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Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books

Osborne Cataloguing Project

The creation of online catalogue records representing the Osborne Collection's holdings of over 80,000 volumes, including rare and notable modern children's books, began in June 2000 with a project funded with the generous support of the Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections. The project focused on the cataloguing of materials published before 1910.

Please visit the Osborne Cataloguing Project Virtual Donor Wall to see the names of individuals honoured with a memorial donation and donations made by foundations to the first phase of the Project.

Since 2000, approximately 45,000 online records have been added to Toronto Public Library's online public access catalogue (OPAC).

Cataloguing the extensive holdings of the Osborne Collection is an ongoing project involving the staffs of the Osborne Collection and the Technical Services Department of Toronto Public Library. Each month many new records are being added to the catalogue. If you have questions concerning the availability of titles, please contact the Osborne staff for assistance.

Osborne records may be accessed through Toronto Public Library's online catalogue:

Toronto Public Library Catalogue

The catalogue provides Basic and Advanced searching options:

Basic (Author, Title and Keyword searches)

Sample search

A researcher is interested in editions of books by L.M. Montgomery held at the Osborne Collection.

Select Author search
Type: montgomery, l. m.
To limit the search to titles found in the Osborne Collection: select Branch and specify Osborne from the scroll-down list (Please note that if you are limiting your search to Osborne as part of a Keyword search, Osborne is found near the bottom of the scroll-down list)
Click the Search button
Click the name heading: Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud), 1874-1942 to see the list of titles held at Osborne
Titles are arranged chronologically with the most recently published materials listed first
Click Details to see a brief catalogue record with holdings information
Click the Catalogue Record tab for a more detailed record
To view a full catalogue record in MARC display, click Change Display which appears above the record. Select MARC display and change to: Yes
Click OK
Click the Catalogue Record tab for a full record in MARC display

The search will produce a list of titles published by the Religious Tract Society located at the Osborne Collection.

Click a title to see a full bibliographic description.

Advanced Search

Sample search

A student is researching a paper on R.M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne's books set in Canada.

Select Advanced Search
In the Author box type: r. m. ballantyne
In the Subject box type: canada
In the Branch box select Osborne from the scroll-down list (Osborne is near the bottom)
Click the Search button
Select a title and click Details for holdings information and a more detailed description of the item

We welcome corrections and comments from the research community.

If you have any questions regarding catalogue records, please contact the Osborne cataloguing staff:

Lori McLeod - lmcleod@torontopubliclibrary.ca

Martha Scott - mcscott@torontopubliclibrary.ca

	The Osborne Collection		Events & Exhibits
	The Lillian H. Smith Collection		Children's Books History Society
	The Canadiana Collection		Finding Aids
	Friends Groups		Virtual Donor Wall
	Merchandise and Mail Order Form

Updated On: November 17, 2007


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