An international research team led by researchers from the University of Liverpool’s Department of History has been awarded the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Digital Resources Prize for 2026 for the newly published Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online (ECLO) database.
ECLO is the result of a five-year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) investigating the contribution of books to social, cultural and political change in North America and the British Isles in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Organised and funded by the state, libraries are today valued as a vital social good and a fundamental feature of liberal democracies. Yet the modern Public Library – taxpayer-funded and lending books for free – originated only in the mid-19th century. Before then, there existed a flourishing, unregulated library culture built not by the state but by groups of autonomous individuals and communities acting from a range of motivations, including membership libraries built and sustained through private subscriptions.
The project, led by the University’s Professor Mark Towsey and Dr Sophie Jones used cutting-edge digital techniques to capture, interpret and make freely available online surviving documentary evidence relating to subscription libraries on either side of the Atlantic. By offering more than 250,000 records relating to library members, books and borrowings, ECLO is transforming how scholars internationally think about the circulation, dissemination, reception and impact of new books – and the ideas they carried – in a crucial period marked by Enlightenment, Revolutions, global encounters and technological change.
The project involved a core team of researchers in Liverpool working alongside co-investigators from six institutions across the UK, the USA and Australia, developers from the Heurist research data management system, and more than a dozen short-term student interns funded by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Internship Scheme.
On winning the Prize, Professor Towsey said: “I am tremendously excited to see the impact ECLO is starting to have on the field, and honoured to accept this award on behalf of the whole team. This recognition is testament to the hard work of all involved, much of it undertaken in the most challenging circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
ECLO has also had a profound effect on the project’s partner libraries, helping them to better understand and communicate the provenance and cultural value of otherwise little-known collections.
Sophie Evans, Heritage Development Librarian, Bristol Central Library said: “Working with the ECLO project over the past five years on the Bristol Library Society borrower registers and books has been a real pleasure. The team’s tremendous work, culminating in the launch of the database, has truly opened up this part of our collections. It has helped us gain a deeper understanding of the library’s history and its holdings. As custodians, we now have a clearer sense of the cultural value of these materials and how they fit into the context of eighteenth-century Bristol, and we’re better equipped than ever to support researchers in their work.”
Samina Sadia, Junior Vice President & Honorary Librarian, The Birmingham & Midland Institute said: “The ECLO database has been a crucial resource for the Birmingham and Midland Institute Library, which owns and curates the Birmingham Library. Being able to access the database has led to a much better understanding of our holdings, and the importance of the collection. It has helped us to make sense of pockets of the collection which seemed out of place, and has enabled us to publicise the books within our Library more effectively as it provides us with context, and comparisons with other 18th century subscription libraries.”
The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies is the UK’s interdisciplinary association promotion the study of all aspects of eighteenth-century history, culture and society. Sponsored by Adam Matthew Digital, the Digital Resources Prize is awarded annually for the best new resource supporting eighteenth-century studies. It is intended to benefit the international eighteenth-century studies research community and is open to projects from any country.
This is the second time in three years that the University of Liverpool’s Department of History has been involved with the winning entry for the BSECS Digital Resources Prize, following the success of the Eighteenth-Century Political Participation & Electoral Culture project (for which Professor Elaine Chalus was Co-Investigator) in 2024.