Author: Cheryl

Call for Essays: Women and the Art and Science of Collecting: Eighteenth-Century Collecting Beyond Europe

Women and the Art and Science of Collecting: Eighteenth-Century Collecting Beyond Europe
Edited by Dr. Arlene Leis and Dr. Kacie Wills
Abstracts due by 1 July 2020, with case studies due by 31 October 2020 and longer essays due 1 December 2020

We are inviting chapter abstracts for a collection of essays designed for academics, specialists, and enthusiasts interested in the interrelations between art and science in women’s collections and collecting practices beyond Europe in the long 18th century. This volume will follow our forthcoming compendium on the topic entitled, Women and the Art and Science of Collecting in Eighteenth-Century Europe, published by Routledge. This book recovers women’s histories through numerous interdisciplinary discourses pertaining to the subject of collecting, and it examines their interests, methodologies, and practices in relation to cultures of art and science.

In the second volume, we continue this discussion and consider women’s relationships to collecting of European and non-European objects, gathered, exchanged, and displayed within colonies and with indigenous cultures beyond Europe. Responding to ideas about indigenous collecting raised by Nicholas Thomas, Jennifer Newell, Greg Dening, Anne D’Alleva, Adriana Craciun, Mary Terrall, and others, we also aim to consider intercultural exchanges and collections of objects relatively unknown to Europeans. European collecting often traces its roots to biblical mythologies, such as the stories of Adam (naming and owning) and Noah (rescuing and preserving). What are the histories of collecting beyond Europe? And in what ways did women actively participate in or challenge those stories?

We hope to explore a diverse range of theoretical contexts, such as art historical, material culture, feminist, social, performance, gender, colonial, archival, and literary. We welcome essays that take a material culture approach and are particularly keen on research that makes use of new archival resources. We encourage interdisciplinary perspectives and are especially interested in essays that reveal the way in which women’s collections outside of Europe participated in cultures of art and science.

The compendium will consist of around ten essays of 6,000–6,500 words (with footnotes), each with up to four illustrations. In addition to these more traditional essays, we are looking for shorter (circa 1,000 words) case studies on material objects of interest from the period. The subject of women’s collections and art and science is also central to these smaller contributions, and each will include one illustration.

We aim to address the following topics and questions:
• The practice of collecting as cultural construct
• Decolonizing collecting
• What motivated women to collect in places outside of Europe? What were they collecting? How were women’s collections beyond Europe similar or different to their European counterparts?
• Women’s travel, immigration, exploration and the mobility of objects
• Collaborations
• Classification, taxonomies and methodologies of collecting outside of Europe
• Religious collections
• Display
• Collecting for power and status
• Preservation, creation and learning
• The aesthetics of collecting beyond Europe
• Women’s exchanges/interactions with indigenous populations
• Collections formed as a means of making sense of the world

All inquiries should be addressed to Arlene Leis, aleis914@gmail.com or Kacie Wills, kacie.wills@gmail.com
. Essay abstracts of 500 words and 300 word abstracts for smaller case studies are due July 1, 2020 and should be sent along with a short bio to: kacie.wills@gmail.com and aleis914@gmail.com. Finished case studies will be due October 31, 2020, and long essays will be due December 1, 2020.

Invitation to Participate in Research on Accessing Digital Libraries and Evaluating Accessibility and Usability Guidelines

A research team comprising blind and sighted scholars at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is developing design guidelines to improve the accessibility and usability of digital libraries (DLs) for users who are blind or visually impaired.

At this stage, digital library developers with at least three years experience are invited to complete an electronic survey and participate in an online asynchronous focus group discussion. For the survey, you will be asked to assess how well a selected DL complies with the refined guidelines and provide associated rationales. For the focus group discussion, you will provide additional suggestions to improve the guidelines in terms of definition, factors, guideline or design recommendation, rationale and objective, techniques and methods, features, and examples. Participation may take 6-8 hours. Upon completion of the study, you will receive a $200 gift card as a token of appreciation.

If you are interested in participating, or have a question, please contact Research assistant, Shengang Wang (email: shengang@uwm.edu). Please reference project title: “Creating digital library (DL) design guidelines for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users: Digital library assessment and guidelines refinement” (IRB20.142) in the subject line of the email.

