Berg has in many ways been the inspiration for this project. Seven months of work was spent committing her list of 280 books (surviving in 1123 copies) into a machine-readable form which supplied this study with its framework and initial data.

The records in this primary database were augmented by adding data provided to the project by the American Antiquarian Society which oversees the North American Imprints Project (NAIP). The NAIP includes some ephemera in their study and has been able to take advantage of recent technological and cataloging developments. The addition of this data brought the number of titles in the primary database to over 370 (represented by 1484 copies).

Before the project took the opportunity to augment this initial information, an appropriate data structure had to be designed which would ultimately house all the relevant material. Any database has to be completely and thoroughly designed if information is going to be stored and retrieved successfully. It was understood that the amount of data was going to be formidable and organization was recognized as essential.