Author: Cheryl

CFP: Grant Writing Collaborations in Academic Librarianship

Grant Writing Collaborations in Academic Librarianship

Editor

Dr. Addison Lucchi

Instructional & Research Librarian | Professor
MidAmerica Nazarene University

About this Edited Collection

This edited collection focuses on effective strategies and best practices for fostering collaborative grant-writing initiatives among academic libraries, faculty, and external organizations. In many institutions, grant proposals are developed in isolation, often without direct collaboration with the library as an academic unit. However, through collaboration between academic libraries and other departments across campus, transformative projects can be designed to provide lasting change for the entire academic community. Drawing on a rich array of case studies from diverse academic libraries nationwide, the book highlights successful collaborations that have resulted in meaningful change. It also offers a wealth of practical guidance on best practices, templates, checklists, writing tools, and frameworks for developing innovative grant proposals that center on strategic collaboration.

Readers will discover how to identify potential collaborators, navigate the complexities of joint proposals, and leverage library resources to enhance project outcomes. By centering on strategic collaboration, this collection equips librarians and faculty with the insights and skills needed to craft impactful grant projects that not only secure funding but also advance institutional goals and enrich the academic experience for the entire community.

Publisher

ACRL Press

Chapter Topics

Chapter topics may focus on, but are not limited to the following:

Case Studies in Successful Grant Writing Collaboration & Project Implementation:

  • Mini-grants
  • Library-centered grants
  • Broader academic grant projects
  • Community-centered grant projects
  • Large, multi-year grant projects
  • Etc.

Grant Writing Tools and Resources:

  • Resources for grant-writing
  • Templates and checklists for successful grant proposals
  • How to find available grants
  • Potential workshops and training for librarians and other grant-writing collaborators

Other topics are welcome, and you are encouraged to submit your proposals.

We welcome proposals from any authors who have written and managed grant projects as a part of their academic library, or who have collaborated with academic libraries on their campuses. Particularly, we are searching for clear examples and case studies of grant-writing collaborations, including how academic libraries have collaborated with external departments and organizations to create meaningful change in their communities. Case study chapters will include details on the grant search process, project development, grant writing process, and project implementation. Additionally, we seek chapters that provide a variety of practical tips and tools for academic library grant-writers, drawing upon experience, including practical templates, checklists, toolkits, etc.

Each case study chapter (4,000 to 8,000 words) should also include practical lessons learned through experiences and advice for future grant-writers. Each tools and resources chapter (2,000 to 6,000 words) should include usable resources, tools, lists, etc. to facilitate and improve the grant-writing process.

Proposals for all chapters should include 1) a proposed title for the chapter; 2) an abstract for the chapter; 3) a brief outline for the chapter; and 4) a list of practical takeaways, lessons learned, or action steps for the reader.

Tentative Timeline: 

  • March 10, 2025 – CfP opens
  • June 30, 2025 – CfP closes 
  • July 31, 2025 – Notification of submission status (accepted or declined) sent
  • May 1, 2026: 1st draft due

How to Submit Your Proposal

Please note that a 400-500 word abstract is required (and must be submitted via a shared Google doc in the submission form) and should include an overall outline of the proposed chapter with clearly labeled relevant headings that address the topic of the edited collection as described in this CfP. Please make sure to also address, even if only at a high level, what lessons learned / practical actionable next steps readers can take away from your chapter to hopefully help address similar concerns they may be facing. Specifically, the proposal should include: 1) a proposed title for the chapter; 2) an abstract for the chapter; 3) a brief outline for the chapter; and 4) a list of practical takeaways, lessons learned, or action steps for the reader.

Please submit your proposal by completing the proposal submission form available by visiting 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKm5qHgNUB_XbW8P4u0qEpqO0c2TGqd6BDcMnPFj_3nrWACw/viewform?usp=header. Alternatively, you are welcome to email your proposal directly to amlucchi@mnu.edu. 

Questions

Questions or concerns? Please submit let us know by emailing Dr. Addison Lucchi at amlucchi@mnu.edu. 

