HTRC Policies

Learn our policies from account creation, non-consumptive use, and more.

HTRC Analytics

Account creation

Anyone possessing an email address from an institution of higher education or a non-profit research organization is allowed to register, including those whose institutions are not HathiTrust members. Many college and university email domains are recognized by the system, and accounts created with those email addresses will not require additional review. If an email address is not recognized by our system, then the individual who is creating an account will need to request access. Those with email addresses from qualified institutions of higher education will generally be approved to create an account after review by an HTRC staff person. Affiliates of non-profit research institutions, such as a public library, will also be approved in most cases, though they may be asked to provide information about their organization during the request review process. Only in certain cases are researchers from non-academic or for-profit organizations permitted to create an account. 

Accounts cannot be created with with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, or similar email address. 

Account deactivation

Accounts that have not been active for more than one year are deactivated. HTRC checks activity monthly to identify inactive accounts. Once an account has been deactivated, a researcher will experience an error if they attempt to log into their account. A deactivated account can be reactivated by contacting HTRC at htrc-help@hathitrust.org.

Non-consumptive Use Research Policy

This policy defines HTRC's application of the concept of non-consumptive research across its tools and services. The Non-consumptive Use Research Policy applies to HTRC's web algorithms, derived datasets, and Data Capsules (see below).

Algorithm job results

Job result deletion

Job results are deleted 18 months from the date the job was run.

Data Capsules

Capsule creation

Any researcher can create a Demo capsule, which is a less-powerful, more restricted capsule with access only to the public domain corpus.

Any researcher can create a Research capsule, which has customizable specifications and by default access only the public domain corpus. As a benefit to HathiTrust members, existing Data Capsule users from HathiTrust member institutions or new Data Capsule requesters from member institutions have the exclusive option to select “Full Corpus Access,” which includes computational access to copyrighted items. Requests will be evaluated for demonstration of a legitimate research use, as well as understanding of the Non-consumptive Use Research Policy and HTRC Data Capsules Terms of Use. 

Shared capsules

A Research capsule can be shared with up to 5 collaborators. Demo capsules cannot be shared.

When adding a collaborator to a Research capsule that has full-corpus access, then the request will be reviewed by an HTRC staff person to ensure that the newly-added researcher is in compliance with the policies described above. If a Research capsule has multiple collaborators before the request for full-corpus access is submitted, then each researcher associated with the capsule will be reviewed during the approval process.

Forms of research and result exports

Terms of Use

All researchers using a Data Capsule, whether a Demo or Research capsule, must agree to, and are expected to adhere to, the HTRC Data Capsules Terms of Use.

Non-consumptive Use Research Policy

As stipulated in the Terms of Use, Data Capsules are made available for computationally-driven, non-consumptive research. They are not reading applications. The Non-consumptive Use Research Policy defines non-consumptive research as understood by HathiTrust. It describes the kinds of research described by non-consumptive research and gives examples of permitted results exports from the capsules environment.

Result review and export

Approved results exported from a capsule are accessible for 14 days from the approval date.

Rejected result requests cannot be downloaded.

Capsule deletion

Demo capsules are deleted 30 days from the date of creation.

Research Capsules are deleted 18 months from a researcher's last log-in date to HTRC Analytics.