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| The Bibliothèque
nationale de France, also known as the Bibliothèque François
Mitterrand, was the first of three venues for the WESS (West European Studies
Section) Conference, arranged by the Association of College and Research
Libraries of the American Library Association. I had never visited the BnF,
and nor had most of the U.S. and Canadian participants, but we all found
it most impressive: a huge rectangular building, with several reading, exhibition
and lecture rooms, book storage in four big towers and below ground, and
numerous trees planted in the centre. Several European librarians took part,
many of whom were from the U.K. and representatives of FSLG, GSLG and ACLAIIR;
the main theme was migration (in literature, art and publishing, as reflected
in libraries in their collections, both printed and electronic). The other
two locations were the Salon du livre (the French Book Fair, where we had
talks and discussions with some publishers and authors), and a conference
centre in the rue du Havre. Most of those taking part in the conference
were subject specialists, but those who addressed the delegates were publishers,
suppliers, authors and academics in addition to librarians. The actual subject
matter tended mainly to revolve around matters of specifically French or
French-speaking and German/Austrian interest, although Italian and Spanish
received attention too. Those in the field of libraries and publishing spoke
in different ways on the migration of media, publications or collections
to new environments: for example, we heard about the move from Germany to
England in 1933 of the library of Aby Warburg, which still forms the core
of the Warburg Institute Library in London (part of London University, and
one of the most important sources for the study of the revival of the classics
in the Renaissance, and for the history and culture of that period). Barbara
Casalini spoke about another form of migration, the Italian e-book project,
Editoria Italiana Online. Those in academic research spoke on the evidence
and effects of migration on the work of certain writers and on the demographic
make-up of some countries, and for me one of the particularly interesting
aspects was the discussion at several points of the conference about new
French writers of Arab (North African) origin and from elsewhere. This movement
also has a growing number of parallels in contemporary writing in Italy
(a country where emigration used to be a way of life, but where in recent
years immigration has become common); it was a theme echoed by some of the
writers themselves, their publishers, academics pursuing research, and librarians
developing collections.
William Pine-Coffin |
| From
a European vendor's perspective I experienced the Paris conference as a
well-organized event enabling me to meet a range of interesting people,
listen to enthusiastic presentations and have stimulating discussions in
a pleasant informal atmosphere.
Willem-Jan Hooijmans |
| I thoroughly
enjoyed the conference and Paris was as wonderful as ever. The elongated
lunch periods (1.5 - 2 hours) were more than a nod to cultural differences
- they actively encouraged unhurried discussions. It was a splendid opportunity
to meet with friends. -- The one (minor) criticism that I have is that it
is better for a conference to have a central base - this certainly helps
exhibitors.
William Pidduck; Publisher |
| I was one of 12 delegates from the United Kingdom most of them members of the UK-based West European Studies Library Groups. The Conference was a great opportunity to meet colleagues from Canada and the United States and to forge closer links between WESS and the UK Groups. As a French specialist I was disappointed that there were so few colleagues from France (and indeed the rest of Europe) present, but was very interested to learn about the proposed French-American Resources Project presented by Tom Kilton. Finally, on behalf of the French Studies Library Group, I would like to thank the Conference Planning Committee and its Chair, Jeffry Larson, for the huge amount of work that they put in to organise this important Conference and I very much look forward to attending the next WESS European Conference. Teresa
Vernon |
| It was a pleasure and
an honour to work with the Wess group to help organise our international
meeting. It was really special to see so many of our group in Paris and
to get a sense of the focus and importance of this group. The meeting was
a great opportunity for all of us to meet colleagues from throughout Europe
and I sincerely hope that we will be able to organise a similar meeting
in the not too distant future.
Patricia O'Loughlin |
| Apart
from the inspiring papers on migrations and libraries I most vividly remember
the inspiring people: multilingual and subversive librarians.
Tamara Pianos |
| What
I remember most about the Paris "Migrations" Conference, beyond
the many interesting papers which were presented, is the solid feeling
of extreme care behind the organization of the conference and the evening
events. Once again, the usual and very special WESS atmosphere made the
Paris "Migrations" conference an event I'm really happy to have
come to. Barbara
Casalini |
Association
of College & Research Libraries
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