Category: Call for Papers

New Journal: Humanities Methods in Librarianship

Humanities Methods in Librarianship is a no-fee, open access journal that publishes high quality, peer-reviewed research with an emphasis on articles that push the boundaries — both thematically and formally — of what has been traditionally viewed as scholarship within the discipline. The journal aims to broaden the conversation by encouraging submissions that deploy methods from the humanities to address current or salient questions related to libraries, librarians, and librarianship. Humanistic methodological approaches may be used to address a wide range of topics within librarianship, so we encourage creative approaches and a diversity of submissions.

Submission types may include but are not limited to:

  • Conceptual, philosophical, or theoretical discussions
  • Literary, critical, or textual analyses of major (or minor) works within the literature
  • Historical analyses and histories of the profession
  • Personal narratives and autoethnography
  • Creative non-fiction
  • Interviews or oral histories

We aim to publish original work, but the journal will consider papers that have been presented at conferences. We won’t review or accept work that is currently under consideration elsewhere.

Authors are welcome to reach out to the editors to share a synopsis or an abstract in advance of submission to determine if their topic is within scope. We hope to have our first call for papers in early 2026.

Call for Chapters: Understanding User Behavior for Enhanced Library Services

Editors

Edmont Pasipamire, The IIE Rosebank College, South Africa

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: March 15, 2026
Full Chapters Due: June 28, 2026
Submission Date: June 28, 2026

Introduction

The landscape of information is undergoing rapid transformation due to advances in digital technologies, evolving user expectations, and the proliferation of data-intensive research practices. These developments have fundamentally redefined the role of libraries and information centres. Contemporary users engage with information in increasingly complex, personalised, and technology-mediated ways, necessitating a shift from traditional service models toward approaches that are user-centred and evidence-based. Consequently, a rigorous understanding of user behaviour on how individuals seek, access, evaluate, and utilise information has become central to the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective library services. This edited volume, Understanding User Behavior for Enhanced Library Services, responds to the growing need for theoretical, empirical, and practice-based insights into user behavior within academic, public, special, and digital library contexts. The book foregrounds user studies, information-seeking behavior, user experience (UX), and data-informed service design as critical foundations for enhancing library relevance, accessibility, and impact. By bringing together diverse perspectives from researchers and practitioners across global contexts, the volume seeks to illuminate emerging patterns of library use and translate user behavior research into actionable strategies for service innovation.

Objective

The primary objective of this book is to advance scholarly and professional understanding of user behavior in libraries and information environments and to demonstrate how such insights can be systematically applied to improve library services. Specifically, the book aims to: Examine contemporary theories, models, and methodologies used to study user behavior in physical and digital library settings. Showcase empirical research and case studies that illustrate how user behaviour insights inform service design, resource development, and policy formulation. Bridge the gap between theory and practice by translating user behaviour research into practical, scalable solutions for library professionals. Address emerging challenges and opportunities related to digital literacy, user diversity, accessibility, and data-driven decision-making. Contribute to the growing body of literature on user-centred librarianship, particularly in under-researched and Global South contexts. By consolidating interdisciplinary perspectives and evidence-based practices, the book will extend current research and serve as a reference point for future studies on user behavior and library service enhancement.

Target Audience

This book is intended for a broad audience of scholars, practitioners, and postgraduate students in Library and Information Science (LIS) and related fields. The primary beneficiaries include: Academic, public, and special librarians seeking to design user-centred and responsive services. Library managers and administrators involved in strategic planning, assessment, and service innovation. Researchers and scholars investigating information behavior, user experience, and digital engagement. Postgraduate students (Master’s and PhD level) studying library science, information studies, and knowledge management. Policymakers and educators interested in evidence-based approaches to improving information services. The volume will be particularly valuable for professionals and researchers working in rapidly evolving information environments and diverse socio-cultural contexts.

Recommended Topics

Proposed chapters may address, but are not limited to, the following topics: Theories and models of information-seeking and user behavior User experience (UX) research and design in libraries Digital user behaviour and online library services Information behaviour of students, researchers, and faculty User behaviour in public, academic, and special libraries Data-driven decision-making and analytics in library services Personalisation and adaptive library systems Accessibility, inclusivity, and diverse user communities Digital literacy, information literacy, and user engagement The impact of emerging technologies (AI, discovery tools, virtual libraries) on user behavior User behavior in research support and scholarly communication services Ethical considerations in studying and analysing user data User behavior in Global South and under-researched contexts Assessment, evaluation, and continuous improvement of library services

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before March 15, 2026, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by March 29, 2026 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines.Full chapters of a minimum of 10,000 words (word count includes references and related readings) are expected to be submitted by June 28, 2026, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-anonymized review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Understanding User Behavior for Enhanced Library Services. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-anonymized peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery® online submission manager.

Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global Scientific Publishing, an international academic publisher of the “Information Science Reference”, “Medical Information Science Reference”, “Business Science Reference”, and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. IGI Global Scientific Publishing specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit https://www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2027.

Important Dates

March 15, 2026: Proposal Submission Deadline
March 29, 2026: Notification of Acceptance
June 28, 2026: Full Chapter Submission
August 30, 2026: Review Results Returned
October 11, 2026: Final Acceptance Notification
October 25, 2026: Final Chapter Submission

Inquiries

Edmont Pasipamire
The IIE Rosebank College
edmontp936@gmail.com

Classifications

Education; Library and Information Science

Propose a Chapter

CFP: Bedroom Journalists? Zines and Early Player Cultures

Bedroom Journalists? Zines and Early Player Cultures.

edited by Arno Görgen and Aurelia Brandenburg

In the 1980s and 1990s, for many computer game enthusiasts, the dream of a job in the games industry often began in their bedrooms: some created their first games on the C64 or Atari, while others wanted to write about games and literally put together their own gaming magazines. However, not much is known about these so-called zines.

Compared to other areas of the history of games and gaming, there has been relatively little research on the histories of print publications as part of cultural histories of gaming cultures in general. There are exceptions to this rule, however, although these exceptions tend to focus on the history of commercial gaming magazines and their contents. The most notable example for this is Graeme Kirkpatrick’s book (2015) who investigated the emergence of UK gaming magazines, but especially for magazines in English, there also have been other studies such as Fisher (2015), Summers and Miller (2007, 2014), Cote (2018) or Schmidt et al. (2020) that used gaming magazines as a vehicle to analyse representations of gender and in a similar vein, scholars such as Condis and Morrissette (2023) or Laabs (2023) have also been investigating the famously sexist print ads these magazines used to publish especially in the 1990s and 2000s. Meanwhile, approaches that either focus on the production side of these magazines or try to investigate the fringes of the professional fields these magazines established, are far rarer. Graeme Kirkpatrick touches upon this issue due to his timeframe starting in the early 1980s and others, such as Trammel (2023) tend to brush them as well when incorporating sources such as newsletters into their research. There also are some highly localized studies such as Metzmacher’s (2017) dissertation on early German computer magazines that regards these magazines as actors in early networks of computer hobbyists and thus, in part also early gaming enthusiasts.

This special issue aims at this gap by deliberately focusing on the DIY aspect both of early professional gaming magazines same as publications that can be regarded as zines in a more traditional sense such as fanzines, club newsletters, and more. By taking up the term “bedroom coders” (Swalwell 2021, 70) – a diminutive term for hobbyist game developers in the 1980s – and translating it into “bedroom journalists,” we also would like to point out that this early gaming culture in particular was characterized by a complex lay DIY culture that, with the possibilities of the first home personal computers at hand allowed not only for developing games at home, but also to write about games and (more or less) successfully distribute the publications.

We seek to bring together scholars interested in the role of DIY fanzines in early player cultures. This includes perspectives from media history, sociology, anthropology, media studies, art and design history, and/or media aesthetics. We also particularly welcome interdisciplinary perspectives that combine methods from cultural history, fan studies, game studies, and archival research. We invite contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following questions and themes:

  • Historical significance: What role did fanzines play in the emergence of player communities and player cultures before the mainstreaming of digital networks? How are DIY cultures in games journalism and games development interwoven?
  • Material and aesthetic practices: How were fanzines produced, circulated, and preserved, and what can their materiality tell us about grassroots cultural production of games journalism?
  • Knowledge sharing and expertise: How did fanzines serve as platforms for community events, technical advice, or critical debate, and how did they shape perceptions of expertise within player cultures?
  • Identity and community formation: In what ways did fanzines contribute to the construction of collective identities and player communities, whether through gendered perspectives, subcultural affiliations, interactions with their readers, or political engagement?
  • Comparative and cross-cultural approaches: How did fanzine practices vary across regions, platforms, or gaming genres, and what can these differences reveal about the global diversity of early player cultures?
  • Preservation and memory: What challenges and opportunities exist for archiving and studying these fragile artifacts today?

