This article is Part 4 of a 4 part series on potential paths for opening content in HathiTrust.

A good path for opening UC volumes (or volumes where the copyright holder is known) is the HathiTrust Creative Commons Declaration Form (CCDF). The copyright holder of a HathiTrust volume may complete and submit a CCDF certifying that they are a copyright holder of the volume (or volumes) and that they authorize HathiTrust to share the works under the terms of their chosen Creative Commons license. 

The HathiTrust Creative Commons Declaration Form has been used by colleagues at the University of California to open sizable collections of publications from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The CDL has also collaborated with other institutions to use the CCDF to open collections of California Legislative Bills and New Zealand’s Hansard.

During the Covid19 shutdown, a librarian at UC Davis began contacting authors of UC Davis theses and dissertations to suggest that they open them for access using the CCDF. This effort has had incredible success - so far over 950 theses and dissertations have been opened! 

It may be possible to open volumes for which UC owns the copyright using the CCDF. If you know of such a volume you would like opened for access, please file a ticket and we will see if we can help.


This article is part 4 of a 4 part series on Potential Paths to Opening Content in HathiTrust:

  1. Overview
  2. Remedying Copyright Determinations With Updated Metadata
  3. Copyright Review
  4. HathiTrust Creative Commons Declaration Form


More Information about using HathiTrust’s CCDF

UC Projects and Resources


HathiTrust Resources


Creative Commons Licenses


Non-UC Projects