The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland

The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland , is to be  published by Cambridge University Press in November 2006 in 3 volumes, with nearly a hundred contributors under the general editorship of Peter Hoare and with the active support of the Library and Information History Group of CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals.

Volume 1, edited by Elisabeth Leedham-Green and Teresa Webber, covers more than a thousand years to 1640, both the medieval and the early modern period, showing the shift from a largely religious book-world to one with much wider limits. Volume 2, edited by Giles Mandelbrote and Keith Manley, covers 1640-1850, from the Civil War through new developments in circulating
and subscription libraries to the Public Libraries Act. Volume 3, edited by Alistair Black and Peter Hoare, completes the story from 1850 to 2000, tracing the huge spread of libraries in the modern world - public, academic and specialist - and the growth of electronic information.

This is the first detailed scholarly history of libraries in Britain and
Ireland. It aims to provide a panorama of the great variety of libraries over 1500 years, setting them in their social and cultural contexts and interpreting their role as it has changed over time. Libraries of all kinds are included, from monastic libraries and other manuscript collections to the modern world of electronic information. Special attention is given to the purposes of libraries - in education, for professional use, for religious purposes and of course for leisure and general reading. Large libraries and small are covered, with examples from all over the British Isles of how needs have been met. Each volume includes a full index and an
extensive bibliography of sources and secondary works.

For further information, please contact the General Editor:

Peter Hoare
21 Oundle Drive
Wollaton Park
Nottingham NG8 1BN

Tel or fax: +44 115 978 5297
Email: mailto:p.hoare@virgin.net?subject="A" history of libraries in Britain and Ireland