October 7, 1993

Contact: Craig D'Ooge (202) 707-9189

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Historians Elizabeth Eisenstein and Richard Bulliet To Speak at Library of Congress

Is the limited-length encyclopedia a dinosaur in the electronic age? In a world of hypertext and electronic repositories of knowledge, what happens to the concept of authoritative selection as a reliable guide for users? These are two of the questions that will be discussed on Oct. 27, 1993 in a colloquium at the Library of Congress featuring historians Elizabeth L. Eisenstein and Richard Bulliet. The program, "From Gutenberg to William Gibson: Revolutions in Knowledge from the Renaissance into the Twenty-First Century," will take place at 5:30 p.m.in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the Madison Building. It is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

The colloquium, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Columbia University Press, and the Houghton Mifflin Company, marks the publication of the fifth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia.

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, professor emerita at the University of Michigan, is the author of The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge University Press, 1979), Grub Street Abroad: Aspects of the Eighteenth Century French Cosmopolitan Press (Oxford University Press, 1992), and many articles about the role of print culture in society. She was a resident consultant at the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in 1978 and served on the Library's Council of Scholars from 1980-87.

Richard W. Bulliet, professor of history at Columbia University, is the chief consultant on history for the fifth edition of The Columbia Encyclopedia. A specialist in Middle East Studies, he also is chairman of the publications committee of Columbia University Press. His books include Islam: The View from the Edge (Columbia University Press, 1993), Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History (Harvard University Press, 1979) and The Camel and the Wheel (Harvard University Press, 1975). He also is the author of four novels, 38 encyclopedia articles, and was the host-narrator of "The Middle East", a 14-part educational television series.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading and to encourage the study of the role of print culture in society.

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PR 93-125
10/5/93
ISSN 0731-3527