Call for Applications: Announcing the Launch of the Sharing Stories from 1977 Editorial Fellows Program

Call for Applications: Announcing the Launch of the Sharing Stories from 1977 Editorial Fellows Program

New Deadline: April 15, 2025

Application Site: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EPboKDMgxT-l2Q2TcSwrZ5BcULZeR-p2uHFfdMKvwAA/viewform?edit_requested=true

Sharing Stories from 1977, a nationally recognized digital humanities project, is pleased to announce we are forming an editorial board for our peer-reviewed, open-access website. Sharing Stories from 1977: Putting the National Women’s Conference on the Mapis the central hub for documenting and interpreting the 1977 National Women’s Conference (NWC).

We are seeking twelve graduate student Sharing Stories Fellows who will be competitively selected in a national search to serve as an inaugural class of editors in 2025-2026. 

Fellows will conduct editorial review of biographies drafted primarily by undergraduate researchers to be published on the Sharing Stories site. This program will especially suit graduate students interested in developing experience in the peer-review publication process and using digital tools. An interest in contemporary US history, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, public history, and/or digital humanities is a bonus. 

This virtual editorial fellowship will run from September 2025 through July 2026 with a time commitment of approximately 5 hours a week. Fellows will work in editorial groups led by Drs. Stacie Taranto, Emily Westkaemper, and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu as well as engage in social mixers and have the opportunity to present works-in-progress at an annual Sharing Stories Fellows Research Workshop.

Applications are DUE APRIL 15, 2025 and include a CV, Statement of Interest, and Writing Sample.

For more information on this program and to apply, check out: https://www.uh.edu/class/ctr-public-history/projects/sharing-stories/ssoppurtunity-editoralfellowship.php.

Contact Information

Sandra Davidson, PhD

Project Manager, Sharing Stories from 1977: Putting the National Women’s Conference on the Map

Contact Email

sddavids@cougarnet.uh.edu

URL

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EPboKDMgxT-l2Q2TcSwrZ5BcULZeR-p2uHFfdMKvwAA/vi…

New Issue: Archives and Records, Volume 45, Issue 3 (2024)

Archives and Records, Volume 45, Issue 3 (2024)

Articles

Children as archive producers, participants, and agents: introduction to the special issue on children and archives
Anna Sparrman, Victoria Hoyle & Johanna Sjöberg

Imagining tiny archives: exploring young children’s collecting of nature things
Alex Orrmalm & Marek Tesar

From passive subjects to active agents: enabling child-centred recordkeeping in social care contexts
Sharon Vincent, Martine Hawkes, Justine Ogle, Joanne Evans & Barbara Reed

Researching colonial childhoods: accessing the voices of children in the Gold Coast (Ghana) 1900 –1957
Afua Twum-Danso Imoh

‘Politics are the way our country is run’: the social value of school archives for tracing children’s civic engagement
Emily Murphy & Helen King

Everyday records or living archives? An analysis of record-keeping in residential children’s homes in Scotland
Ruth Emond, Andrew Burns, Hugh Hagan & Karl Magee

Ethics in research practice: young people, pictures, and archives
Yelyzaveta Hrechaniuk & Anna Sparrman

Book Reviews

Disputed archival heritage
edited by James Lowry, London, Routledge, 2022, 356 pp.
Helena Clarkson

A soldiers’ chronicle of the Hundred Years War. College of Arms manuscript M9
edited by Anne Curry and Rémy Ambühl, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2022, 480 pp.
Anthony Smith

New Issue: Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals

Collections- Volume: 21, Number: 1 (March 2025)
Focus Issue: Hazardous Heritage
(partial open access)

Introduction
Introduction to the Focus Issue: Hazardous Heritage
Henna Sinisalo and Doris Blancquaert

Hazardous Heritage
Journey into a Toxic Past: Pest Control in Museums at the End of the Nineteenth and the Early Twentieth Century in Germany and Beyond
Helene Tello

Museum Professionals’ Perceptions of Chemical and Biological Hazards and Risks in Museum Work Environments in Finland
Henna Sinisalo

Hearing Victims’ Voices: The Asbestos Story in the Archive
Arthur McIvor

Asbestos as Difficult Heritage: The Need for a Multi-Voiced Heritage Policy
Doris Blancquaert and Hélène Verreyke

