The Library has different search tools for different types of materials — like books, articles, data, digitized items, and more. Anyone can use these tools for free.
Throughout this guide, we'll use the example search of "Boston" to illustrate the types of results that each search tool can generate.
Library Materials
Use HOLLIS, the Library’s catalog, to search for all library materials.
When you use HOLLIS, you'll notice a couple of options in the dropdown next to the search bar. "Catalog & Articles" searches the catalog plus billions of item descriptions. Choosing "Library Catalog" from the dropdown will limit your results to Harvard materials only.
You can also limit your results to materials available online by selecting "Online" from the "Show Only" options.
Catalog & Articles in HOLLIS
When you search Catalog & Articles, your results will include books, online articles, ebooks, book chapters, archival materials, media, maps, and more.
Search for "Boston" in HOLLIS Catalog & Articles and your results will include items like:
- Boston Magazine
- books on the history of the city
- tourist guidebooks
Library Catalog in HOLLIS
HOLLIS Library Catalog includes only Harvard-owned materials. You’ll find books, ebooks, archival materials, media, maps, and more.
Search for "Boston" in HOLLIS Library Catalog and your results will include items like:
- maps
- ebooks on the history of the city
- tourist guidebooks
Archival Materials
Use HOLLIS for Archival Discovery to search finding aids for archival materials.
A finding aid is like a roadmap or guide to a specific archival or special collection. It details what's included in the collection, including whether there are digital or digitized materials. In HOLLIS for Archival Discovery, you’ll find primary sources including letters, photographs, film and video, print items, digital materials, and physical objects (t-shirts, pins, and more). Materials that aren't digitized are available for viewing in our reading rooms.
Not all archival and special collections at Harvard have a finding aid, so they aren’t searchable in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. If HOLLIS for Archival Discovery does not have what you're looking for, try HOLLIS or Ask a Librarian.
Search for "Boston" in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery and your results will include items like:
- scrapbooks from Boston Theater
- Boston Chamber of Commerce records
- League of Women Voters of Boston records
Digitized Materials
For digitized collections, use CURIOSity. It offers curated views of a collection, with search and browse features specifically designed for the materials in the collection.
Search for "Boston" in the Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation and Freedom collection and your results will include items like:
- pamphlets on the crusade against slavery
- the fiction novel Megda by Emma Dunham Kelley
- reports from the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society
Open Access Research
DASH
DASH is Harvard's central, open-access repository for research by Harvard community members. DASH contains over 45,000 works of scholarship. You’ll find articles, conference proceedings, working papers, case studies, books and book chapters, theses, and dissertations.
Search for "Boston" in DASH and your results will include items like:
- articles on Boston Strong
- a history on a 1820s Boston medical student
- a thesis on affordability on Boston housing prices
Harvard Dataverse
Harvard Dataverse is Harvard's open online repository for sharing, preserving, citing, exploring, and analyzing research data. It offers advanced searching and text mining in over 2,000 dataverses, 75,000 datasets, and 350,000+ files, representing institutions, groups, and individuals at Harvard and beyond.
Search for "Boston" in Harvard Dataverse and your results will include items like:
- geographic files for Boston neighborhoods
- data on every bicycle crash in Boston from 2009 to 2012
- records of requests received by Boston's constituent services team
Geospatial Data
Use Harvard Geospatial Library to search for and download geospatial data. You’ll find datasets available from around the world at various scales, from global to local, complete with metadata.
Search for "Boston" in Harvard Geospatial Library and your results will include items like:
- Boston maps across time
- site plans for buildings
- land use plans
Tip for the search: To activate the map and limit results to the area seen within the map viewer, select "Click to wake" and have "Search when I move this map" checked.
