State of the Project, August 2024

Greetings, Gentle Reader!

Today’s post is brought to you by The Letter C, as they say on Sesame Street. This is because I have finally finished with the “C” libraries in my list! Hooray!

I mean, seriously. I had no idea of the undertaking “C” was going to be when I started. It wasn’t the best of times or the worst of times, but it was a lot of times, of that there is no question.

Of particular note, but in no particular order:

• The number of institutions whose libraries are named, simply, “Central Library.” Really, while I admire the simplicity, you could differentiate yourselves a bit more.
• Cambridge. I got through a first pass that I think is complete, but I will be revisiting it just to be sure.
• Honorable mention to College Library at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. You have way more useful volumes than I realized when I started this, AND you’re within a relatively reasonable driving distance. Looking forward to visiting you eventually!
• Also, the Library of All Souls College at Oxford goes into the Oxford pile along with the Bodleian Library (and other Oxford libraries) to be sorted through more thoroughly at a later date. — Edited to note: this library was in “C” because my earlier research showed it was named the Codrington, but that name was changed in 2020. Guess OCLC/WorldCat hadn’t updated their records yet when I did my research.

Also, just for the record, I know I missed my July post. I meant to post my update, but then I posted June late and I was teaching and then before I knew it we were already at August, so… yeah. So be it. It’s okay. The victory over the significant number of C-entries more than makes up for it, to my mind. No worries. On to a new semester.

*Number of libraries confirmed: 116
Number of libraries entered into the database: 2
**Number of extant copies confirmed: 518

*Waiting on confirmation from Connelly Library at La Salle University. Their search seems to be limited to those attending/working at the university. Have emailed for more info.
**Not counting University of Oxford