The study of book history -- the influence of books, authorship, reading and publishing on society -- has been a rapidly growing scholarly discipline since the early 1980s.
Because one of its principal missions is to "encourage the study of books, reading and libraries," the Center for the Book represents the Library of Congress and its collections in promoting book and library history both nationally and internationally. It does so by sponsoring conferences, lectures, exhibitions and special events at the Library, with its visiting scholars program (see below), and by providing information on its Web site and through publications.
Approximately half of the 80 publications sponsored by the Center for the Book since its creation in 1977 focus on book and library history; a list of all of the center's publications is available on the center's home page on the Library of Congress Web site: //www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/.
"Two of our principal partners in the field of book history are the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) and the American Antiquarian Society's Program in the History of the Book in American Culture," said Center for the Book director John Y. Cole. "We hosted SHARP's second annual conference at the Library of Congress in 1994, and will participate in the fifth annual conference this summer in Cambridge, England. The center also is pleased to provide support for the final volume in the American Antiquarian Society-Cambridge University Press five-volume project, A History of the Book in America.
The Center for the Book recently began maintaining on its home page a list of book centers and organizations, mostly in academic institutions, that sponsor programs in book history and the book arts. The listing, which can be found under "History of Book Programs" on the center's Web site, includes each organization's address and phone number and, when available, e-mail and Web site addresses. (The programs and organizations are listed below.)
Book Centers and Organizations That Sponsor Programs in Book History and the Book Arts -- A Preliminary List
- American Antiquarian Society -- Program in the History of the Book in American Culture
- University of Birmingham -- Book Trade History Group
- Boise State University -- Idaho Center for the Book
- British Library -- Centre for the Book
- Drew University -- Center for the History of the Book
- University of Edinburgh -- Centre for the Book
- University of Iowa -- Center for the Book
- Minnesota Center for the Book Arts
- University of Nebraska at Omaha -- Nebraska Book Arts Center
- University of North Carolina -- IRSS Faculty Working Group on the History of Print Culture in the South, The Center for the Study of the American South
- Pennsylvania State University -- Center for the History of the Book
- Simon Fraser University -- Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing
- Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing -- Drew University, USA; The Open University, UK
- University of Texas at Austin -- Texas Group for the Study of Books and Print Culture
- University of Toronto -- Toronto Centre for the Book
- University of Virginia -- Book Arts Press
- University of Wisconsin -- Center for the Study of Print Culture in Modern America
Center Hosts Visiting Scholar from Russia
Valeria Stelmakh, senior researcher in the sociology of reading at the Russian State Library, was a Center for the Book Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress from March 15 to 26. Ms. Stelmakh, who was head of the Russian (formerly Lenin) State Library's Sector on Sociology of Reading and Library in 1968-1994, also has served as secretary (1985-1991) and chair (1991-1993) of the Round Table on Research in Reading of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). This was her first visit to the United States.
While at the Library of Congress, Ms. Stelmakh studied the reading promotion activities and publications of the Center for the Book and participated in the center's Reading Promotion Partner's Day on March 21. Harold Leich and other staff members of the European Division introduced her to the Library's Russian collections. On March 18, she presented a paper at a small invitational conference organized by Dr. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, on the topic "Russian National Identity." Her paper was titled "The National Idea and National Consciousness in Post-Soviet Russia."
Left, Center for the Book Visiting Scholar Valeria Stelmakh of the Russian State Library visits with Very Rev. Dimitry Grigorieff at St. Nicholas Cathedral Orthodox Church in America; right, Ms. Stelmakh chats with Jayne McQuade of the Arlington County (Va.) Central Library.
During her stay she also visited the Arlington County Central Library, where she met with head librarian Jayne McQuade and other staff members. On March 26, she and Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole were hosted at St. Nicholas Cathedral Orthodox Church in America by its dean, the Very Rev. Dmitry Grigorieff.
From Washington, Ms. Stelmakh traveled to New Brunswick, N.J., where her host was Pamela Spence Richards, professor, Department of Library and Information Studies, Rutgers University. She returned to Moscow on March 31.
Valeria Stelmakh was the fourth Center for the Book Visiting Scholar. The others have been historian Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, author of The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (1979); Marianna Tax Choldin, now director of the Mortenson Center at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; and Alice D. Schreyer, now curator of Special Collections at the University of Chicago Library.
These two Center for the Book publications are available through the Library of Congress Sales Shop for $3.95 each, plus shipping and handling. For information, call (202) 707-0201.
