The Academic Book of the Future Project : Archaeology and Art History symposium

This symposium provides a forum for articulating academic concerns around the future of book publishing, careers and academic freedom. It will look at some of the critical issues for the future of book publishing in archaeology and art history.  It will take the form of a series of panel discussions where panelists will give a 10-minute overview of the issues from their own perspectives, and then debate will be opened up to the participants. The Academic Book of the Future project has run a number of similar events, and discussions have been lively and challenging.  There have been some common issues debated, but different subject areas of course have different concerns.  Some areas that we will consider here include changes in the nature of research, the research environment and the research process; changes in the processes through which books are commissioned, approved or accepted, edited, produced, published, marketed, distributed, made accessible and preserved; the roles academic books of different kinds play in the advancement of knowledge both in the academic community and beyond; the legal and economic frameworks, especially in relation to open access; political pressures, in particular the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and many others.  While academic books are of primary interest, we cannot discuss matters of academic publication without also considering the role of journal publication.  

Of particular relevance to Archaeology and History of Art will be:

• Character of funding for Arts and Humanities, and Sciences
• Changing research processes and opportunities
• New technologies
• How to present visual evidence, and issues around third-party rights
• The character and formats for books in art history and archaeology
• Assessment processes within higher education
• Finding a publisher
• Open access requirements and their effects, for scholars, publishers and libraries
• Implications for academic freedom

Panelists and chairs will include Marilyn Deegan (King’s College, London); Mike Fulford (University of Reading), Julian Richards (Archaeology department, University of York), Colleen Morgan (Centre for Digital Heritage, University of York), Judith Winters (editor, Internet Archaeology); Tim Ayers, Jeanne Nuechterlein and Michael White (History of Art department, University of York); Julie Allinson (Library, University of York); Martin Postle (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art); Emma Brennan (Manchester University Press).

This event is free, but registration is required.

There will be a public lecture presented by Professor Marilyn Deegan to tie in with this event on Wednesday May 18th, 6pm in the Tree House. See here for further details and to register.

The Academic Book of the Future is a research project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in collaboration with The British Library (BL).