The Use and Misuse of Early English Books Online

Abstract

Early English Books Online (EEBO) is a key electronic resource for scholars working on pre-1700 British literature and history. This article provides a brief history of this resource from its origins as a microfilm project and its relationship with other bibliographical and electronic resources. It also considers the problems inherent in representing a three-dimensional object, a book, as a two-dimensional image.To all the classic 'Enemies of Books' has now been added this devouring monster of the microfilm pressure table. By cajolery, threats, exhortation, and constant vigilance the librarians of today must guard their treasures against this danger which lurks in the distant corner where, amid his livid lights and chemical smells, the photographer has his lair. ( Jackson 288) Early English Books Online (EEBO) is a commercial resource, provided by ProQuest, that provides online access to over a hundred thousand 'image sets' of early printed books. 1 Since its launch ten years ago, EEBO has gained among humanities scholars a remarkably high profile, on a par with substantial reference works as the Oxford English Dictionary or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. At the time of writing, almost a thousand universities, research institutions and libraries have access to it and, during the last academic year, it attracted over 1.33 million user 'sessions'. 2 If the ubiquity with which images of early printed books now appear on seminar handouts, conference paper slideshows, or scholarly blogs is any guide, it has had a substantial impact on the teaching and researching of early modern British literature and history, particularly in the UK and North America. 3 Put another way, there are now Ph.D. students submitting their theses for whom EEBO has been a fact of academic life since they arrived as freshmen.I am slightly too old to claim full membership of the EEBO generation but I have used EEBO almost from the moment it was launched: initially in my research, more recently in my teaching. I have monitored its development closely and, to declare my own interest up front, have a reasonably close relationship with the UK team that oversee it: I have maintained a long-standing correspondence with Dr Peter White, Senior Editor of

A Case Study on the Path to Resource Discovery

“…A closer examination of EEBO in light of the findings in this paper of an EEBO record linked to a resource printed 12 years later is an area calling for further study. In respect of the needs of scholars as eloquently described by Gadd (2009), the WorldCat Knowledge Base OCN must improve its accuracy in terms of access provision via WorldCat Discovery.…”

“…Gadd (2009, p. 686) emphasized the importance of this information to scholars in stating that "different copies from the same edition might vary, sometimes markedly." 22 As to Gadd's (2009) critique concerning the lack of a formal synchronization mechanism and increasing likelihood of discrepancies between EEBO and ESTC, further examination of EEBO and ESTC bibliographic record displays such as those shown in Figures 5 and 6 suggest that the British Library is working with ProQuest to align their data. It appears a focus of the British Library may be to inform the scholar of the availability of the microfilm and electronic versions of the print resources.…”

“…17 Gadd postured that "as both resources continue to amend and expand their bibliographical data for their own purposes, there is an increasing likelihood of significant discrepancy between the two resources." 18 He did not further address the quality of the bibliographic records describing the EEBO versions of the resources; perhaps he was unaware of the sources of the EEBO bibliographic data.…”

“…Much has been written on EEBO's inception and continuing development as a collection of digital reproductions of microfilm reproductions of pre-1700 print resources, and on its scholarly value (Kitchuk, 2007;Martin, 2007;Gadd, 2009;Mak, 2013;Folger Shakespeare Library, 2015 1641-1700 ("Wing"), respectively, were used in selecting the print resources for filming. 13 Gadd (2009, 683) pinpointed the STC as "a catalogue of editions (or more accurately, editions and issues) not copies although, of course, the information about any edition is derived primarily from the surviving copies … Each entry gives the location of known copies …" 14 The "successor" to STC and Wing, the English Short Title Catalog (ESTC), "includes records for every item listed in STC, every item in Wing, every item in the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue … and newspapers and other serials which began publication before 1801" and is freely available online from the British Library.…”

A Lost Turk Play: Actors Mufti Nassuf &c (1614–42)

“…As Ian Gadd notes, EEBO-TCP does not cover all extant English printed books; it is by no means a complete record even of the books it includes; and it does not cover manuscript records or non-English books. 7 Furthermore, in this period Ottoman names are spelt with great variety, and this search only looks at one particular spelling. On the other hand, and having said that, for the purposes at hand this is a useful result.…”