BILL (Bibliography of Irish Linguistics and Literature) 1972-

Information

The design of a new web-based database for the Bibliography of Irish Linguistics and Literature project was begun early in 2002. I am very grateful to Gavin McCullagh whose programming expertise and experience in database design made it possible to translate the theory of what was required into a practical user-friendly system.

Design/Technology

The database engine used is MySQL, an Open Source database released under the Gnu General Public License (GPL). The web based interface to the database was written in PHP, runs on the Apache Webserver on the Debian GNU/Linux operating system, all of which are also Open Source projects.

Scope of Current Work

Work on the new database, covering the period 1972–, concentrated on materials published in scholarly journals and periodicals only. The database currently (i.e. end of 2004) contains entries for all volumes of the School's journal, Celtica (vols 10–24), all volumes of Ériu (vols 23–53), Cambridge / Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (vols 1–14), some numbers of Eigse, Peritia, Scottish Gaelic Studies, Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie, and entries from a number of other sources. A draft test version of the new Bibliography database has been available on-line on the School of Celtic Studies Intranet site since the end of 2002 for the benefit of staff and scholars. Although the current scope of the new database is limited, it is being made publicly available for the first time as a test system and as a limited research resource to students of Irish language and literature.

Objectives and LaTeX

The Bibliography of Irish Linguistics and Literature project has two objectives: (a) to produce a cutting-edge on-line research resource for students of Irish language and literature, and (b) to publish a printed record in book form of the Bibliography for specific year ranges. Given this dual purpose and the wide range of symbols (diacritic, phonetic, and so on) required, LaTeX has been chosen as the most versatile system to generate satisfactorily the necessary symbols and text formatting. While a good deal of the LaTeX is `translated' into equivalent html characters in the Test System, some LaTeX commands remain, especially in the commentary on individual articles. Symbols and formatting can be viewed by clicking the [ PDF Format ] symbol.

How to Search the Database

The database can be accessed or searched in a number of different ways, i.e. by

Author / Editor, etc.
Periodical(s)
Periodical Volume
Series
Books
Classification
Any of the following indexes:
- Author / Textual Sources (i.e pre-Revivalist authors and texts)
- First Lines of Verse
- Manuscript Sources (e.g. a MS discussed, or a MS from which a text has been edited)
- Word / Proper Nouns

Items with URLs (i.e web external addresses) have a [ www ] symbol and can be accessed by clicking the symbol. These include links to authors' web pages, articles published on-line, etc.

The complete entry for a given article can be viewed by clicking the [ details ] symbol. Special symbols (encoded in LaTeX) can be viewed by clicking the [ PDF Format ] symbol, which generates a pdf file.

Comments and Suggestions

Please send comments and queries to: bibliographer@celt.dias.ie.

Roibeard O Maolalaigh
December 2004