Tracing Toxic Agency—Exploring the Open-Air Museums and Their Contaminated Vernacular Buildings
Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl and Terje Planke

Disappearing Façades: The Challenges Behind Asbestos-Containing Façade Materials Heritage Value and Significance from a Curator’s Viewpoint
Liisa Katariina Ruuska-Jauhijärvi

Addressing the Presence of Arsenical Bindings in the British Library’s Collections
Amy Baldwin, Paul Garside and Nicole Monjeau

All Bottled Up: Hazard Assessment of an Historic Pharmaceutical Collection
Anna Fowler, Kerith Koss Schrager and Nancie Ravenel

From Poison Books to “Bibliotoxicology”: Highlighting Hazards in Paper-Based Library Collections
Rosie Grayburn and Melissa Tedone

Hazardous Heritage Within the War Heritage Institute
Saskia Van de Voorde and Zoë-Joy Vangansewinkel

Congress Review: Hazardous Heritage: Working With and Around Dangerous Materials in Cultural Heritage, 23 to 24.10.2023, Antwerp, Belgium
Liisa Katariina Ruuska-Jauhijärvi, Marleena Vihakara and Doris Blancquaert

CFP: One-day symposium : “Map exhibitions 19th-20th centuries”

France

ANNUAL ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM OF THE HISTORY COMMISSION OF THE FRENCH CARTOGRAPHY COMMITTEE

Friday 14th November 2025

INHA (Paris) – Salle Vasari

The History Commission of the CFC is organising a study day on ‘Cartographic exhibitions’ on 14 November 2025 at the Institut national d’histoire de l’Art (INHA) in Paris.

This one-day symposium is a continuation of the previous meetings on ‘Art and Cartography’ (2023) and ‘Cartography and Cinema’ (2024), in which cartography and its history were examined from the angle of their presence in modern and contemporary visual cultures. The aim of this new day is to consider the various aspects of the encounter between cartography and the general public.

Maps have long been exhibited, more or less permanently, in the galleries of major palaces and public buildings. Think, for example, of the Vatican Map Gallery or the world map room in the Farnese Palace in Caprarola. But it is not to these perennial cartographic settings, which are already well known, that this Study Day aims to focus its analysis, but rather on temporary installations.

Since the nineteenth century, cartography has been the focus of a great many temporary exhibitions, both specialist and more general. Like works of art or scientific objects, maps, globes, models, relief maps and observation instruments were considered worthy of public interest. Take, for example, the enthusiastic response to the exhibition entitled ‘Cartes et figures de la Terre’ [Maps and Figures of the Earth], presented at the Centre Pompidou in 1980. Exhibitions devoted to the history of cartography, or certain aspects of it, are regularly held at scientific gatherings (geography congresses or learned societies), at international fairs and, of course, in libraries, museums and archive centres.

We need to look at these cartographic exhibitions from a number of angles: 

– What were the projects, motivations and objectives of the designers of these exhibitions?

– What were the scientific, artistic and political contexts in which these exhibitions were organised?

– What cartographic documents were chosen? According to what criteria? What were their aims?

– What was the chosen scenography? How have these choices evolved over the years? Are there any links, or even analogies, with the history of art exhibitions?

– How many people attended the exhibition? What type of audience, if any? How did the press react to the exhibitions?

Contributions may address all or only some of these questions.

Practical details

Proposals for papers (approximately 1500 characters), accompanied by a short bio-bibliography, should be sent before 10 May 2025 to the following address: catherine.hofmann@bnf.fr.

The selection committee will meet in mid-June and will announce the results of the call for papers in early July.

The papers selected will be published in an issue of the journal of the French Cartography Committee, Cartes & Géomatique, in 2026.

Contact Information

Catherine Hofmann, map curator at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris)

Jean-Marc Besse, head researcher at CNRS and EHESS

Contact Email

catherine.hofmann@bnf.fr

URL

https://cartogallica.hypotheses.org/

CFP: ARTEFACTS 30: Care and Repair

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR ARTEFACTS 30, CARE AND REPAIR

With pleasure, Norsk Teknisk Museum (the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology) announces that the next and 30th meeting of ARTEFACTS will be held in Oslo, Norway, 12–14 October 2025.

