![\"canada\"](\"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/canada.jpg\")
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At OCLC, we emphasize the importance of connection. Connecting a reader to a book. Connecting a librarian to other librarians. Connecting all libraries, period. In our latest OCLC Research report, we illustrate another kind of connection: connecting creative works to nations.<\/p>\n
Maple Leaves: Discovering Canada through the Published Record<\/em><\/a> explores the presence of Canadiana in the collections of libraries around the world. This presence is significant\u201410.9 million distinct publications all told, rolling up to 6.9 million distinct works, and including materials published in Canada, by Canadians, and\/or about Canada.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Back to connection. In a series of reports, of which Maple Leaves<\/em> is the latest, OCLC Research has explored national contributions to the published record. Studies of Scotland<\/a>, New Zealand<\/a>, Ireland<\/a>, and now Canada have utilized the rich resource of WorldCat<\/a> bibliographic and holdings data to identify and describe the books, films, music, and other types of creative expression that form the published output of these nations. Common to all of these studies is the theme of connecting publications to the country with which they are associated.<\/p>\n In Maple Leaves<\/em>, we make some interesting connections. For example, we explore the significant connection between comic books\/graphic novels and Canada, led by the work of award-winning Canadian authors and illustrators like Jeff Lemire. And did you know that Joe Shuster, who co-created Superman, was Canadian? Or that the Metropolis skyline was modeled after Toronto? Or that the newspaper where Clark Kent worked was originally named the Daily Star<\/em> (after Toronto\u2019s newspaper) before it was switched to the Daily Planet<\/em>?<\/p>\n Other connections call to mind treasured classics and remind us of their Canadian origins. Lucy Maud Montgomery\u2019s Anne of Green Gables<\/a><\/em> is the most popular (measured by library holdings) work by a Canadian author, while Margaret Atwood\u2019s The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/a><\/em>, which has enjoyed renewed interest with a recent television dramatization, ranks second. Glenn Gould, the renowned classical pianist, is the most popular Canadian musician. The Call of the Wild<\/a><\/em> is the most popular literary work featuring Canada as the setting of the story.<\/p>\n Francophone authors are another important aspect of the Canadian contribution to the published record. Michel Tremblay, a novelist and playwright, is the most popular (measured by library holdings) Canadian author writing in the French language, with fellow Qu\u00e9bec-born writer Marie-Claire Blais ranking second. We also found thousands of publications with a primary language of content associated with the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic or North America, as well as prominent authors of First Nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis Nation heritages such as Richard Wagamese, Lee Maracle, and Richard Van Camp.<\/p>\n All told, the Canadian presence in the published record accounts for nearly 100 million library holdings, distributed across collections in 128 countries. This is another important form of connection: Canadiana manifests itself in library collections all over the world, connecting the creative outputs of Canada and Canadians to audiences well beyond Canada\u2019s borders. Connection is also made through language: we found that the publications in the Canadian presence, although predominantly in English and French, also included nearly 350 languages and dialects. Lucy Maud Montgomery is the most translated Canadian author, with nearly 3,500 publications appearing in languages other than English or French.<\/p>\nWhat can library metadata tell us about the popularity, importance and spread of the Canadian published record? <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\nConnecting to Canada<\/h2>\n
The importance of language<\/h2>\n
The most influential Canadian author<\/h2>\n