For some time the scholarly and library communities have been awaiting the National Library of Canada’s new bilingual bibliography intended to update Dorothy Ryder’s Canadian Reference Sources: A Selective Guide (1981). Originally slated for publication in 1992, this project has actually taken six years to complete, an indication of the magnitude of the task.

Despite its precedent, do not expect a slightly expanded Ryder; this work is enormous. Canadian Reference Sources comprises approximately 1,150 pages and contains over 4,000 entries. The criterion for inclusion remains Canadian content or relevance in a work, rather than Canadian authorship or publication. New titles have been added to July, 1995.

Ryder’s second edition was necessitated by the substantial growth in the production of Canadian reference tools between 1973 and 1982, spurred by the increase of Canadian studies both in Canada and abroad. Obviously this was just the vanguard. In the Annotated Bibliography most of the subjects have been further expanded to reflect changes in society and in Canadian studies research. Each topic covered includes two or three times more sources than Ryder.

The other major change is this publication’s bilingual nature. Entries for unilingual works include a citation in the language of publication and a bilingual annotation. Two entries have been created for each bilingual document. This has added greatly to its utility (as well as its bulk).

The topical arrangement is by three main classes: general reference works; history and related subjects; and the humanities (arts, languages, literature, performing arts, philosophy, and religion). These large classes are subdivided by subject, genre, type of document, and province or territory, as appropriate. Works that cover more than one subject may be cited under several topics. There are four extensive indexes: names, titles, English subjects, and French subjects.

Each entry includes bibliographical description with ISBN or ISSN when available, Dewey decimal and LC classification numbers, and publication history. Annotations are descriptive rather than critical and include scope, arrangement, indexing, and the availability of non-print formats.

Mary Bond and Martine Caron have produced a truly monumental work that exhibits the impeccable detail one would expect from the National Library’s Reference and Information Services Division. There is one reservation: the sciences and social sciences are not included, and it is in these burgeoning disciplines that scholars and librarians are searching for control and guidance. It was originally intended that these subjects would be covered in a separate volume, and one can only hope that this intention becomes a reality.

Canadian Reference Sources is an outstanding achievement, destined to join the ranks of such standard national guides as Winchell, Walford, and Sheehey as the Canadian bibliography. It is an essential purchase for any library with a standard reference collection, as well as for any serious Canadian scholar or student.