ARTEFACTS is an international network of academic and museum-based scholars of science, technology, and medicine, who share the goal of promoting the use of objects in research. The consortium was established in 1996 and since then has held annual conferences examining the role of artefacts and collections in the making of science and technology and related areas. See https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/our-work/research-public-history/artefacts-consortium.

The theme of the 2025 meeting is CARE AND REPAIR, and we encourage proposals (see formats below) concerning how erosion, breakdown, and maintenance, instead of progress and innovation, can be starting points for research. What are the limits of our fragile world, and what work does caring do? We characterize ‘care and repair’ broadly, encompassing objects, people, and environments, but all proposals should have a focus on the material culture of science, technology, and/or medicine.

In keeping with the theme, we especially encourage proposals from museum conservators, as well as those who care for museum communities. These could potentially be joint submissions with other museum practitioners and scholars. ARTEFACTS conferences are friendly and informal meetings with the character of workshops. There is plenty of time for open discussion and networking.

Examples might include, but are not limited to:

  • Conservation and restoration of technoscientific heritage; “stubborn” objects, those which require persistent care and repair; challenges while taking care of technoscientific collections… 
  • Working with communities on technoscientific heritage; forgotten stories of care and repair; amateurs and enthusiasts, the maker movement, and do-it-yourself (DIY) culture…
  • The sustainability of technoscientific heritage; practices of repair leading towards more sustainability; making things last; waste and reuse; the afterlives of technoscientific heritage…
  • Historical perspectives on technology and repair; the shaping of technology through practices of repair; how repair practices have changed over time; lost expertise / knowledge / skills; the lifespans and persistence of technology; technology’s manifold temporalities…
  • Care and the medical humanities; care versus repair, with regard to hierarchies of expertise in healthcare; caregiving and the difficulties of providing and receiving care; ethical dimensions of care and maintenance; how caregiving has changed over time…

Please remember that the focus of presentations should be on artefacts.

This time, ARTEFACTS is experimenting with two tracks for submissions: (1) works to be considered for publication (a pre-circulated paper and a longer presentation based on the paper) and (2) works-in-progress (shorter presentations without a paper). Abstracts for track 1 should be 500-1000 words; abstracts for track 2 should be 200-300 words. They should be accompanied by a 75-word author biography and sent to artefacts@tekniskmuseum.no by 15 May 2025. We aim to notify accepted participants by 5 June 2025.

Registration will open formally when the program is announced in June, but in the meantime informal queries should be directed to artefacts@tekniskmuseum.no.

New Issue: IFLA Journal

IFLA Journal Volume 51 Issue 1, March 2025
(partial open access)

Editorial

Trends in academic and research libraries
Jayshree Mamtora and Bertil F. Dorch

Articles

Perceptions of the role of research librarian: A phenomenological study
Rahma Sugihartati, Dessy Harisanty, Anita Dewi, Bagong Suyanto, Arya Wijaya Pramodha Wardhana and Nadia Egalita

Australian academic libraries and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Roxanne Missingham

Fostering scientific integrity in Vietnam: The contribution of library and information services
Thuy Thanh Bui and Lan Thi Nguyen

Model proposal of libraries functions to implement open science: Analysis from Latin American librarianship
Juan Miguel Palma Peña

Scholar-led publishing and diamond open access: The professionalised role of libraries
Ursula Arning

Integrating evidence synthesis services in Zimbabwean state university libraries
Notice Pasipamire

Moldovan academic librarians’ perception on research data management
Viorica Lupu, Nelly Țurcan and Rodica Cujba

Influence of research collaboration on research excellence in Kenya
Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha

The impact of big data on university libraries in Bangladesh
Md. Habibur Rahman, Asmadi Mohammed Ghazali and Mohd Zool Hilmie Mohamed Sawal

Case Study

Co-creating open initiatives at De La Salle University Libraries: The Animo Repository experience
Luis Ezra Cruz, Mennie Ruth Viray and Roana Marie Flores

Exploring the use of generative artificial intelligence in systematic searching: A comparative case study of a human librarian, ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-4 Turbo
Xiayu Summer Chen and Yali Feng

