New OCLC Research Report – Maple Leaves: Discovering Canada Through the Published Record

May 21, 2019

OCLC Research today released Maple Leaves: Discovering Canada Through the Published Record, a look at Canada’s contribution to literature, music, film, and other forms of published documentary heritage as represented in library collections around the world.

The report is based on data from WorldCat’s 450 million bibliographic records, representing 2.7 billion holdings from 18,000 libraries around the world.

Highlights

Most popular Canadian authors and illustrators, ranked by library holdings

1. Janette Oke – 172,830
2. Margaret Atwood – 155,421
3. Lucy Maud Montgomery – 147,407
4. Peter H. Reynolds – 135,025
5. Gordon Korman – 134,790

Most popular Canadian authors of French-language publications, ranked by library holdings

1. Michel Tremblay – 12,606
2. Marie-Claire Blais – 9,380
3. Yves Thériault – 8,744
4. Antonine Maillet – 8,625
5. Anne Hébert – 8,252

Most popular works by Canadian authors, ranked by library holdings

1. Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery) – 22,015
2. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) – 12,267
3. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) – 11,700
4. Anne of Avonlea (Lucy Maud Montgomery) – 11,388
5. Anne of the Island (Lucy Maud Montgomery) – 10,498

Most popular albums by Canadian vocalists, ranked by library holdings

1. Singable Songs for the Very Young (Raffi) – 1,748
2. Baby Beluga (Raffi) – 1,669
3. Blue (Joni Mitchell) – 1,263
4. Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette) – 1,217
5. One Light, One Sun (Raffi) – 1,216

Most popular films with Canadian settings/plot elements, ranked by library holdings

1. Anne of Green Gables (1985) – 3,866
2. Argo (2012) – 3,511
3. Seabiscuit (2003) – 3,309
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) – 2,176
5. The English Patient (1996) – 2,096

Most translated Canadian authors, ranked by number of translated publications

1. Lucy Maud Montgomery – 3,482
2. Ernest Thompson Seton – 2,473
3. Margaret Atwood – 2,184
4. Arthur Hailey – 1,995
5. Saul Bellow – 1,913

Is Lucy Maud Montgomery the most influential Canadian in the published record?

Who is the most influential Canadian in the published record? We cannot answer this question definitively, but our findings suggest that Lucy Maud Montgomery has a strong case. In addition to being the third most popular Canadian author (and the most popular author not recently active), her novel Anne of Green Gables is the most popular work by a Canadian author. Moreover, the popularity of Montgomery’s work has endured over time, evidenced by the fact that she is the most published Canadian for the last three decades. Interest in Montgomery’s work extends well beyond Canada: she is the most translated Canadian author. And we see that her literary work has been adapted into other media such as film. If we wish to recognize a single Canadian as emblematic of Canada’s deep and enduring contribution to the published record, Lucy Maud Montgomery is a leading candidate.

Maple Leaves: Discovering Canada through the Published Record is available from the OCLC Research website:

• English
• Français