Admission requirements
This course is available for students on the MA Book and Digital Media Studies. Students from other programmes are welcome to approach the course coordinator for admission, but this will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Description
We live in an era of information overload, where it is often challenging to distinguish between fact and fiction, and where there can seem to be too many (often contesting) answers to any question, all available at our fingertips. Finding appropriate data, filtering out irrelevancies, and recalling the vital are skills that we often take for granted. However, these techniques depend on a range of information management strategies which were developed throughout the history of the handwritten (manuscript) and early-printed book. Even illustrated tabulations, excerpt collections and alphabetic indexes – seemingly innocuous devices for information storage and retrieval – had boundless potential to transmit and generate new knowledge. Furthermore, institutional transformations during this period (for example, the rise of universities, changing practices in library management) impacted the manner in which books were stored, classified and consulted.
Using sources from Leiden’s world-leading library collections, students will locate and investigate material evidence for premodern strategies of information management in books. Throughout this course, ‘the book’ (and the institutions which ensured its preservation) will serve as our lens on the past, permitting us to interrogate the medieval and early-modern conception of the book as a privileged carrier of information.
Course objectives
- To identify and critically appraise the efficacy of pre-modern strategies of information retrieval and management;
- To learn and apply book historical methodologies in exploring, contextualising, and assessing primary and secondary sources, including those relevant for working with digitised materials;
- To work independently on two projects showing a nuanced understanding of material developments in the book and their impact on intellectual culture.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Mid-term paper (written assignment)
End of term paper (written assignment)
Weighing
To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Mid-term paper (written assignment) - 50% of end grade
End of term paper (written assignment) - 50% of end grade
Additional requirements:
At least one of the papers must receive a 6.0 or above to pass the course.
Attendance is compulsory and absence on three occasions or more may entail your removal from the course or require the submission of additional assignments to make up credit. Please contact the course coordinator if there are compelling reasons for absence (e.g. sickness, family emergency).
Resit
In case of an insufficient grade, students may resit both components.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
A reading list will be provided at the start of the course.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Not applicable
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal.
Remarks
Not applicable