How do I access the Harvard Library Public Domain corpus using Globus?

What is Globus?  Globus services can be used to transfer, share, and discover data.  The University of Chicago operates Globus as a not-for-profit service and file transfers are free for users at non-profit research institutions.  To download the Harvard Library Public Domain Corpus, you will need to register for a Globus ID and install Globus Connect Personal on your device. 

What is a Globus ID?  To provide access to the data in the Harvard Library Public Domain Corpus, we need your Globus ID.  On the Globus ID page, you can create a Globus ID or log in with an existing ID: 

More information about the Globus ID can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions.  How to transfer the Harvard Library Public Domain Corpus collection using Globus 

  1. If you do not already have one, create your Globus ID.  We will need your Globus ID to set up permission to transfer the data. 

  1. Install Globus Connect Personal on your device.  Windows, MacOS, and Linux versions are available.  The installation pages include extensive instructions on downloading the application and set up.  During the installation, create a collection on your local machine. 

  1. When Globus Connect Personal confirms that your setup was successful, click on the link to “Access data in this collection.”  It will open Globus’ File Manager page in your web browser. Detailed instructions for transferring folders are available on the Globus site. 

  1. On the File Manager page, in addition to your locally defined collection, add the “LTS-Google-Books” collection.  You may need to click on “Shared with You” on the Collection Search page that appears. 

  1. Check the paths. Select the folders listed under the LTS-Google-Books collection. Click on “Transfer or Sync to…”  Then click the “Start” button to initiate the data transfer.  Globus uses a “fire-and-forget data transfer” which optimizes and monitors the data transfer.  If the transfer stops midway, it should resume where it left off rather than having to reinitiate the entire transfer.  The folders in this collection are randomly organized sets containing 100,000 files each.   

Other sources for help using Globus  The following links provide detailed, step-by-step instructions for using Globus to transfer large data sets similar to the Harvard Library Public Domain Corpus: 

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