Founding aims of the Centre for Book Studies

The discipline of book studies at the University of Munich has seen a significant improvement in recent years of both its international profile and its position within the field of book studies in Germany. The number of students enrolled in Munich’s bachelor and two master programmes has been steadily increasing. Within LMU, the book studies department has been cooperating successfully for many years with neighbouring disciplines, including the faculties of law and economics.

A decisive impulse for the establishment of the Centre for Book Studies: Book Research – Publishing Economics – Digital Media was the observation of an increasing uncertainty concerning the future direction of the discipline coming from within the field of book studies itself. Against the background of current developments in the German-speaking book studies field, it is imperative to continue in the future to uphold the name of the traditional discipline “book studies” confidently and prominently, maintaining a distinction particularly from the plethora of “media study programmes” (including media studies, media management, media information technology).

The establishment and naming of the Centre for Book Studies: Book Research – Publishing Economics – Digital Media express even more clearly the full thematic spectrum of the work already invested in research and teaching in this field in Munich. Moreover, as public debates about digitalization and its impact on society and politics become more intense, the discipline of book studies, with its international and interdisciplinary orientation and wide range of topics, gains in social and political relevance.