To date, the book as an independent medium has not really been studied from a media studies or cultural studies perspective. The Erlangen Book Studies research aims to change this. We look at communication by means of the book as the result of coordinated, media-specific production, distribution and reception processes.

For research that is theoretically logical and conclusive one needs to define a term which encompasses all of the many physical forms and media formats of the book and which takes into account the change in media. To do this we use ideas from the fields of media and communication studies, semiotics and constructivism. In this way we come to understand the book as more than just a means of storing and communicating information. It is an important component of our construction of reality.

Book Studies therefore offers the opportunity to make the medium of the book an essential resource to all and to provoke interdisciplinary discussion about the book and its importance in the context of media.

Projects

As well as on general theoretical work, the following projects place emphasis on the book as a medium:

The digital history of the book from early printing to the present day aims to explore the modular forms and organisation of academic knowledge by looking at particularly demonstrative examples.

The research looks in particular at the following four pillars of the book world: institutions, organisations, availability, and functions and purposes of the book.

The DFG project studying Melusine by Thüring of Ringoltingen takes on a historical perspective to study the availability of the book and how this has changed through time. It looks at the developments over a period of four centuries.

One can determine a medium's position in the media system by looking at its current attributes in society. There is a comprehensive image database that details a number of unconventional or inappropriate usages of books. The theoretical concepts are also applied in  Book Studies teaching, for example in the lecture course Fundamentals of Book Studies.

 Members of the Research Group

  • Dr Günther Fetzer
  • Professor Ursula Rautenberg
  • Dr Sandra Rühr

Contact

Professor Ursula Rautenberg

 Publications:

  • Ursula Rautenberg (Hrsg.): Buchwissenschaft in Deutschland. Ein Handbuch. Berlin 2010. 2 Bde.
  • Ursula Rautenberg: Buchwissenschaft als Wissenschaft. Bestandsaufnahme und Erlanger Perspektiven. In: Neues vom Buch. Hrsg. v. Doris Moser u.a. (Angewandte Literaturwissenschaft 11). Innsbruck / Wien / Bozen 2011, S. 41–58.
  • Ursula Rautenberg / Dirk Wetzel: Das Buch (Grundlagen der Medienkommunikation 11). Tübingen 2001.
  • Greifeneder, Elke / Kuhn, Axel /Rühr, Sandra: Aufbau und Entwicklung einer digitalen Buchgeschichte. Studie zu Anforderungen und Zielgruppen. (Alles Buch. Studien der Erlanger Buchwissenschaft XXXIV). Hrsg. von Ursula Rautenberg und Volker Titel. Erlangen 2010.
  • Rühr, Sandra: Tondokumente von der Walze zum Hörbuch. Geschichte, Medienspezifik, Rezeption. Göttingen 2008.