Coherent Digital and Trojman acquire major Canadian micropublisher to create new digital collections

Contact: Salvy Trojman

Since 1973, McLaren Micropublishing, based in Toronto, Canada, has been creating microfilm collections of Canadian newspapers, serials, and other publications covering topics including art, architecture, Canadian history, LGBTQ history and culture, and women’s history.  Many of the materials are extremely rare, and more than sixty percent of McLaren’s 1.5 million microfilmed pages have yet to be digitized. Today, Coherent Digital acquired the company in partnership with Ontario-based Trojman Corporation. Coherent and Trojman will create a series of online projects, starting with Canadian History and Culture. 

Containing more than 250,000 digitized pages of McLaren material, Canadian History and Culture will launch as a new module on Canada Commons. There it will be cross-searchable with hundreds of thousands of Canadian e-books, policy documents, and government documents, along with openly available primary sources. 

Particular items of interest in the forthcoming databases include documents from the Ku Klux Klan of Canada; rare Afro-Canadian publications; West Indian News Observer; Algoma Missionary News and Shingwauk Journal; and Ukrainian Canadian Herald. Duncan McLaren, founder of McLaren Micropublishing, was an academic at the University of Toronto. His unswerving focus on capturing and preserving hidden and disenfranchised voices is evident in the richness of these collections.

Salvy Trojman, President of Trojman Corporation, said, “Bob Gibson, publisher of Canadian Electronic Library, which became Canada Commons in 2021, told me that McLaren was his main competitor when he began publishing Canadian microfilms in the 1970s. It feels exciting and right to bring these collections, started by two Canadian publishing mavens, together in a single, definitive, and truly comprehensive resource.”

For more information, to arrange a trial, and for pricing, contact Salvy Trojman at salvy@trojmancorp.com or 416-617-2592 in Canada; or sales@coherentdigital.net outside Canada.

About Coherent Digital

Coherent Digital, based in the Washington DC area, was founded in 2019 by industry veterans Stephen Rhind-Tutt, Eileen Lawrence, Pete Ciuffetti, and others. Specializing in the development of large-scale databases of grey literature and primary sources, it’s known for its award-winning Commons platform and projects including Policy Commons, Africa Commons, History Commons, Mindscape Commons, and South Asia Commons.

About Trojman Corporation

Trojman Corporation, based in Ontario, Canada, was founded in 2020 by Salvy Trojman.  After more than thirty years’ working with libraries, Salvy is one of the best known and most respected vendors in the Canadian market. Coherent and Trojman partnered to acquire the Canadian Electronic Library and grow it into a new and expanded Canada Commons.

About Canada Commons

Canada Commons emerged as a new version of the Canadian Electronic Library in 2021, with enhanced functionality on the Commons platform and additional content formats. Since launching, Canada Commons has more than quadrupled in size and is now used daily at more than 150 Canadian colleges, schools, public, law, and corporate libraries.