Abstracts and Deadline

For all contributions, please submit an abstract (300-500 words) with a title and a short biography (100-150 words) for each author until 01.06.2026 to arno.goergen@hkb.bfh.ch or aurelia.brandenburg@hkb.bfh.ch.

Timeline

  • Notification of acceptance of abstracts: 15.06.2026
  • Full text submission by authors to the guest editors: 15.12.2026
  • Publication: Summer 2027

Submission Details

Full articles should be 5.000-10.000 words in length and will be peer-reviewed. We also encourage other contributions such as interviews or research reports that may not fit the typical format of a research article if they fit the scope of the Special Issue. For further information on possible formats and their different editorial processes, see gamevironments’ submission guidelines.

All submitted manuscripts also need to conform to the journal’s stylesheet, which can be found here.

References

Condis, Megan, and Jess Morrissette. ‘Dudes, Boobs, and GameCubes: Video Game Advertising Enters Adolescence’. Media, Culture & Society 45, no. 6 (2023): 1285–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231159533.

Cote, Amanda C. ‘Writing “Gamers”: The Gendered Construction of Gamer Identity in Nintendo Power (1994–1999)’. Games and Culture 13, no. 5 (2018): 479–503. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015624742.

Fisher, Howard D. ‘Sexy, Dangerous—and Ignored: An In-Depth Review of the Representation of Women in Select Video Game Magazines’. Games and Culture 10, no. 6 (2015): 551–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412014566234.

Kirkpatrick, Graeme. The Formation of Gaming Culture: UK Gaming Magazines, 1981-1995. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305107.

Laabs, Laura. ‘»Nintendo What Nintendon’t«: Sexualisierte Konsolenwerbung, die Maskulinität des Gamers und #Gamergate’. In Politiken des (digitalen) Spiels: transdisziplinäre Perspektiven, edited by Arno Görgen and Tobias Unterhuber, vol. 4. Game Studies. Transcript Verlag, 2023. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839467909-005.

Metzmacher, Marina. Das Papier der digitalen Welt. Computerzeitschriften als „Akteure“ im Netzwerk von (jugendlichen) Nutzern, Hardware und Software 1980-1995. RWTH Aachen University, 2017. https://doi.org/10.18154/RWTH-2017-09791.

Miller, Monica K., and Alicia Summers. ‘Gender Differences in Video Game Characters’ Roles, Appearances, and Attire as Portrayed in Video Game Magazines’. Sex Roles 57, nos 9–10 (2007): 733–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9307-0.

Schmidt, Thomas, Isabella Engl, Juliane Herzog, and Lisa Judisch. Towards an Analysis of Gender in Video Game Culture: Exploring Gender Specific Vocabulary in Video Game Magazines. Universität Regensburg, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5283/EPUB.49297.

Summers, Alicia, and Monica K. Miller. ‘From Damsels in Distress to Sexy Superheroes: How the Portrayal of Sexism in Video Game Magazines Has Changed in the Last Twenty Years’. Feminist Media Studies 14, no. 6 (2014): 1028–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2014.882371.

Swalwell, Melanie. Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality. Game Histories. The MIT Press, 2021.

Trammell, Aaron. The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race, and Geek Culture. New York University Press, 2023.

Contact Email

arno.goergen@hkb.bfh.ch

URL

https://journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/gamevironments/openquests

Call for Submissions: The Textile Museum Journal Volume 54 2027

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Textile Museum Journal

Volume 54 2027 

The Textile Museum Journal publishes high-quality academic research on the textile arts and serves as an interface between different branches of academia and textile scholars worldwide. International in scope, the journal is devoted to the presentation of scholarly articles concerning the cultural, technical, historical, and aesthetic significance of textiles.

This volume will be dedicated to the untold stories of how museum textile collections come to be and how museums develop identities around their textile collections. Studies centering on the history of individual textile collections, problems inherent in acquiring museum collections, the creation of textile collections, provenance research on collection materials, repatriation of textiles, and identification of forgeries will be considered. Research from all disciplinary perspectives is welcome. Manuscripts should be based on original documentary, analytical, or interpretive research. 

Deadline for abstract submissions: April 30, 2026.

Deadline for full manuscript submissions: August 31, 2026.

Manuscripts should be submitted by email to the Editorial Assistant of The Textile Museum Journal at tmjournal@gwu.edu.

