subsequent to its purchase/merger with Macmillan. Atlas Editions formed a sister company, Collier Newfield, to market Collier's Encyclopedia. In 1997, Collier Newfield developed Collier's Encyclopedia 1998, a three-disk CD-ROM multimedia version featuring 17 million words and over 18,000 photos and illustrations, 6 hours of audio, 85 minutes of audio, a dictionary, and maps. The 1997 24-volume Collier's Encyclopedia was to be the last print edition. The 1997 print edition extended to 19,900 pages, Bibliographies were found in the last volume, which also contained a 450,000 entry essential index. In 1998, Microsoft acquired the right to use Collier's Encyclopedia content from Atlas Editions, which had by then absorbed Collier Newfield. Microsoft incorporated Collier's Encyclopedia's content into its Encarta digital multimedia encyclopedia, which it marketed until 2009. Atlas Editions has retained the right to publish Collier's Encyclopedia in book form, a right that it has never exercised. Kister's comparison A well-known analysis of major encyclopedias is that of Kenneth Kister, who gave a qualitative and quantitative comparison of Collier's Encyclopedia with the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Encyclopedia Americana. For the quantitative analysis, ten articles were selected at random (circumcision, Charles Drew, Galileo, Philip Glass, heart disease, IQ, panda bear, sexual harassment, Shroud of Turin and Uzbekistan) and letter grades (A–D, F) were awarded in four categories: coverage, accuracy, clarity, and recency. In all four categories and for all three encyclopedias, the four average grades fell between B− and B+, chiefly because not one encyclopedia had an article on sexual harassment in 1994. In the accuracy category, Collier's received one D and seven As. Encyclopedia Americana received eight As, and the Britannica received one D and eight As; thus, Collier's received an average score of 92% for accuracy to Americana's 95% and Britannica's 92%. In the timeliness category, Collier's averaged an 85% to Americana's 90% and Britannica's 86%. After a more thorough qualitative comparison of all three encyclopedias, Kister recommended Collier's as the best of the three big encyclopedias, primarily on the strength of its writing, presentation and navigation. See also William Terry Couch References External links Collier's Encyclopedia at the Encyclopædia Britannica 20th-century encyclopedias American encyclopedias Collier (publishing company) English-language encyclopedias