing a javascript library to make it easy to work with the returned data in a browser.
Phase 1 (FINISHED) will add to phase 0 the ability to pass multiple possible identifiers (e.g., an lccn and oclc number) and will provide server-side rank-ordering of any multiple results.
Phase 2 will provide a second interface designed to allow multiple simultaneous queries. This will still be focused on a small number (n < 20ish) of records at once.

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FAQ

Are the materials open to everyone?

Works in the public domain in HathiTrust are open to all researchers—whoever and wherever they may be. Content in HathiTrust will be discoverable through online search technologies within the repository and through Google, with no authentication, login, or password required. As it becomes possible to expand access to the materials through permissions or other agreements, other materials will be made available. HathiTrust has already been contacted by some rights holders wishing to provide broader access to their content.

The research collections of partner libraries, accumulated over centuries, represent a vast treasury of cultural heritage and investment in the broad public good of promoting scholarship and advancing knowledge.

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