BookNET Research Cluster

AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programe
Research Cluster Networks
BookNET Research Cluster Meeting
18 June 2009

The BookNET Research Cluster has been set up to explore the
potential for research into the manuscript as a physical artefact,
providing a statement of the current state of research into the
materiality of the book, and proposing a research framework for
future study. The Research Cluster is a sub-set of an existing
network, the Centre for the Study of the Book,

    <URL:http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/csb/>

based in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, in partnership with the
British Library, Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich and the Center for the Study of Books and
Media, Princeton University. The aim of this Centre is to enrich
access to collections of books by fostering research that crosses
academic and professional specialisms, and by promoting this
research through innovative projects, public programmes, and digital
developments.

In order to develop this activity in a specifically technological
direction, we have brought together for the first time a national
and international Cluster of researchers who have studied the
various components of the book as object, with the aim of sharing
expertise and generating new interactions, and, by bringing in
expertise from related study areas, we intend to define a research
agenda for the technical study of this overlooked but vital
component of the cultural heritage. The outcomes will be of value to
those charged with the curation and understanding of this vast
legacy, and also all those researchers and lay audience interested
in literary and art history, materials science and the history of
technology. We believe that this activity will precipitate a
step-change in the way in which the physical nature of the book is
taken into account when the information content is evaluated, and
will remind the world that the physical book contains more
information than can be represented as a digitized image.

The second meeting of the Research Cluster will be an open meeting,
taking place on Thursday 18 June, 2009 in Oxford, UK. Presentations
will be given by a range of heritage and library professionals,
including curators, conservators and scientists. If you would like
to attend, please email sarah.neate<-at->ouls<.>ox<.>ac<.>uk by Monday 18 May,
2009. Travel grants will only be available to existing members of
the Research Cluster.

Sarah Neate
Co-ordinator, BookNET Research Cluster
New Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG


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