ABERYSTWYTH CENTRE FOR THE BOOK

Aberystwyth Centre for the Book is a joint venture between the National Library of Wales, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the Welsh Books Council. It was launched at the Books Council on 13 March 1997.

The three organisations have collaborated over many years in various ways but there appeared to be a need to create a venture to formalise co-operation and shared development in order to promote the book in Wales.

The following remarks were made by representatives of the three organisations at the launching ceremony:

‘The idea of a centre for the book has so far been associated with the British Library in London and the Library of Congress in Washington. The main purpose of such a centre is to promote interest in the book. There is hardly another town in the world where you will find so many books and so much expertise about books as here at Aberystwyth. Our desire is to establish a partnership between three institutions which are unique in Wales, each of which has a particular interest in books. We hope that the fruit of our co-operation will be the promotion of interest and information about the book – its history, its status today, and its future.’

Dr Lionel Madden
Librarian, National Library of Wales (until 1998)

Launching the Aberystwyth Centre for the Book in 1997 (from left to right): Dr Lionel Madden, Librarian, National Library of Wales (until 1998); Gwerfyl Pierce Jones, Director of the Welsh Books Council; Professor Derec Llwyd Morgan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

‘We in Aberystwyth have a unique opportunity to exploit the wealth of expertise which exists within these three national institutions.

There has been close co-operation between us on an informal level since the establishment of the Books Council in 1961, and a number of the Council’s most important developments over recent years have been based on joint research and on expertise available here in the field of computers and books.
This exciting development is a natural extension of that co-operation. It is also a declaration of faith in the importance of the book and a commitment on the part of the three institutions to promote it to the utmost of their ability.’

Gwerfyl Pierce Jones
Director, Welsh Books Council

'... It demonstrates how research and teaching can be relevant to the needs of Wales and how it benefits from the tremendous resources which exist at Aberystwyth. Seeing the publication of the bibliography of Children’s Books in Welsh 1900–1991 today, and hearing of the publication of a new journal of note, Welsh Book Studies, demonstrates how creative a relationship this already is ...’

Professor Derec Llwyd Morgan
Vice-Chancellor, University of Wales, Aberystwyth

‘This is not a centre in the sense of a building but an undertaking to collaborate in the field of books. Many have predicted the demise of the book – the world of technology taking its place, according to some, but there is plenty of life in the book yet, and we will be giving attention to every aspect of it – who are the authors, who publishes and why, where can they be bought and who reads them, who collects them, what are the prospects for the next century, not to mention looking back at aspects of its history ... This is a particularly rich area.’

Professor D. Hywel E. Roberts
Head of Department of Information, University of Wales, Aberystwyth (until 1999)

Articles and other material should be sent for consideration to:

Dr Rhidian Griffiths
National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth
SY23 3BU
e-mail: wrg@nlw.org.uk

For practical reasons, it was decided to subdivide the outcome of the study into a series of three shorter, though connected, reports. The first report (September 2000) involved the relationship between public libraries and the book trade. In September 2002 the second report was published, dealing with the publishing industry in Wales, and a report on the state and nature of bookselling in Wales will follow.

A SURVEY OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IN WALES

Click below to read the Survey.

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