CFP: Community Libraries: Connecting Readers in the Atlantic World, 1650-1850 Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the project on “Community Libraries: Connecting Readers in the Atlantic World, 1650-1850” will be holding three, two-day conferences over the next two years in Liverpool (January 2014), Chicago (June 2014), and London (January 2015). The project’s objectives are as follows: a) To explain the emergence of libraries in the ‘public sphere’ between 1650 and 1850 b) To examine the emergence of libraries in comparative perspective, testing the explanatory power of the Atlantic paradigm for Library History c) To pool expertise on the use of database software for interrogating library records, discussing the full range of approaches, potential pitfalls, and successful solutions d) To investigate the feasibility of developing a universal ‘virtual library system’, connecting up records relating to different types of library, in different places, and at different times with other large scale digital analyses of historic book production, distribution and reception e) To assess the contribution made by libraries to historical processes of community formation, including questions relating to collective identity, gender, civility, sociability, literary censorship, social exclusion/social mobility, mental health and well being, and the impact of print f) To contribute to current debates about the future of public libraries in the UK and the US, highlighting ways in which historical models of library provision might be adapted to contemporary needs We are looking for interested scholars across the full range of relevant disciplines to contribute to the network, and would greatly appreciate access to advertise through your mailing lists, networks, forums, etc. For further information, or to register your interest in the network or submit a proposal, please email [email protected], or see our website at communitylibraries.net. Please feel free to email us if you have any questions.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:57:12 +0000
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