Preserving and Providing Access to Canada's Printed Heritage: The Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions at 25 Years‪.‬

The Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions/Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques (CIHM/ICMH), a nonprofit corporation, was established in 1978 at the urging of the Canadian research community. CIHM's initial mission was to preserve and disseminate on microfiche early printed monographs that contained information about Canada, were written by Canadian authors, or had a Canadian imprint. At its founding, CIHM received a one-time grant of $2 million from the Canada Council. Investment income from the grant, in addition to revenues from subscription sales and vigorous fund-raising, ensured that there were sufficient funds to complete the initial mandated project as well as several others. CIHM's task was to find materials that fit each project's defined parameters, persuade holding institutions to lend the materials for microfilming, make preservation-quality microfiche reproductions, and publicize to the Canadian library community and public the availability of microfiche copies. So far, CIHM has successfully completed five major projects to preserve and disseminate early Canadiana on microfiche (including monographs and serials published in Canada and elsewhere from 1558 to 1920), and currently is making steady progress with a sixth project: the microfilming and digital scanning of early Canadian government publications. These collections are available to researchers throughout the world. This essay will describe significant events in CIHM's history, the assembled collections and ancillary projects, problems encountered, and future directions.