Bernadette Cunningham

Historical Bibliography as an Essential Source for Historiography Bernadette Cunningham

This volume brings together papers presented at the Fifth International Conference of the European Historical Bibliographies Project, held in Prague on November 7 - 8, 2013, under the auspices of the Department of Historical Bibliography of the Institute of History of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic. The conference attracted bibliographers, historians and librarians from Denmark, France, Ireland, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland and from a number of Czech institutions and libraries, who gathered to discuss a wide range of topics. The main theme of the conference was the significance of historical bibliography for historical science. Given the diversity of professional focus among the conference participants, this topic was approached and examined from a variety of viewpoints. The most important outcomes of these meetings were, firstly, explaining the way individual participating organisations dealt with historical bibliography, and, secondly, providing a comparison of different methodological and technological approaches for processing specialized bibliographies in various European countries. This book introduces the wider public to the current shape and prospects of historical bibliography projects across a range of European countries. Obviously, such projects must reflect the needs of their users, which mainly comprise historians and librarians. The ongoing development of historical bibliography does not only involve a technical challenge, but also a methodological one, as well as a societal one when interpreted in a broader context. Mutual communication helps form the future direction of historical bibliography, which will undoubtedly face many new tasks and challenges.