Legal Research

Launch of Book History Databases

Launch of Book History Databases

The History of the Book in Canada is one of the most fascinating projects. I have two of the three volumes at home and I need to buy vol. 2.

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the launch of five major databases which catalogue thousands of publications on the history of print culture in Canada from its beginnings in the sixteenth century to the twenty-first century.

These scholarly electronic resources, which have been available through the Internet via Dalhousie University's website since 2003, were originally funded in 2000 by a Major Collaborative Research Initiative Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Not only were they developed to support the preparation of publishing six volumes (three in English, three in French) chronicling the history of print culture in Canada, but also to establish important resources for advancing the field when the project concluded.

A national network of scholars and research students, headed by Bertrum MacDonald at Dalhousie University, worked together to create the following databases: Bibliography of the History of the Book in Canada, Canadian Book Catalogues, Canadian Book Trade and Library Index, Canadian Imprints and Canadian Textbooks.

Through papers and reports given by members of the editorial team at conferences throughout North America and Europe, the databases have received international attention, and numerous inquiries about designing such resources. Recognizing the value of this rich suite of databases for Canadian scholarship, Library and Archives Canada has agreed to receive and relaunch the databases, so that they will continue to be publicly accessible and will grow in importance as new records are added and thus contribute to Canadian studies and History of the Book scholarship in significant ways.

Visit the Web site at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/hbic/index-e.html

It's great see access being provided to this great research.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on May 29, 2009 (boomark / email).