Book Size, Book Format: Historical Relationship in the HathiTrust Digital Library Metadata (1500-1799)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Digital libraries create new scholarly possibilities for investigating book format at scale, providing a valuable perspective for book history. This study evaluates the historical relationship between book format and book size using the HathiTrust Digital Library metadata of 133,268 books published between 1500 and 1799. We found that: (1) the size of books generally decreased; (2) smaller book formats gradually replaced larger book formats; and, (3) book size can predict book format relatively accurately. Our findings suggest possible automated improvements to digital library metadata where information about book size is better represented than format, enabling book historians to estimate the prevalence of formats and analyze publication trends.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2023 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, JCDL 2023
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages279-281
Number of pages3
ISBN (Electronic)9798350399318
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event2023 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, JCDL 2023 - Santa Fe, United States
Duration: Jun 26 2023Jun 30 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries
Volume2023-June
ISSN (Print)1552-5996

Conference

Conference2023 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, JCDL 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySanta Fe
Period6/26/236/30/23

Keywords

  • Bibliographic metadata
  • Book history
  • Digital library
  • Machine learning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Book Size, Book Format: Historical Relationship in the HathiTrust Digital Library Metadata (1500-1799)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this