Dr. Carl Kaestle of Brown University will deliver the Beta Phi Mu Distinguished Lecture “Readers, Authors, and Publishers in 1880: Reflections on the New History of Print Culture” on February 11, 2005. The lecture is funded by a grant from Beta Phi Mu to its FSU Gamma Chapter, and is hosted in partnership with the FSU College of Information, the College of Education, the Learning Systems Institute, the Department of History, and the Department of American and Florida Studies.

Dr. Kaestle’s lecture will present sketches of individual readers in 1880 and the ways they used print; it also surveys a variety of authors and publishers, establishing the argument that producers as well as readers bring a set of practices, beliefs, purposes, and resources, and that is what we mean when we say “print culture.”

The lecture additionally examines the literacy environments in which young people grew up in the 1880s-the role of parents, peers, significant others, schools, libraries and other institutions of literacy. Finally, Dr. Kaestle makes several observations about subsequent developments, leading up to our own time.

At Brown University, Dr. Kaestle is University Professor and Professor of Education, History, and Public Policy. He is an internationally known historian of education, with an active interest in libraries as educational institutions and has published work on the history of literacy and reading, including “Literacy in the United States: Readers and Reading Since 1880.” He currently pursues his interest in the history of print culture through his work as co-editor of a volume in the collaborative work, “A History of the Book in America,” supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Antiquarian Society.

Beta Phi Mu is the International Library and Information Science Honor Society, with a membership of over 25,000. Its national headquarters are located at the FSU College of Information. The organization was founded in 1948 by a group of leading librarians and library educators to recognize and encourage scholastic achievement among library and information studies students. The purpose of its Distinguished Lecture Program is to assist Beta Phi Mu chapters in providing special events which feature a prominent speaker from the library and information science professions who will provide historical perspective and address relevant issues, trends and future directions.

The lecture takes place at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 11 at the FSU College of Information in Room 006A of the Louis Shores Building.

January 19, 2005