New DNB now in Galway City Library

The most recent addition to the Reference Section of Galway City Library is the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This is an illustrated collection of more than 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of the history of Britain and Ireland, from the fourth century BC to the year 2001. Its sixty volumes contains 62 million words, 10,000 contributors 10,000 images. The complete set takes up 12 feet of shelf space.

The DNB is one of the most famous books in English. The new Oxford DNB will take its place as a modern classic. In book form it will remain a permanent archive, impervious to technical change, and will be seen as a historical landmark for the next hundred years.

While the online edition makes light of searching and navigation, many readers still prefer to read longer articles in a printed book, especially when the biographies have the literary quality that has always been a hallmark of the DNB.