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| LAUDED
FOR 35 YEARS AS THE FINEST REFERENCE BOOK OF ITS KIND
in the world, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography/ Dictionnaire biographique
du Canada (DCB/DBC) is reaching a new audience in an entirely new way
– digitally. Founded in 1959 after the University of Toronto received a bequest from bird seed manufacturer James Nicholson, the DCB/DBC is a joint project of U of T and Université Laval. Fourteen volumes have been published, containing biographies of nearly 8,000 Canadians. Each volume covers a specific span of years from Canadian history. The DCB editorial staff starts with about 3,000 Canadians when planning each volume, eventually boiling the list down to 600 people from all walks of life. Volume 15, covering 1921–1930, should be published early in 2003. When the DCB/DBC launched the CD-ROM version of all 14 volumes in December 2000, 12,000 copies of the disc were sent to high schools, colleges, universities, and public libraries across Canada. Now, a year later, DCB officials have clear evidence that the electronic version is making a resounding impact on the teaching and researching of Canadian history. "Putting the DCB on CD-ROM was a mammoth undertaking and, from a technical standpoint, a very tricky one," says General Editor Ramsay Cook. "But now it’s clear that all the work has paid off. We’re thrilled with the responses. We’re obviously making a real difference to Canadians in learning about their history." Cook notes that the main advantage of the CD-ROM is that "the DCB can now be easily shared by many people by networking it in the school or library, putting it on a server or installing it on multiple computers." And that’s high praise coming from Cook, a renowned historian but not much of a computer buff. "I’m the last guy to be involved in something like this, but I’m all for something that makes Canadian history so much more accessible to Canadians. Computer technology has made a huge difference to the DCB." Still, he attributes much of the quality and success of the DCB/DBC – in print and on CD – to "the wonderful editors and staff here and at Laval over the past 43 years and to the writers, most of whom do this as a labour of love." He adds that external support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Sears Canada, the Historica Foundation, Hollinger, the National Post and the Millennium Bureau of Canada has been crucial. "The greatness of the DCB is based on two qualities. Every biography is in both French and English versions and names of Native Canadians are also included in the person’s aboriginal language. And the DCB is inclusive – we look at the lives of not only judges, government leaders and corporate executives, but also gardening experts, hockey players, farmers, entertainers, even the occasional criminal and eccentric. It really is a history of Canada’s people, from all angles. |
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