The repository was designed in accordance with the Open Archival Information Systems reference model, open code technologies and another international standards:

• Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification
• Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies
• TIFF and JPEG Two Thousand for image formats and
• Permanent URL

The repository has two mirror sites at the University of Michigan and Indiana University.

The two libraries that more books have digitized with Google are also the major libraries in Hathi Trust: Michigan University with 50% and California University with 28%.