English Short Title Catalogue

The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) is the most comprehensive resource available for the output of the printing press in the English-speaking world before 1801.

ESTC is a bibliography that aims to record every distinct letterpress item produced during the hand-press era in these regions. It is also a union catalogue that lists copies of those items held by libraries and other owners around the world as well as links to digital reproductions where available. Begun in the late 1970s and with its roots in Pollard and Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475-1640 (STC), ESTC currently contains about 500,000 records and more than 3 million holdings. It is co-managed by the British Library and ESTC North America (ESTC/NA).

This is a beta version (available at https://datb.cerl.org/estc), and you will continue to see changes to the database and search interface over the next few months. For feedback, comments or corrections, please contact us at estc@bl.uk.

• What happened to estc.bl.uk?

In October 2023 the British Library suffered a cyber-attack. All of the library’s IT infrastructure was taken offline, including the ESTC. Some systems have been or are being restored, but the ESTC will not be included among the projects hosted by the BL.

• What has the ESTC team been up to since October 2023?

By early 2024, it was clear that restoring the BL IT infrastructure would be a long and difficult process, so we started looking for medium- and long-term solutions for hosting the ESTC. The Print and Probability project generously offered to host ESTC data until we could find a permanent host. We rather quickly concluded that CERL, which already hosted the ISTC and STCN, was a logical choice. By late spring, the ESTC and CERL were meeting regularly to plan the migration, and by late summer, we had a proof-of-concept in place. All in all, in less than a year, we went from initial discussions to a searchable, public ESTC.

• Will estc.bl.uk redirect to datb.cerl.org/estc?

At this time (May 2025), the BL will only redirect to the main CERL databases page, https://data.cerl.org/all, the ESTC is listed there will all the other databases held in the CERL environment. We hope to eventually be able to redirect to the ESTC search page once the BL has caught up on the backlog of post-cyber-attack work.

• What will happen to my links to ESTC records at estc.bl.uk?

For now, URLs to ESTC records, such as estc.bl.uk/R479308, will redirect to the CERL databases page. The good news is that the “estc.bl.uk” in the url can be substituted with “datb.cerl.org/estc/”. For example, “estc.bl.uk/R479308” would become “datb.cerl.org/estc/R479308”.

• Will I have to pay to use the new ESTC?

The ESTC will remain free to use.

• My institution has contributed and edited our holdings through the STAR database. Will we be able to continue contributing our institutional information to the ESTC?

For the next few months, institutions will continue to edit and add holdings in STAR. We hope to have an editing interface in the CERL ESTC by summer 2025.

• Is the information in the new ESTC exactly the same as what was in estc.bl.uk?

Since estc.bl.uk went offline in October 2023, the BL and contributing institutions have continued to add and edit holdings, and the BL and ESTC/NA have edited bibliographic records, in a version of the ESTC maintained by ESTC/NA. We downloaded those records into a MARC file in December 2024, which was used to create the current version of the ESTC hosted by CERL. We will do one more download from the ESTC/NA software later this summer, at which time we will cease working in it entirely and work exclusively in CERL ESTC. The information you find here should be exactly the same as what was in estc.bl.uk plus any additions or edits done since October 2023.

• Are you planning to add additional features?

Later this summer, 2025, we plan to add various browsing options – including author, title, and holding institution – and facets to refine searches.

• Can I suggest features to add or changes to make?

Yes, please do! You can email us at estc@bl.uk.