1 May 2013 Revolutionary new Drama Online platform is released Bloomsbury Publishing ("Bloomsbury") and Faber and Faber ("Faber") are pleased to announce the delivery of a major new content platform, Drama Online www.dramaonlinelibrary.com for higher education libraries, educators, students and researchers. Given the limited space and budgets of our universities, the increased use of virtual learning environments and the need for remote access, students are migrating from print to online. Drama Online takes advantage of the latest technology to create a new way of learning. Students and lecturers can now access hundreds of plays and reference works in the same cross-searchable place, wider reading lists can be set and whole new methods of academic discovery and enquiry can be made. Conceived four years ago, Drama Online features the pre-eminent plays and scholarly works from the Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare and Faber lists, to form a major collection of some of the most studied, performed and critically acclaimed plays from Aeschylus to the present day. Currently available in beta with more than five hundred titles already available, the collection is set to double in size by the end of the year to include over a thousand works. Drama Online introduces new writers alongside some of the most iconic names in playwriting history including: Tom Stoppard, Alan Bennett, Caryl Churchill, Simon Stephens, Mark Ravenhill, Edward Bond, Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter, Willy Russell, John Osborne, and David Hare. It also houses the first ever online editions and multiple translations of Bertolt Brecht. In addition to the plays, hundreds of supporting scholarly, reference and practitioner works provide context and background for Drama, Theatre and Literary Studies courses. A partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum allows the discovery of over five hundred production stills from the V & A's vast theatre photo archive. As well as providing extensive content, Drama Online uses XML technology to provide interactive features that would be impossible with traditional book-based learning. For example: • Character Grids - characters, scenes and the relative size of roles • Part Books - users can select only the lines of a given character • Note taking and bookmarking tools • Easy to use interface giving instant access to cross-searchable content The resource, currently being trialled by institutions, has been widely praised by the academic community: 'Surely this is the best expression to date of the digital revolution as far as literary studies are concerned.' Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Learning and Research, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 'To be able to search and compare major translations ... will open up whole new paths of enquiry for scholars, students and theatre practitioners'. Tom Kuhn, Oxford University 'Take Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare, Bloomsbury and Faber, with their extraordinary collections and preeminent scholarship. Combine their resources. Place them into an elegant, intuitive and deep interface. And watch this become the most important bookmark on your browser'. Professor Rocco Dal Vera, University of Cincinnati For further information please visit www.dramaonlinelibrary.com Notes to Editors: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc - Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house with companies in London, New York, Delhi and Sydney. Its four divisions are: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional Publishing; Bloomsbury Information; Bloomsbury Adult Publishing; and Bloomsbury Children's Publishing & Educational. Bloomsbury Academic & Professional specializes in the humanities, social sciences, visual arts, law and tax. It published online the digitized edition of the Winston S. Churchill Archive in 2012, and is the publisher of the award-winning Berg Fashion Library. In 2013 Bloomsbury Academic and Professional was voted the IPG Independent Publisher of the Year, as well as Academic & Professional Publisher of the Year. It is currently shortlisted for two 2013 Bookseller Industry Awards: Academic, Educational & Professional Publisher of the Year and Digital Strategy of the Year. Faber and Faber - Founded in 1929 by Geoffrey Faber, Faber and Faber remains one of the UK's leading independent publishing houses. Faber publishes fiction, non-fiction, and children's books alongside its garlanded lists of poetry, drama, music and film. Faber has been the publisher of twelve Nobel Laureates in Literature, among them Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Seamus Heaney, Orhan Pamuk and Mario Vargas Llosa, and six Booker Prize-winners. For all media enquiries contact: Pelham Bell Pottinger Dan de Belder T +44 (0)20 7861 3881; email [email protected] .