BIBLIOPOLIS

A Research Tool for the History of the Printed Book in the Netherlands

Although urgently needed, there is as yet no overview of the history of the printed book in the Netherlands. After the initial period in the fifteenth century, when books printed in the Netherlands were intended mainly for the domestic market, the book became a vehicle for the new ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation during the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Dutch books, in keeping with the economic position of the Dutch Republic, played a seminal role in the history of ideas in Europe. After a period of focusing on the national market in the nineteenth century, the Dutch book trade has now recovered its international standing, not least because of the quality of its typography and publishing. Although the international prestige of Dutch book production is a reflection of our position in Europe, the most important function of books is one of education and cultural transfer within our own country: no matter whether it is a textbook for schools or a pamphlet, a travelogue or a novel, a scholarly publication or a religious tract, the ultimate object is to produce and distribute books to be read.

Since World War II the study of the history of the book in the Netherlands has evolved into a fully fledged academic study. The influence of various foreign schools of thought has crystallised into a clear approach focused on production, distribution and consumption of printed information. Bibliology is highly interdisciplinary by nature, with strong ties to the history of literature, economics, art, and - more generally - cultural history. In this mutually stimulating atmosphere the lack of an overview of the history of the book is widely deplored, especially since the other disciplines have had such overviews for many years and often in several different forms.

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands, has initiated a project to create a tool for the research on the history of the book. This tool, which will be called Bibliopolis, will be designed as an interactive academic information system. While using Bibliopolis, the researcher will encounter the state of the art of Dutch history of the book, together with extensive documentation in the form of bibliographical references, visual material, external bibliographical databases and full text copies of important articles. The tool is characterised by the use of innovative information and networking technology for the processing and dissemination of the results of research and documentation in the field of the history of the book. The system consists of five components, that are interlinked: an handbook-like information structure, an image database, a documentation system, retrospective bibliographic tools, and secondary references as full text.

Bibliopolis will be designed, managed, maintained and published by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, with support from the Competence Center for Electronic Document Engineering of the University of Utrecht. It will be made accessible at the Internet server of the KB. The project started in March 1998 with financial support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and will run for four years.

For more information about the project you are kindly referred to the project manager:

Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands
Dr. Marco de Niet
Library Research Department
P.O.Box 90407
2509 LK The Hague
tel.: +31 70 3140 489
fax: +31 70 3140 501
e-mail: marco.deniet@konbib.nl