Historic Libraries in Context
The Derry & Raphoe Diocesan Library: Past, Present and Future
6-8 June, 2011
The University of Ulster – Magee Campus

This conference coincides with the conclusion of the Derry & Raphoe Diocesan Library Project, a 3.5 year project to conserve and publicize a collection heretofore relatively unknown to modern scholarship. The aim of the conference is to engage with bibliographers, historians and conservators to generate an interdisciplinary discussion about the current and possible future uses of such libraries and the curatorial and preservation issues that have been raised over the course of the project. Conference themes include:

The role of the diocesan (or cathedral) library, then and now
Creation and history of the libraries
Post-reformation church libraries
The Bishops and their collections (e.g. Downame, Hopkins, King)

The Irish book trade & the antiquarian book trade (especially in the second half of the 17th-18th century)
History of printing and publishing
Temporary/ephemeral bindings
The use of manuscript as waste material in bindings
Acquisition and ownership networks
Irish & European bookbinding: identification of local materials and techniques

Preservation & Access
Conservation tailored to the collection
Making minimum intervention work in the Reading Room
The Museum of the Book
Embedding historic libraries into the fabric of local communities: advocacy and outreach

Confirmed speakers include: Prof. Nicholas Pickwoad (University of the Arts, London), Caroline Bendix (conservator in private practice), Jonathan Rhys-Lewis (consultant on preservation and collections care issues),  Elizabethanne Boran (The Edward Worth Library), Dr. Mark Empey (Church of Ireland Historical Society, Queen’s University Belfast), Ken Bergin  (University of Limerick) on behalf of Prof. Robert S. Matteson (St. Lawrence University),  Andrew Megaw (Trinity College Dublin), Jennifer Miglus (Hartford Medical Society Library), Crónán Ó Doibhlin (University College Cork), Kim O’Donnell (Etherington Conservation Services – West)

There is still time to submit an abstract for this conference. Abstracts should be sent to Jennifer Jarvis @[log in to unmask] no later than the end of January, 2011. For more information please visit our website, www.derryraphoelibrary.og, and follow the link to the conference announcement.


Jennifer A. Jarvis
Project Director/Chief Conservator
Derry & Raphoe Diocesan Library Project
Shantallow Branch Library
92 Racecourse Rd., Shantallow
Derry
BT48 8DA
02871350791
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www.derryraphoelibrary.org