1. CERL Consortium of European Research Libraries Dr David J. Shaw, Secretary National Library of Scotland 3 September 2003

2. CERL / NLS 3/9/20032 CERL The Consortium was formed in 1992 on the initiative of research libraries in many European countries. We currently have 44 full members, 31 other members, and 83 associated libraries. Our primary objective is to record the European printed heritage: all books printed in Europe during the hand-press period, i.e. before c.1830, in our Hand Press Book database. Web address : http://www.cerl.org/http://www.cerl.org/

3. CERL / NLS 3/9/20033 CERL members in the UK British Library, London National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth University of London Libraries (ULL and UCL) University of Oxford Libraries

4. CERL / NLS 3/9/20034 Hand Press Book database HPB 1,287,469 records for books printed in Europe from mid-15th to mid-19th centuries 18 contributing libraries, with more records added each year Full list of contributors on http://www.cerl.org/HPB/hpb.htm http://www.cerl.org/HPB/hpb.htm

5. CERL / NLS 3/9/20035 The HPB is searchable by Author Title Imprint town Printer or publisher Date range Language Holding institution

6. CERL / NLS 3/9/20036 Advanced search Searches can be modified and combined Records can be output in a variety of formats MARC output is available for derived cataloguing

7. CERL / NLS 3/9/20037 CERL Thesaurus Contains variant forms of names of –places –imprint names –personal names CERL hopes to add –provenance information –printers’ devices Can combine place and imprint names to show all printers who were active in a certain place Is freely available ! http://www.cerl.org/Thesaurus/thesaurus.htm http://www.cerl.org/Thesaurus/thesaurus.htm

8. CERL / NLS 3/9/20038 Variant imprint places How do you find all the books printed in Paris? The Thesaurus lists 48 different forms All can be searched for in one operation en Parisiois, Lutecia, Lutecia Parisiorum, Lutetia, Lutetia Parisiorum, Lutetiae, Lutetiae Parisiorum, Lutetiae-Parisiorum, Parhisii, Parhisiis, Parige, Pariggi, Parigi, Parishe, Parisi, Parisiae, Parisii, Parisiis, Parisioi, Parisius, Parisk, Parisorum, Parissi, Parisu, Pariz, Parrhisiae, Parrhisii, Parrhisiis, Parrhisium, Parrhisius, Parrhysiis, Parsii, Parys, W Paryzu

9. CERL / NLS 3/9/20039 Variants for Edinburgh Edinburgi Edinburgiensum Edinburgium Edinburgk Edinburgum Edinburum Edingborough Edingburg Edingburgh Edingurgh Edinum Edninburgh Edynburg Edynburgh Endinburgh Alata Castra Alatus Burgus Aneda Burgus Alatus Castra Alata Castra Puellarum Dun Eudain Eden-Bourgh Edenborough Edenbourgh Edenburg Edenburgh Edenburgum Edibourg Edimbourg Edimbourgh Edimburg Edimburga Edimburgh Edimburghum Edimburgm Edimburgum Edin-Bruaich Edinborough Edinbourg Edinbourgh Edinburg Edinburga Edinburge

10. CERL / NLS 3/9/200310 Printers and publishers For each imprint place, a list of imprint names can be obtained Each name can be selected for more detailed biographical information Adams, William Anderson, Andrew (1680) Balfour, John Baskett, John Bell, John Brown, William Bryson, James (1639) Bryson, James Bryson, Robert (1640) Cairns, John (1678) Calderwood, John (1685) Charteris, Henry

11. CERL / NLS 3/9/200311 Assisted Searching The CERL Thesaurus is used to support Assisted Searching on the HPB database Available for imprint places and imprint names Assisted searching on personal names is under development This is how it works...

12. CERL / NLS 3/9/200312 CERL activities developing the Hand Press Book database developing the CERL Thesaurus organising or participating in seminars and workshops on the history of the book and computer-based catalogues of printing before 1830 publishing papers arising from the annual CERL Seminar investigating technological issues relating to cross- searching of web-based catalogues of printed books and manuscripts

13. CERL Contact information For Membership details: D.J.Shaw@cerl.org For information about the HPB / CERL Thesaurus MarianLefferts@cerl.org