Iris

Iris Xie, Ph.D.

Professor
School of Information Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Phone:(414)229-6835 Fax:(414)229-6699
http://people.uwm.edu/hiris/

CFP: Online webinars from Eogan: Energy Archives during COVID-19

As uncertainty reigns over the future, EOGAN would like to organise an online event for archivists, particularly in the energy sector, to informally meet and discuss their fears, solutions, and stories of working from home (or not) during the lockdown.

They would like to hear about new ways to interact with researchers and document collections, the state of digitisation and online access, what future for archives in the era of Coronavirus. In particular, if you work for a company’s archive, what provisions did the company or institution made / is planning for the archive? The energy sector, and the oil sector in particular, is under immense strain: how can archives be useful for developing a historically informed understanding of these processes, and thinking up appropriate strategies for interventions? Have there been requests to access specific files? How is smart working being organised for corporate archives?

The meeting aims to be an informal gathering; if you are interested in speaking, send an email at eogan.network[at]gmail.com with a quick summary of what you would like to discuss, and your availabilities for June.

Ideally they would receive these expressions of interest by the 15th May, so to decide a date for the webinars collectively.

Read more on: https://www.eogan.org/open-call-for-papers

The Reading Room Ceases Publication

As of 2020, The Reading Room: A Journal of Special Collections has ceased publication. This scholarly journal was committed to providing current research and relevant discussion of practices in a special collections library setting. The Reading Room sought submissions from practitioners and students involved with working in special collections in museums, historical societies, corporate environments, public libraries and academic libraries. Topics included exhibits, outreach, mentorship, donor relations, teaching, reference, technical and metadata skills, social media, “Lone Arrangers”, management and digital humanities. The journal featured single-blind, peer-reviewed research articles and case studies related to all aspects of current special collections work.

Preservation Week Reading

From the Stacks: ACRL Publications Exploring Issues in Special Collections and Archives

Catch up on your reading during Preservation Week! As we celebrate the preservation of our personal and shared collections, today we’re showcasing ACRL publications that explore issues in special collections and archives. Check them out and discuss as part of the #preswk conversation. And don’t forget, e-books purchased through the ALA Store through June 30 are 50% off with code EBPP20!

See full post with recommended reading

New Case Study: Engaging History of Science Students with Primary Sources

Despite a significant portion of non-English science and technology texts, Leigh Rupinski, archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at Grand Valley State University Libraries, devises an interactive lesson plan to engage history of science students visiting the archives. Read all about it in “Bingo! Engaging History of Science Students with Primary Sources,” which is the thirteenth case in the open access series Case Studies on Teaching With Primary Sources sponsored by SAA’s Reference, Access, and Outreach Section.

Request to Participate in Thesis Research: Decolonizing Strategies

Hello all,

I am currently enrolled at Queens College at the City University of New York where I am finishing my MLS. For my thesis, I am conducting survey research about the range of decolonizing strategies that non-tribal archival institutions adopt across the United States and their respective successes and limitations. I would like to contact as many archivists as possible to participate in the survey.

I am attaching a link to the survey here for anyone that would care to participate! Also if you know of any colleagues that this survey applies to and might want to participate, please feel free to share it. It should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and all information will be completely anonymous. Your participation will be greatly appreciated! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

forms.office.com/Pages/…

Best,
Kuba Pieczarski
Brooklyn NY

New Issue: American Archivist

Fall/Winter 2019 Issue Online Now,
Print Edition To Be Mailed Later
The Fall/Winter 2019 issue is available open access online. Read about the historical hazards of finding aids, virtual reality experiences in the archives, reassessing audiovisual archives, and more! Note: Due to shelter-in-place orders across the country, our printer/distributor has recommended delaying the mailing of the print edition as the majority of copies are sent to members’ workplaces and institutions. Expect your Fall/Winter 2019 and Spring/Summer 2020 issues to arrive together in early summer. Until then, read all content online at AmericanArchivist.org—and let your colleagues and friends know that the most recent journal content is temporarily fully accessible through June 30!

