On 4 and 5 December 2024, the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand (BSANZ) is hosting their annual conference at the National Library and the call for papers is now on!

Mass-printed or bespoke, digital or physical, books convey information. They are also objects with stories to tell beyond their text, particularly in their physical form. Inside and outside, they carry traces of those stories. They may tell us about the people and technologies that made them, or the people whose hands they have passed through. They take on lives of their own.

The theme for 2024, ‘Bibliomania: Stories from inside and outside the book’, will explore these lives. This includes, but is not limited to: 

  • the book as object;    
  • book production and bindings;   
  • book collectors and collections;   
  • booksellers and bookselling;   
  • users and readers of books and the evidence of those activities;   
  • the afterlives of books: circulation, distribution and dispersal;    
  • digital access to books: advantages, challenges and beyond;   
  • preservation and conservation of books; and   
  • areas relating more broadly to bibliography and book history.  

The call for papers addressing these themes is currently open, and closes on 31 July. 

Learn more about the conference and how to submit your paper.