Teaching the History of the Book to Undergraduates
A One-Day Symposium
Saturday 8 December 2007
Institute of English Studies, London

Organisers: Dr Ian Gadd, Dr Aileen Fyfe, Dr John Hinks, Dr Cathy Shrank and Professor Simon Eliot

History of the book, long the preserve of the graduate seminar, is beginning to find its way into the undergraduate curriculum, as tutors find that the questions history of the book raises, the methodologies it uses, and the perspectives it provides are increasingly useful to their students. Yet, how can something so interdisciplinary ‹ that is taught in departments of history, English, media studies, publishing and elsewhere ‹ and so material ‹ that needs access to books and archives ‹ make its way successfully into the undergraduate classroom? What disciplinary, institutional, pedagogical, and intellectual problems does it encounter? And what are the possible implications for history of the book as a field or mode of enquiry?

This one-day symposium, the first of its kind in the UK, brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines and universities, research librarians, and undergraduate students to debate these questions and to share experiences and good practice. We hope that it will be of interest to anyone involved in, or thinking about becoming involved in, teaching the history of the book.

The conference programme and registration form is available here. Registration is £30 (£20 concessions) and covers refreshments, but not lunch.

On the website, there is also information about a survey of Book History teaching in the UK and Ireland. We've already received a good number of responses, but we would welcome more!