STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

XII UNIVERSEUM NETWORK MEETING
Arranging and rearranging: Planning university heritage for the future
26-29 May 2011
University of Padua, Italy

SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

The European Academic Heritage Network UNIVERSEUM (http://www.universeum.it)
announces its 12th annual meeting. UNIVERSEUM invites submissions of papers on
academic heritage in its broadest sense, tangible and intangible, namely the
preservation, study, access and promotion of university collections, museums,
archives, libraries, botanical gardens, astronomical observatories, and
university buildings of historical, artistic and scientific significance. The
theme of the conference is "Arranging and rearranging: Planning university
heritage for the future", though papers on other topics are welcomed too.
Graduate students are especially encouraged to attend.

"Arranging and rearranging: Planning university heritage for the future"

How should the academic heritage of universities be organized? There are many
models, from the centralized university museum or
archive to the dispersed collections kept by departments or individuals. There
are many different ways of organizing academic heritage that may or may not fit
a particular collection or institution. Visions and objectives of curators,
researchers and teachers involved
in academic heritage are often quite different from those of university
administrators and leadership. For both, in many cases,
heritage is intrinsically connected to the question of identity ­ identity of
academic disciplines, identity of local departments, and
the identity of the university. Much is at stake, as recent cuts in funding and
the reorganization of universities across Europe places
many collections at risk. How can we ensure the preservation, study and
interpretation of our academic heritage? How can we organize this heritage in
ways that can harmoniously reconcile the needs of contemporary universities
with th specificities and needs of academic heritage?

Paper presentations are limited to 20 minutes, including 5 minutes for
discussion. The conference language is English. Please send abstracts for
paper proposals of no more than 200 words to the email address below **before
15 February 2011*. Please use abstract template at the conference website
http://www.musei.unipd.it/meeting_universeum2011.html.
Include a short biography highlighting main research interests (no more than 50
words).

Proposals will be reviewed by the Programme Committee. Speakers will be given
notice by 1 March 2011.

More info: http://www.musei.unipd.it/meeting_universeum2011.html

For proposals and inquiries, please contact:
PaduaMeeting2011@universeum.it

Program Committee:
Marta Lourenço, University of Lisbon
Sofia Talas, University of Padua (Chair)
Roland Wittje, University of Regensburg