BookNET Research Cluster

AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programe
Research Cluster Networks

BookNET Research Cluster Meeting
18 June 2009

This Research Cluster is one of 13 Clusters funded by the AHRC/EPSRC
Science and Heritage programme. See

    <URL:http://www.heritagescience.ac.uk>

The BookNET Research Cluster has been set up to explore the
potential for research into historical documents as physical
artefacts, providing a statement of the current state of research
into the materiality of the book (in its widest sense), and
proposing a research framework for future study. The Research
Cluster is a sub-set of an existing network, the Centre for the
Study of the Book, <URL:http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/csb/> based in
the Bodleian Library in Oxford, in partnership with the British
Library, Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich and the Center for the Study of Books and
Media, Princeton University. The aim of this Centre is to enrich
access to collections of books by fostering research that crosses
academic and professional specialisms, and by promoting this
research through innovative projects, public programmes, and digital
developments.

In order to develop this activity in a specifically technological
direction, we have brought together for the first time a national
and international Cluster of researchers who have studied the
various components of the book as object, with the aim of sharing
expertise and generating new interactions, and, by bringing
inexpertise from related study areas, we intend to define a research
agenda for the technical study of this overlooked but vital
component of the cultural heritage. The outcomes will be of value to
those charged with the curation and understanding of this vast
legacy, and also all those researchers and lay audience interested
in literary and art history, materials science and the history of
technology. We believe that this activity will precipitate a
step-change in the way in which the physical nature of the book is
taken into account when the information content is evaluated, and
will remind the world that the physical book contains more
information than can be represented as a digitized image.

Meeting 2
Thursday 18 June 2009

The second meeting of the BookNET Research Cluster will be an
all-day meeting (specific times TBC), taking place in central
Oxford, UK. Presentations will be given by a range of heritage and
library professionals covering a variety of research areas and
scientific methods of analysis.

Confirmed presentations include:

    Curatorial overview
    Richard Ovenden, Bodleian Library, Oxford University

    Paper degradation issues and analysis
    Matija Strlic, UCL

    Evaluating the structural integrity of historical documents
    Tim Wess, Cardiff University

    Pigment identification issues
    Nicholas Eastaugh, Pigmentum

    Raman microscopy for pigment identification
    Lucia Burgio, Victoria and Albert Museum

    Imaging techniques in book and manuscript studies
    Haida Liang, Nottingham Trent University

    In-air PIXE analysis in book and manuscript studies
    Geoff Grime, University of Surrey

    Scientific methods of dating
    Mark Pollard, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the
    History of Art, Oxford University

If you have any queries or would like to reserve a place, please
email sarah.neate<-at->ouls<.>ox<.>ac<.>uk

BookNET Wiki site:

<URL:http://booknet.wikispaces.com/>

Sarah Neate
Co-ordinator, BookNET Research Group







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