LSU Libraries is pleased to announce that it now provides access to the Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) database.

ECCO contains every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom during the 18th century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas. From books and directories, Bibles, and sheet music to sermons and pamphlets, ECCO features a variety of materials to provide a critical tool for both faculty research and classroom use.

Scholars and students can now have immediate access to 18th century texts they once could only have viewed by visiting libraries in London or Oxford.  And due to the searching capabilities of the database, complex examinations and analyses of these texts can be performed that were previously impossible.

“One of the greatest developments in the recent history of the LSU Libraries is the addition to the database trove of Eighteenth-Century Collections Online, one of the most useful as well as one of the most LSU-pertinent resources in all of e-scholarship,” said Kevin Cope, LSU Professor of English.  Cope continued, “ECCO, which provides access to the full range of eighteenth-century British imprints, has deep roots in LSU history.  It emerged from the microfilm project that accompanied former LSU Arts and Sciences Dean Henry Snyder’s monumental collaborative project, The Eighteenth-Century Short Title Catalogue, which is now part of the online English Short Title Catalogue at the prestigious British Library.  Today, ECCO, a truly interdisciplinary database, is useful in an astounding number of ways to an astounding variety of scholars.”

“I see Eighteenth Century Collections Online as a wonderful complement to the Early American Imprints and Early English Books Online databases, a rounding out of access for LSU students and faculty to eighteenth-century American and English literary history," said Lauren Coats, Associate Professor of English at LSU. "I look forward to using this resource to expand my research and teaching in early American literature, as it will help me study how books--and the ideas they contain--traveled back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean."

LSU Libraries is excited to be able to offer ECCO to the LSU community. We expect this resource to contribute greatly to the research and educational activities of LSU’s students and faculty.