University Library

The Authorized Textbooks database can be searched by author, title, series, subject, publication year, grade level, source notes, and “authorized as” information.

Author
Authors are entered by last name, followed by first and middle names and/or initials, and dates. Example: Booth, David W. (David Wallace), 1938- . If you are uncertain as to an author’s full name, a search by last name only is recommended.

Title
The title field contains the title and subtitle (where applicable) for authorized textbooks. A title search for a particular word will pick up entries containing the word anywhere in the title. For example: A title search for “creative” will retrieve the title Creative writing as well as the title Word power: a guide to creative writing.

Series
The series field can be used to retrieve all authorized titles which were part of a larger set or series. For example: The reader Wide Open Windows was part of the Canadian Reading Development series. A series search for Canadian Reading Development will retrieve Wide Open Windows, All Sails Set, Shining Skies, and other individual titles associated with this series.

Subject
The subject field identifies the school subject or subjects for which a particular textbook was authorized. Each entry is assigned a general subject area such as English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies etc. as well as more specific subjects such as Composition, Geometry, Botany, Civics etc., based on the nomenclature of the day. All assigned subjects, both general and specific, are searchable.

Publication year
Publication year(s) are noted for those items available in the Education & Music Library’s Historical Textbook collection. The presence of a date in the Publication Year field does not mean that a particular edition or printing date was authorized by the Department of Education. If a particular edition or year was specified, this will be noted in the Source Notes field.

Grade level
Grade levels noted in the database correspond with the levels specified in the Textbook Circulars and other sources. These may be expressed as individual grades e.g. 4, grade ranges such as 7-9, or broad levels such as primary, elementary, high school etc. Division I corresponds with Grades 1-3, Division II corresponds with Grades 4-6, Division III corresponds with Grades 7-9, and Division IV corresponds with Grades 10-12.

Source notes
Source Notes indicate the year or range of years for which a particular title was authorized, as well as the sources—circulars, programmes of study etc.—used to verify this information.

Authorized as
The Authorized as field indicates whether a book or other resource was authorized as a text, reference book, supplementary reading book etc. This field can be used to retrieve items by categories including text, reference book, teacher’s guide, student workbook etc.

Main records
*If your search returns multiple results for a particular title, please refer to the Main Record for comprehensive authorization information.