The ESTC can be accessed in several ways:
1. There is a microfiche edition (published in 1990;
18th-century records only);
2. There is, as Jerry Hall notes, a cd-rom edition
(same specs as above, but currently out-of-print);
3. The ESTC is available online as well, in the UK
through the British Library's BLAISE, and in North
America through the Research Libraries Group's RLIN
system.
There are plans to publish new editions of the cd-rom,
but as of this writing only the online file is up-to-date.
As there have been several important developments
since the publication of the cd-rom, this is of some
significance.
First, scope is no longer limited to the 18th century.
Approximately 80,000 records exist for items printed
1473-1700. It is because of the decision to expand the
temporal scope that ESTC no longer is an acronym for
the Eighteenth-Century Short-Title Catalogue; the *E*
now stands for *English* (I know how unsatisfactory
*English* is in this context, since our scope includes
Scotland, Ireland, North America, etc. I also remember
the recent discussion re: the very name of this group;
the powers-that-be simply wanted to find a way to keep
the acronym; consider this my personal apology-in-advance
to all concerned ...). Nevertheless, the expansion in
temporal scope does extend the usefulness of the file,
and perhaps interests those on this list who are not
18th-century specialists.
Second, pre-18th-century records include an access point
not found in 18th-century ones. When we decided to
expand the scope of the file we also decided to provide
subject access. We use the Library of Congress's subject
headings. The hope is that additional access point(s)
render the file more useful than it was before.
Third, we have decided that serials should also be
included in the ESTC. Our Early Serials Project is in
its infancy, but we hope that serials records will soon
be available in our file, and that scholars will appreciate
a more complete coverage of the print culture of the
period.
I am sorry to have gone on so long; I only hope I have
answered the questions.
John Bloomberg-Rissman
ESTC
Center for Bibliographical Studies & Research
U.C. Riverside
bm.e3d@RLG.stanford.edu