Digital libraries: Bodleian Library’s project awarded with "Digital Prize 2010"

A Bodleian Library electronic resource has been awarded the Digital Prize for 2010 by the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (BSECS).

“Electronic Enlightenment” (EE) project (www.e-enlightenment.com) is a scholarly research project of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, which offers the most wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period.  EE reconstructs the web of correspondence that made the long 18th century the birthplace of the modern world. EE offers unrivalled access to the conversation between the greatest thinkers and writers of the 18th century and their families and friends, bankers and booksellers, patrons and publishers. Based on the best critical editions and previously unpublished correspondence, the resulting database currently provides access to the digital texts of more than 55,000 letters and 87,000 document sources in eleven languages. Featuring more than 230,000 scholarly annotations, EE is updated monthly with new material. “Electronic Enlightenment” is available by annual subscription to institutions and individuals worldwide through Oxford University Press.

Dr Robert McNamee, Director of the “Electronic Enlightenment” project, said: “The Bodleian Library is delighted that the scholarship provided by one of our most comprehensive digital resources has been recognized by one of the key learned societies in the field. The EE‘s small but dedicated team works hard to provide students and researchers with an imaginative yet scholarly recreation of the “Republic of Letters” (intellectual communities in the late 17th and 18th century in Europe and America). We are sure that this seal of approval will further raise the project's profile and encourage participation by the scholarly community.”