The Canadian Global Almanac 1997

Jeffrey Moon is head of the Documents Reference/Data Centre at Queen’s
University.

The latest edition of the Canadian Global Almanac follows the tradition
of its predecessors in providing timely, wide-ranging, and interesting
facts, figures, and information. The book is Canadian in focus, but
global in scope; you’d need access to a considerable reference
collection to find “the answers” it provides.

The Almanac has grown over the years, from 728 pages in 1993 to more
than 800 pages in 1997. This growth can be attributed to the ongoing
efforts of the editor to add new and interesting information and
features. This year, there is a new section called “The Almanac Asks
...” that provides expert answers to users’ questions. There are
only a few “directory” listings (addresses, telephone numbers,
etc.)—this is not the niche the book aims to fill. Disappointingly,
the section on “milestones in information processing” stops at 1992
despite the subsequent emergence of such milestones as Windows 95 and
Netscape.

The Almanac has “caught the wave,” with a Web presence at the
popular “CANOE” site (http://www.canoe.ca). There are some who might
argue that the World Wide Web, with its search engines and ubiquitous
Web sites, has supplanted almanacs and such. But for strict ease of use,
low cost, and broad coverage, the Canadian Global Almanac is a real
information bargain.