[26830] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FYI France: book history & Lyon, in September
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Thu Jul 16 03:13:45 2009
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Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:54:32 -0700
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From: Jack Kessler <kessler@WELL.COM>
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FYI France: book history & Lyon, in September
As in the past I reproduce here the Institut d'histoire du=20
livre's latest wonderful excuse for,
* taking a trip to France, to Lyon in September,
* paying attention to "the printed book" and "the book as a=20
thing", as well as to the "digital libraries" thereof,
* learning the histories of the precious "texts" which we now=20
manipulate so nimbly using our new digital tools...
-- also, and not incidentally, enjoying a wonderful French city=20
offering wonderful weather and a beautiful setting and good=20
people and great food --
=09=09=09--oOo--
BOOK HISTORY WORKSHOP
Lyon, 1-4 September 2009
__________________________
Several places are still available for three of the courses=20
offered this year by the Lyon-based Institut d'histoire du=20
livre's Book History Workshop. The courses are:
* PAPER AND WATERMARKS AS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE
Tutor : Neil Harris (new course, in English)
* INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF INCUNABULA
Tutor : Kristian Jensen (course in English)
* PRINTED EPHEMERA UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS
Tutor : Michael Twyman (course in English)
The Book History Workshop is aimed at book and printing=20
historians and at the many other specialists who encounter=20
questions related to book and printing history in the course of=20
their work : researchers, teachers, archivists, librarians,=20
museum curators, antiquarian booksellers, collectors, designers, etc.
The courses offered by the Institut d'histoire du livre cover=20
various aspects of the history of the book and graphic=20
communications. Subjects are dealt with from both theoretical and=20
practical points of view through illustrated lectures,=20
discussions and close study of original documents.
The courses will take place in Lyon from the 1st to the 4th=20
September 2009. Classes will be held at the Ecole normale=20
sup=E9rieure - lettres et sciences humaines (Lyon) with sessions at=20
the Lyon City Library, the Printing Museum and the Ecole=20
nationale sup=E9rieure des sciences et de l'information et des=20
biblioth=E8ques (Enssib library school).
Tuition fee: 490 euros
In order to facilitate access to collections of original=20
documents the number of participants is limited to twelve per=20
class.
For further information see:=20
http://ihl.enssib.fr/siteihl.php?page=3D6&aflng=3Den=20
<http://ihl.enssib.fr/siteihl.php?page=3D6&aflng=3Den>
or contact:
Anne-Laure Collomb
Biblioth=E8que de la Part-Dieu
30 boulevard Vivier-Merle
69003 Lyon / France
alcollomb@bm-lyon.fr
http://ihl.enssib.fr <http://ihl.enssib.fr/>
-- Lyon-in-September -- how could anyone resist?
=09=09=09--oOo--
That said, a "digital libraries" Note:
In an online digital world in which we obtain our out-of-print=20
texts via GoogleBooks and Stanza -- on our iPhones -- and we get=20
in-print texts online too, now, courtesy of Amazon's "iPhone=20
App"... anyone who hasn't tried all this yet must, it's amazing...
All the more reason, I believe, to learn about the printed book:
The old print collections will be saved, now -- from the=20
depredations of fingerprints and peanut butter and banana peels=20
and so on -- from the users -- as so many generations of grumpy=20
librarians openly or secretly have wished that they would.
Just-in-time, too: this particular Younger Generation's habits do=20
not extend to reverence for the printed page -- harrumph... but=20
then I've watched the spills and the scribblings too often...
Nowadays printed books in the central campus "library" study hall=20
& social center primarily serve to prop up iPhones and iPods and=20
other digital devices, so you can text & Twitter & Tweet & beep=20
while you study.
But all the better to digitize and preserve the old printed=20
collections, now, while they are not being used -- and before=20
they decay, or burn or rot or simply get forgotten -- future=20
historians will badly need these artifacts, when they come to=20
acid paper's great 19th-20th c. lacuna, and wonder what really=20
happened 'way back then.
Many institutions now are answering the preservation challenge:=20
Google is helping... so are most major libraries, many of the=20
newspaper archives and print journal firms which remain standing,=20
publishing houses, movie companies with their old "films",=20
corporations and government agencies with their aging print=20
"archives", also photo archives, music archives.
These folks know the value of such collections, commercial and=20
otherwise, even if the current digital information-overloaded=20
user generation doesn't, yet. So when the data-miners achieve=20
breakthroughs, from their current good but still very early=20
start, these places are where they will find much of their gold.
Already, then, the texts do get digitized, the artifacts saved in=20
off-campus & secure & HVAC'd locations. So the situation is=20
better than it was 50 years ago, when "fingerprints and peanut=20
butter and banana peels" reigned, and printed books without=20
backups were greatly abused -- I remember... harrumph again...
Someone has to keep the candle lit, however, while the digital=20
Goths are marauding -- or the Huns or the Mongols or the Ottomans=20
or the Crusaders or pick-a-marauder -- someone has to do what=20
they did at Bobbio, and St. Gall, and out on the wet and frozen=20
fringe in Ireland, and up at Umberto Eco's Aedificium, and=20
preserve not just the objects but also the knowledge of how they=20
worked, how they were constructed and used.
_You_ can be that someone... save civilization, the way the Irish=20
reputedly did so long ago (cit.)... take a trip to Lyon, this=20
September, learn about gatherings and quires and fonts and=20
watermarks... also about acid paper and railroad editions...
So that when your grand-daughter comes to you and asks you, in=20
your dotage, "Why did they print-out the entire encyclopedia?",=20
you can tell her of a world long before in which "texts" all were=20
carried around in portable little "printed books".
And when she complains of the short attention-spans of her own=20
children, and of their digital civilization, you can tell her of=20
a communications medium -- still existing, through preservation=20
and tender care -- which can absorb the attentions of a small=20
child beneath an apple tree, or a scholar in a study, in a=20
_single_ tale or topic throughout the entire length of a=20
contemplative afternoon.
Have a nice Summer. But book your place now for September in Lyon.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
=09=09=09=09--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071-5916
*
| FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic
| journal published since 1992 as a small-scale,
| personal experiment, in the creation of large-
| scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler.
/ \ Any material written by me which appears in
----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for
// \\ any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me
--------- credit and show my email address, and, b) it
// \\ isn't going to make them money: if it is going
=09=09 to make them money, they must get my permission
in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me.=20
Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYI=20
France archives may be found at http://www.cru.fr/listes/biblio-fr@cru.fr/
(BIBLIO-FR archive), or http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/pacs-l.html
(PACS-L archive), or http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Collections/FYIFrance/
or http://www.fyifrance.com . Suggestions, reactions, criticisms,=20
praise,and poison-pen letters all gratefully received at=20
kessler@well.sf.ca.us .
=09Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler,
=09all rights reserved except as indicated above.
=09=09=09=09--hjlm--
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