Review Article

Research data management in university libraries: The need for data literacy and technological revamp
Magnus Osahon Igbinovia, Chidi Deborah Segun-Adeniran and Omorodion Okuonghae

CFP: Australian Society of Archivist Conference

The Call for Papers is now open and will close on:

  • AEST: 9:00 am on Monday 28 April 2025
  • AWST: 7:00 am on Monday 28 April 2025
  • ACDT: 8:30 am on Monday 28 April 2025
  • NZDT: 11:00 am on Monday 28 April 2025

How to Submit

  1. Read the information below regarding the theme and proposal types.
  2. Click on the Submit Your Proposal button below to create an account and follow the instructions to submit your abstract. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.
  3. If you have any technical issues accessing the portal or submitting your proposal, please contact us.
  4. If you have questions about the theme or your proposal in general, please contact the Program Chair.

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL

Theme

The purpose of archives is often explained as being for the benefit of societal memory. As the International Council on Archives’ Universal Declaration on Archives states; they are authoritative sources of information which play an essential role in the development of societies by safeguarding and contributing to individual and community memory and that open access to archives enriches our knowledge of human society, promotes democracy, protects citizens’ rights, and enhances the quality of life.

What has been the societal impact of archives and archival practice over the past 50 years? How is this changing over time? How should it be changing?

The conference aims to bring together a wide range of perspectives and stories on our profession and practice by showcasing what archives mean to communities, institutions and individuals. It is also a space to explore where we have been, are, and want to develop as a sector.

Call for Papers

The Australian Society of Archivists is excited to invite your proposals for contributions to our upcoming conference “Telling Our Stories: Community, Connection, Resilience”, to be held 10-12 November 2025 in Warrane/Warrang/Sydney.

We invite you to share your experiences, reflections and research by ‘telling our stories’ from and about the archives by submitting a brief proposal of no more than 300 words.

Topics could include, but are not limited to:

  • Archival history
  • Community and school archives
  • Impact of technology on archives
  • Digital accessibility
  • Access to and repatriation of displaced archives
  • Privacy and ethical considerations
  • Cultural considerations
  • Audiences: who is missing?
  • Social responsibility
  • Reparative description, Indigenous self-determination
  • Teaching with archives
  • Community outreach and access
  • Archival education
  • Using technology to improve engagement
  • Impact of digital transformation on archival concepts
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Big data

We encourage submissions from all who engage with archives: students, new professionals, experienced archivists and recordkeepers, information professionals, academics, researchers, artists, and community members.

Conference Audience

Your audience will mainly be archivists, records and information professionals from small, medium and large organisations in government, private and community sector organisations. It will also include students, academics, educators and researchers.

The conference will be face to face, however it should be noted that sessions will be recorded for on-demand viewing. This should be considered when developing your abstract and any subsequent presentations.

Proposal Types

All presentations will be presented on location and in-person:

  • Posters
    • presentation of research, project, idea, or other type of work in a paper poster
    • presenters will be required to present during the poster session in order to answer questions and further explain their poster
    • we specifically invite students to use this category
    • posters will need to be printed
  • Project show and tells (10 minutes)
    • strictly limited to 10 minutes per talk (all speakers combined), including questions
    • short, less formal presentations to share information about in-progress or completed projects
    • provide opportunities to share project status and potentially engage and network with other delegates interested with relevant expertise
    • speakers may use slides to enhance their talk
  • Lightning talks (10 minutes)
    • strictly limited to 10 minutes per talk (all speakers combined), including questions
    • short, less formal presentations to share information about ideas and research and connect with other delegates
    • speakers may use slides to enhance their talk
  • Individual papers (30 minutes)
    • comprise one or more speakers presenting on a topic for a maximum of 30 minutes
    • presentations should last 20 minutes to allow at least 5 minutes for questions
    • papers will be grouped to form 90 minute sessions around a common theme
  • Interactive presentations (30-60 minutes)
    • comprise one or more speakers
    • an interactive presentation designed to engage the audience in active discussion
  • Panels (90 minutes)
    • comprise 3 to 5 speakers who together present on a topic for 90 minutes
    • panels have options in how they use the time available, potentially giving each panellist a set time to speak and allowing time for questions during or at the end of the panel session
    • panellists may use slides to illustrate or enhance their contribution to the panel
  • Workshops half-day or full day, to be held on day before or after the conference
    • hands-on sessions designed to involve participants in practical activities
    • limited capacity per workshop (please note maximum capacity requirements in the submission).

