The economic, political, and social contexts of English-language book title production in Canada, 1973--1996

Although the National Library's legal deposit program has been systematically collecting the published heritage of our country, until this study the number and nature of titles in the collection remained unexamined. Little was known about patterns of genre production or the overall body of titles that has been produced.; This study develops statistics on English-language title production in Canada between 1973 and 1996, based on analysis of the National Library's legal deposit records. It also brings together measures of general social and economic conditions, merges them with what we know about the book publishing industry and its operating context (book markets and government support programs), and examines what influence these environmental factors have had on title production between 1973 and 1996.; The study demonstrates that by examining the legal deposit records of the National Library of Canada a picture can be presented of title production of books in Canada and in its various regions from year to year. It shows that by egg these records one can gain a sense of the preoccupations of Canadians expressed in book form, and of the areas where Canadians tend to rely on imported books. Further, it shows the influence of economic, policy, demographic, and market trends on title production. Economic conditions (GDP per capita, inflation), federal government support (via the Department of Communications and Canada Council), and demographic shifts are shown to have influenced title production levels.; The study also illustrates that differential patterns in annual title output among genres can be related to particular title production situations as well as more general environmental factors. For instance, Canadian literature title production is more sensitive to general economic and trade market conditions than title production overall. Economics and management title production largely developed during the 1980s, as economic turmoil in Canadian business fostered growing corporate and consumer markets for these works. And the production of titles intended for juvenile readers (children's trade books and textbooks) grew rapidly with the emergence of the baby boom echo generation.