Research Survey: Workload in Special Collections public services librarianship: challenges, feelings, and impact

Good afternoon,

We hope that everyone is safe and well. We would like to invite you to participate in our research study titled, “Workload in Special Collections public services librarianship: challenges, feelings, and impact.” This study defines public services as reference, instruction, and outreach.

In 2019, the PI and Co-PI conducted a research project entitled on “A content and comparative analysis of job advertisements for Special Collections professionals using ACRL RBMS Guidelines” in order to 1) analyze and compare skilled level public services special collections job advertisements and 2) identify responsibilities that exceeded public services to further the discussion on burnout. The key findings revealed that there was a significant amount of additional work, and the work-work conflict framework is a lens through which we should view this problem (Warren & Scoulas, in press). From the results of the study conducted by Warren and Scoulas, we can conclude that overworked professionals will eventually experience burnout. The current study is designed to follow up on the previous study by conducting a survey of Special Collections librarians who work in academic libraries in the United States.

The goal of this study is 1) to identify duties that exceed position descriptions, 2) to explore how Special Collection librarians, feel about and manage their additional duties and 3) to examine the impact of the additional duties on work/life balance and productivity.

If you are 1) a special collections librarian (rare book librarian, outreach archivist, etc.) in public services in a U.S. academic institution, and 2) a special collections librarian who has had to manage duties outside of your official job description for 3 or more years, you are eligible to participate in this study.

This survey should take you less than 10 minutes to complete. You will be asked questions about your academic background, responsibilities, challenges, and support you receive in performing your daily tasks. Your decision to participate in this study is voluntary and you have the right to terminate your participation at any time. You may skip any questions you do not wish to answer. If you have questions about this project, you may contact the Principal Investigator, Kellee E. Warren, Special Collections Librarian, UIC at kwarre4@uic.edu.

This research has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board, which is a committee that works to protect your rights and welfare.  If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a research subject you may contact (anonymously if you wish) the Institutional Review Board at 1-866-789-6215 or uicirb@uic.edu.

Click here to access the survey:

Thank you for participating in our survey. If you would like to enter our lottery for a $25 gift card, please include your contact information at the conclusion of the survey.

Principal Investigator:

Kellee Warren, MLIS

Assistant Professor and Special Collections Librarian

University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library

kwarre4@uic.edu

 

Co-Investigator:Jung Mi Scoulas, PhD

Clinical Assistant Professor and Assessment Coordinator

University of Illinois at Chicago, University Library

 

Research Protocol: # 2020-0365

CFP: Digital Libraries and COVID-19

Special issue call for papers from Digital Library Perspectives

Digital libraries are services that have been developed and enhanced for years, but the recent Covid-19 pandemic has made many users aware of the service for the first time. Especially because of the closure of libraries, during the pandemic, additional efforts have been made to promote Digital Libraries and their services, as clearly visible and active libraries. Moreover, traditional libraries or those without many digital services are having the challenge of keeping their services active for their users virtually during this emergency, and librarians have been engaging in new work practices in order to achieve such objectives from their home offices.

This special issue aims to understand the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to digital libraries and users and how they are responding to these challenges:

  • How does the pandemic affect digital libraries and their users?
  • How does the pandemic make digital libraries look different now and in the future?
  • What do you think is the lasting impact of COVID-19 on digital libraries and their users?
  • What are the new digital services and activities that librarians are conducting from their home offices to keep their libraries alive and support their users?
  • What are the responsibilities of professionals now and in the future?

We are interested in receiving papers highlighting the current initiatives and best practices that digital libraries are engaging with, in order to deepen the conversation on how they are responding to this historic challenge.

This special issue aims to be a platform for individuals and institutions to share reflections and experiences, to help us support each other as we collectively adapt and grow stronger from this experience.

Submissions should comply with the journal author guidelines and should be made through ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system.

Important Dates:

Initial submissions due date: May 1st, 2020
Preliminary Feedback notification:  May 15th, 2020
Revised submissions due:  June 1st, 2020
Peer review / editorial decisions due:  June 20th, 2020
Final submissions due:  July 30th, 2020
Expected publication: Fall/Autumn 2020