Book Launch Event: Ways of Knowing: Oral Histories on the Worlds Words Create

Join us May 6, 2025 at 7pm Eastern for virtual book launch for the new title Ways of Knowing: Oral Histories on the Worlds Words Create edited by Amanda Belantara and Emily Drabinski.

Register Here

Ways of Knowing: Oral Histories on the Worlds Words Create sits at the heart of the library project, shaping how materials are described and organized and how they can be retrieved. The field has long understood that normative systems like Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress do this inadequately and worse, deploying language and categories that are rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy, and U.S. imperialism. Ways of Knowing presents unique and timely oral histories of alternative thesauri created in response to the inadequacies and biases embedded within widely adopted standards in libraries. The oral histories tell the stories behind the thesauri through the narratives of the people who created them, revealing aspects of thesauri work that ordinarily are overlooked or uncovered.

The set of oral histories included in the volume document the Chicano Thesaurus, A Women’s Thesaurus, and Homosaurus. The authors recorded hour-long oral histories with two representatives from each project, documenting the origins of each thesaurus, the political and social context from which they emerged, and the processes involved in their development and implementation. Introductory essays provide a context for each thesaurus in the history of information and activism in libraries. The book and accompanying digital files constitute the first primary source of its kind and a unique contribution to the history of metadata work in libraries. Capturing these stories through sound recording offers new ways of understanding the field of critical cataloging and classification as we hear the joy, frustration, urgency, and seriousness of critical metadata work.

Learn more and purchase the book here.

CFP: Visual Resources Association Annual Conference

The Call for Proposals has bee extended! The submission deadline is Monday, April 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm PDT.

Whether you are a current member or a potential attendee, we encourage you to reflect on your experiences, ideas, and expertise. We encourage submissions from VRA members and non-members, seasoned attendees and first-timers, as well as students, early-career, mid-career, and senior professionals.

Please direct any questions about the submission process to VRA’s Directors for Events & Initiatives at initiatives@vraweb.org. 

VRA 2025 Virtual Whiteboard

Interested in engaging with the VRA community to develop or refine a proposal or suggest ideas? VRA’s Education Committee has set up a Virtual Whiteboard where you can brainstorm collaboratively about potential papers, panels, special interest/user groups, workshops, meetings, and poster sessions. Reach out to the Education Committee co-chairs at education@vraweb.org if you have any questions about the whiteboard. 

Suggested Topics

We welcome proposals on a wide range of topics related to visual resources, including case studies, lessons learned (both successes and challenges), practical applications, innovative methods, ongoing projects, ethical considerations, research, and pedagogical practices. Suggested topics include:

  • Coding
  • Community outreach
  • Copyright/intellectual property
  • Digital asset management, digital curation, digital preservation, etc.
  • Digitization (workflows, digital capture and imaging technologies)
  • Digital scholarship and digital humanities
  • Diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural competencies, social justice
  • Project management (communication, grant writing, prioritization, leadership, etc.)
  • Linked data
  • Materials/objects collections
  • Metadata/cataloging ethics (decolonizing vocabularies, radical cataloging)
  • Storytelling and oral history
  • Technologies (GIS and mapping, 3D imaging, etc.)
  • Tools: open source, evolution, future trends
  • Workplace cultures and professional transitions (academic departments, libraries, cultural heritage institutions, archives, corporate, etc.)

This is not an exhaustive list. Do not hesitate to propose something new or highlight an area of concern that you feel has not been adequately addressed in the past! 

Past conference schedules can give you an idea of the range of topics presented in previous years.

Conference Format

As we look ahead to VRA 2025, we are excited to announce a carefully considered shift in the structure for our upcoming annual conference. 

