The Canadian Literature Index: A Guide to Periodicals and Newspapers was created in response to the need for comprehensive access to the vast amount of Canadian literature and literary criticism published on a periodical basis in 1988. The mandate for The Canadian Literature Index is to provide scholars, students and general readers of Canadian literature with a periodicals guide devoted exclusively to their interests. The Canadian Literature Index has dual objectives: one, to access all Canadian primary materials (poems, short stories, novels, plays and literary essays), and two, to access all Canadian secondary materials (critical articles, book reviews, interviews and bibliographies), in the field of Canadian Literature.