Since the 1950s, all of Switzerland has moved to Canada, figuratively speaking. Tracing the origins of those seven million people, and the countless others who preceded them in the last 5,000 years, is the task ... Read More »

First, it was CD-ROM. Now, reference work publishers are busy embracing what many see as a natural extension of that kind of electronic format: the Internet’s World Wide Web.Doing so isn’t quite as simple as ... Read More »

Prior to colonization, there were 11 aboriginal language families in Canada, and more than 50 different languages. Today, however, only one-third of aboriginal people speak an aboriginal language. Most are middle-aged or older. Even the ... Read More »

Being a reference publisher for the trade market is not as straightforward as it once was. Whereas not long ago publishers released a single print edition for all markets, they now must tailor their content ... Read More »

Ten years ago, when Self-Counsel Press was 17 years old and had 150 titles in print, it occurred to Diana Douglas that her B.C. publishing company had exhausted all the business and legal issues for ... Read More »

Need to know the chemical symbol for Californium or how to mix a margarita? You’ll find answers in laminated reference sheets called PermaCharts, the product of an 18-year-old Concord, Ontario, company that began producing a ... Read More »

Christine Jacobs remembers it as one of the more humiliating episodes in her career as a professional indexer. After she completed a job for a computer company, a company official took it upon himself to ... Read More »

Some people might believe that Katherine Barber, a lexicographer and editor-in-chief of the forthcoming Canadian Oxford Dictionary, spends her days delighting in discoveries about the English language. The job does have its moments: Barber was surprised ... Read More »