Five years since the onset of the pandemic, the landscape of large-scale conferences has profoundly transformed. Priorities have shifted, placing greater emphasis on health and safety, accessibility, affordability, and environmental sustainability. These changing expectations have inspired us to reimagine how we structure our conferences to better serve our community.

Over the past three years, the VRA Annual Conference has embraced a hybrid model, accommodating virtual and in-person attendance with a mix of in-person and remote presenters. However, in 2025, we are embarking on a new approach to enhance the experience for all participants.

VRA 2025 will feature two distinct components: virtual pre-conference programming held a week prior to the main event, followed by three days of on-site conference programming at the Porter Hotel in Portland, OR.

On-site conference attendees will automatically be registered for the virtual pre-conference, and folks unable to attend on-site will have the option to register for the virtual pre-conference programming separately. 

This change is designed to ensure flexibility and accessibility while creating a more engaging experience. It will also lessen the burden on both our organization’s finances and the volunteers who make this event possible. Furthermore, by separating virtual and on-site programming, we aim to avoid the challenges posed by the hybrid model, which often leads to a fragmented experience for both in-person and virtual participants.

To help us in this effort, we invite you to share your feedback through an anonymous survey. Your voice matters, and we want to hear from you as we work toward a more inclusive and engaging conference. Click here to access the feedback form.

Working together, we can design a conference experience that adapts to the evolving expectations of our field for 2025 and beyond.

Please direct any questions about the conference format to VRA’s Directors for Events & Initiatives at initiatives@vraweb.org. 

Proposal Types

VRA 2025 is an in-person conference, and accepted speakers are expected to deliver their presentations onsite (barring extenuating circumstances). To accommodate those unable to attend in person, there will be a limited number of all-virtual sessions during pre-conference programming the week of September 29, 2025. Presenters should plan their submissions and participation accordingly.

Committees, chapters, and user groups may choose to meet virtually before the conference, in-person during the conference, or both (two meetings, one virtual and one in-person).

Please note, there will be a separate call for posters in June 2025.

Individual Paper (15–20 minutes): Individual presentations that may highlight new research, a project, a case study, or an innovative idea relevant to the VRA community. Papers should aim to provide attendees with fresh tools, strategies, or inspiration they can apply in their own practice. Grouped thematically with other individual papers into sessions with a total run time of 60 to 90 minutes, including a Q&A.

Lightning Talk (5–7 minutes): Short individual presentations addressing a timely or specific topic. Lightning talks provide attendees the opportunity to hear about a range of innovative projects or ideas from a broad group of colleagues in a short amount of time. Grouped into sessions that may or may not be themed, with a run time of 60 minutes, including a Q&A.

Pre-coordinated Panel (60–90 minutes): Moderated sessions typically consisting of 3–4 presenters speaking for 15 minutes each, followed by a facilitated Q&A. Panels provide attendees with diverse perspectives on a single topic, a comparison of tools or methods, or a number of case studies on related subjects. If you are proposing a panel, it is your responsibility to fill the time with presenters. It is not necessary to identify all potential presenters before submitting, but conference planners will need names of presenters several months prior to the conference.

Workshop (90 minutes–3 hours): An opportunity to teach and explore a specific tool, technique, workflow, or concept relevant to the VRA community. Recent conference workshops have included sessions on digital cartography, accessibility, salary negotiation, critical cataloging, grant writing, coding, open data, photogrammetry, and more. 

Special Interest or User Group (60 minutes): Small, informal, facilitated group discussions on topics or tools related to specific segments of the VRA community. Facilitators may propose a meeting for an existing group, or you may also propose a meeting for a topic of interest to you to see if others share that interest.

Committee or Chapter Meeting (60 minutes): Sub-groups within VRA can use conference time to gather and discuss their efforts to continue the work of the organization. These groups are generally regional chapters or established organizational committees.

Schedule

  • January 27: Call for Proposals opens
  • March 14, 11:59 pm PDT: Call for Proposals deadline
  • April 7, 11:59 pm PDT: Call for Proposals extended deadline
  • On or around May 12: Notification of final decisions
  • On or around June 2: Tentative programs released for conference and virtual pre-conference

Code of Conduct

All presenters are expected to adhere to VRA’s Conference Code of Conduct.