Citing HathiTrust Content

This help article will show you what tools we have available to help you accurately cite content from the HathiTrust collection.

For more resources related to citing HathiTrust materials, please see the following:

 Generate a Citation for a HathiTrust Catalog Record

Search for the item you are interested in, and open the catalog record. You should see two tools near the top of the catalog record called “Cite this” and “Export citation file.”

The citation toolbar.

Click on “Cite this” to generate a citation in MLA and APA format.

An example of a HathiTrust item cited in APA and MLA format.

Please note that these generated citations may not always be complete. For example, it will include information about the book or journal, but will not include information about the individual volume or journal issue you were referencing. It also does not include an access link to the item.

When citing materials for an assignment, it is always best to check with the person who assigned it to verify which citation format you should be using.

There are many resources online that you can use to verify the completeness of a citation. One example would be this MLA formatting and style guide, or this APA formatting and style guide. For the most authoritative assistance, consult a librarian at your local library.

 Export HathiTrust Citations

You can use the citation toolbar in each catalog record to export a citation for that book or journal as an .RIS file.

The citation toolbar.

Click on “Export citation file,” then save the .RIS file locally to your device.

Please note that the exported file includes a link to the catalog record of the resource you are citing, but does not include information about which individual journal issue or book copy you were referencing. For this reason, we would recommend separately copying and pasting the access link into your citation manager as well. You can obtain a permanent access link to the item by opening it in our Book Viewer and expanding the “Share” section in the left sidebar. Then copy the “Permanent link to this item.” The link provided in this section is permanent, while the “babel.hathitrust.org” link in your browser’s address bar is not necessarily permanent.

The Share menu, which includes a Permanent link to this item, as well as a Link to this page scan.

 Import HathiTrust Citations into Your Citation Manager

There are many resources online that can take you through the process of importing citations to various citation managers using .RIS files. As an example, this page will take you through the process of importing a citation to Zotero using an .RIS file.

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