UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 05 NOVEMBER 2013
International experts from 14 different countries will come together to discuss the state of the book - past, present and future - at the first Resurrecting the Book Conference which will be held at the newly-opened £189m Library of Birmingham on 15 - 17 November 2013.
With sales of eBooks outstripping the sale of hard copies of books, the recent opening of the first eBook only library in the USA and with children spending less and less time reading, the Library of Birmingham hosts its first international conference in the new building. The conference will debate the value of the book as an object, the role of libraries in the modern world, what to do with unwanted books and the skill, uniqueness and pleasure of the book arts and to ask whether the book as a physical object is a thing of the past.
The conference is a collaboration between the Typographic Hub at Birmingham City University, Newman University, Digital Ink Drop, the Library of Birmingham and The Library of Lost Books, and will bring together academics, book-artists, book historians, librarians, publishers and those involved in digital books to look at books as physical objects.
Dr Caroline Archer, Reader in Typography at Birmingham City University said: "It is particularly fitting that this conference is taking place on the site that was once home to eighteenth-century typographer, printer, industrialist and Enlightenment figure, John Baskerville.
"Widely regarded as producing the most beautiful books of his age, Baskerville's experiments put him ahead of his time, had an international impact and did much to enhance the printing and publishing industries of his day. With Resurrecting the Book, Baskerville's spirit returns to Birmingham and once again places both the city and BCU at the centre of the international book stage."