Get ready for the new academic year with the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) 

Jul 27, 2022 | Bibliography of British and Irish History, IHR News

This post was written by Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal, Editor for the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH).

The Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is an essential tool for the study, research, and teaching of British and Irish history. It is the largest and most comprehensive guide available to published writing on the history of British and Irish domestic history as well as Britain and Ireland’s relations with the rest of the world, including the British empire and the Commonwealth, from 55 BCE to the present day.  BBIH can also be used to study, teach and research a wide range of interdisciplinary historical fields such as the histories of race and ethnicity, migration, gender, disability, the environment, and emotions.

With new records added three times a year, BBIH provides up-to-date information on over 640,000: 

  • History books, articles, chapters, edited collections (published from the early 1900s to present) 
  • History theses (submitted late 1990s to present). 

These records are searchable by a wide range of facets including: title, author, chronology, date and form of publication, historical topic, and geographical region.

BBIH tutorial videos 

The Bibliography’s editors have created a set of tutorial videos that introduce BBIH and show how to use it for teaching preparation and study. The videos are aimed at: 

  • First and second-year undergraduates studying History, with a focus on Britain and Ireland, the history of British empire and Commonwealth. 
  • Third-year History undergraduates looking to plan, research, and write a dissertation on British and Irish history, including the histories of empire, race, and migration. 
  • MA and PhD researchers for whom an understanding of principal and sub-fields of study is key, for shaping their research plans and creating a literature review. 
  • History lecturers and college librarians, with a focus on using BBIH for teaching—both to find relevant content and enable students to identify and distinguish between different kinds of history publications. 

These tutorial videos can be embedded in your VLE and course materials. They are available at: https://www.history.ac.uk/publications/bibliography-british-and-irish-history/using-bbih-online-a-help-pack-students-and 

BBIH reading lists 

Since 2020, BBIH and Brepols have worked together to produce themed online reading lists of works published between 2010 and present: 

Get the most out of using BBIH 

The Bibliography’s editors and historians regularly contribute to On History to promote the new resources added to the Bibliography as well as discussing in more detail about how you can use BBIH:

In your teaching https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/06/the-bibliography-of-british-and-irish-history-a-guide-to-online-teaching-and-student-research/  
https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/03/quietly-essential-why-i-insist-my-students-learn-how-to-use-the-bibliography-of-british-and-irish-history/  
Start an assignment or research project and find relevant resources https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/10/historians-and-bbih-an-adventure-in-10-episodes-no-1-bede/  
https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/10/historians-and-bbih-an-adventure-in-10-episodes-no-2-gerald-of-wales/  
Create and/or update reading lists https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/10/historians-and-bbih-an-adventure-in-10-episodes-no-3-matthew-paris-reading-lists/  
Find speakers for an academic conference     https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/11/historians-and-bbih-episode-4-walter-bower-organises-a-conference/  
Find peer reviewers for articles and book abstracts https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/11/historians-and-bbih-no-5-matthew-parker-and-the-peer-review-process/  
Find Masters or PhD theses on the history of London https://blog.history.ac.uk/2019/09/london-is-calling/  

Keep up to date 

You can also keep up-to-date with the work of the Bibliography on Twitter: