Charting cultural history through historical bibliometric research: Methods; concepts; challenges; results

Historical bibliometrics, defined as “bibliometric study of periodicals and books published in the framework of time and space”, 1 has long been a significant part of the book historian’s toolkit. It allows them to conduct large scale “quantitative analysis of publications for the purpose of ascertaining specific kinds of [cultural] phenomena” and is thus ideally suited to computational methods of analysis, 2 and digital approaches that join multiple data-sets. In this chapter we will explore methods, concepts and best practice in digital historical bibliometric research and how well-constructed historical-bibliometric research can enrich cultural history and many related fields. Drawing on their experience as researchers or collaborators on the Universal Short Title Catalogue, the French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe and MEDIATE projects, and other digital projects in library history and bibliography, the authors offer a step-by-step guide to the field of bibliometric research, discussing: Raw materials for historical bibliometric research, Research questions and research design, Description of books: bibliographic data models and taxonomic description, Actors, Readers and networks How to deal with incomplete and poor-quality data, Short-cuts: OCR and machine learning, Mapping and visualizing data: approaches and analysis, User interfaces: publishing and presenting historical bibliometric data, Linked open data, methods, models and conceptual possibilities.