Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 467-468, 1994 Copyright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved

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CONFERENCE REPORT

OXFORD CONFERENCE FOR A REPORT

THE BOOK:

DEBORAH LEE

Acquisitions Librarian

Mississippi State University

Mitchell Memorial Library

P.O. Box 5408

Mississippi State, MS 39762-5408

E-mail: dollQra.msstate.edu

Keywords -Book publishing, Copyright, Acquisitions.

The second annual Oxford Conference for the Book was held April 8-10, 1994 in Oxford, Mississippi. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, this conference brought together readers, writers, librarians, publishers, and schol- ars from across the United States to participate in lectures and panel discussion on the culture of the book. The conference was preceded by a writers’ workshop directed by the award- winning author, Barry Hannah. Hannah was joined by the writer Larry Brown; literary agent Wendy Weil; editor and scholar Stanley Lindberg,; and bookstore owner Mary Gay Shipley. The participants discussed the art and luck of getting published and provided insights into the process of writing and marketing fiction.

The remainder of the conference covered many topics that illustrated some of the common interests and concerns of writers, readers, librarians, and retailers. The conference was offi- cially opened with a lecture by scholar Richard H. Brodhead on the history of the book in America. Brodhead traced the development of a uniquely American literary consciousness in both writers and readers in eighteenth- or nineteenth-century America. Other topics included the rapidly changing state of information technology and its effect on the future of the book. Obviously, booksellers (especially those locally owned and operated) are as anxious as librar- ians to discern the future trends in information technology. The consensus was that niche markets will continue to evaluate the needs of local customers.

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Stanley Lindberg, professor of English at the University of Georgia and the editor of the Georgia Review, gave an interesting lecture entitled “What Authors Don’t Know about Copyright -And Neither Do Publishers.” Lindberg has recently written a work on copyright entitled The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users' Rights. Lindberg argues that the primary purpose of copyright is to advance and protect public knowledge [ 11. Courts have only recently begun to interpret copyright as a property right, resulting in confusing and often contradic- tory judicial decisions. Lindberg discussed some of the confusing aspects of copyright and illustrated how all parties-publishers, writers, and readers-have different views on copyright.

One of the highlights of the conference was a performance from the musical interpretation of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, which has been adapted as a “Country Blues Opera.” The conference was closed with a.session with Stephen King and John Grisham. King and Grisham spoke to a standing room only crowd about life as a best-selling author.

Overall, the conference succeeded in bringing together the diverse “community of the book” and in stimulating discussion of the book as an information medium and literature as an art form. The true test of any conference takes place at the lunch tables and nightcaps-where heated debates and conversations continue long after the last panelist has spoken. The topics raised at the Oxford Conference for the Book sparked many such discussions, enough to last until next year.

REFERENCE

1. Lindberg, Stanley. The Nature of Copyright: A Law of Users’ Rights. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press; 1991.