Library History Seminar XIII:

Libraries: Traditions and Innovations

July 31 – August 2, 2015

Graduate School of Library & Information Science, Simmons College

Boston, MA 02115

Boston, Massachusetts, the site of the Library History Seminar XIII, provides an apt setting to explore traditions and innovations in libraries. The Boston area is home to many important library innovations in North America, including the first university library and the first large, free municipal library. At the same time, new information institutions continue to be created here, of which the Digital Public Library of America and the Digital Commonwealth of online heritage materials are two recent examples.

With Boston as the backdrop, this conference seeks to delve into the enduring and evolving aspects of libraries and librarianship. The convergence and divergence of the physical and the digital may result in opportunities and challenges that we do not yet realize. Traditionally libraries have made their collections available to defined audiences, but today it is increasingly difficult to define and delineate user communities. At the same time, so-called “disruptive technologies” in publishing are resulting in new approaches to the collection and dissemination of information. The Library History Seminar XIII will provide a lively forum for such scholarly debate.