For Manuscript Submission and Author Style Guide documents, please visit https://museum.gwu.edu/submit-research

A complete submission includes 5 elements:

  1. Abstract: A single Microsoft Word document (no longer than 250 words) in English with the title of your manuscript accompanied with another Microsoft Word document with sample images (photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps, etc.) and their caption(s). 
  2. Bio: A single Microsoft Word document detailing author(s) name, institutional affiliation(s), mailing address(es), telephone number(s), email address(es), and short biography (100 words) of author(s). 
  3. Full Manuscript: Microsoft Word document of the main text in English should be double-spaced throughout in 12-point Times Roman typeface. Use endnotes (do not embed) and cite references separately. Manuscripts should be between 5,000 to 10,000 words (including endnotes, captions, and references) and Research Notes should be between 2,000 to 3,000 words.
  4. Image Document: A single Microsoft Word document that combines all photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps, etc. referenced in your manuscript with their accompanying captions. A good rule to follow that helps with a good distribution of images in the manuscript is to use one image for every 400-500 words.
  5. Images Files: All full manuscript submissions must be accompanied by images (one image for every 400-500 words.). Authors will provide high-resolution TIFFs or JPEGs (4 X 6 inches at 300 DPI or preferably higher) and secure all necessary permissions if the manuscript is accepted for publication. Each image should be clearly labeled (e.g., Smith_Fig. 1) and have a corresponding caption that provides identifying information and appropriate image credits in the Image Document.

Please see Manuscript Submission and Author Style Guide documents at https://museum.gwu.edu/submit-research for more details on preparation of these 5 elements.

Any submission that does not conform to The Textile Museum Journal style guidelines will be returned to the author.

Articles must present original research that has not been published in any language previously. Authors must properly credit previous scholarship on the subject and cite the source of each quotation, with brief bibliographic details given in the endnotes and the full bibliographic information in the References section.

All articles are subject to review by the editorial team and anonymous peer-reviewers, whose comments will be sent to the author only if the manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors expected to make revisions based on the feedback of the peer reviewers and editors.

The Textile Museum Journal follows the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. For further specifications on preparing text and images for publication, see the The Textile Museum Journal Manuscript Submission and Author Style Guide documents (available to download from our website: https://museum.gwu.edu/submit-research).

Contact Info:

Editorial Assistant, The Textile Museum Journal

The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

701 21st Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20052

E-mail: tmjournal@gwu.edu

Best wishes,

The Textile Museum Journal Editorial Team

Contact Information

The Tetxile Museum Journal Editorial Staff

Contact Email

tmjournal@gwu.edu

URL

https://museum.gwu.edu/textile-museum-journal

Call for Chapters: Book — “Documentation of/as Violence” by Liu & Liu

Overview:

We are soliciting chapter proposals for an edited volume titled “Documentation of/as Violence.” In this volume, we seek to explore how documentation, or the lack thereof, can function in capacities that both enforce and protect against violence. We understand documents, and documentation, through two primary functions: surveillance and preservation. The collection of materials capturing violence enacted upon marginalized communities, as well as how the practice of documentation itself can be a violent action of surveillance experienced by marginalized communities complicate the function of representation in library and archival collections.

Throughout this volume, our goal is to encourage readers to reflect on the role(s) of violence in the preservation of history. We seek to map out a range of perspectives that critically engage with how professional practice addresses the documentation of violence, as well as how documentation itself enacts violence on marginalized communities. We welcome contributors writing from critical theoretical, Black, feminist, abolitionist, Indigenous, post-colonial, and liberatory perspectives, as well as contributors working outside of libraries and archives (such as community organizers and activists, and public historians).

Proposal Submission Deadline:

February 18, 2026

Sample topics:

Examples of topics include, but are not limited to:

Documentation and Surveillance Technologies

• Histories of the surveillance of marginalized communities

• Documentation of activism and activist groups

• Absence of documentation as protection (e.g., public libraries)

• Impact of technology/technological developments on documentation and ethics

• Access to and engagement with documentation of violence

Ethical Quandaries

• Agency and consent of the subject of documentation

• Who is entitled to documentation of a community?

• What is the value of documentation of violence?

• Preservation of documentation of violence

• Impact of one’s identity and positionality relative to the content of documentation

What is the value of documentation?

• Differences in the function of documentation for institutions and communities

• Gaps in documentation

• Archival silence

• Does loss of documentation equal violence against a community / history?

Proposal Guidelines:

Proposals should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (APA-7).

Proposals should include:

• Primary author’s name, email address, position title, and institutional affiliation

• Co-authors’ names, email addresses, titles, and affiliations

• Brief author(s) biography (100 words maximum per author)

• Proposed chapter title

• A 300-500 word chapter proposal

Submit proposals via Google forms at https://forms.gle/Tb8hNu2WEQBmig6o6

Communications from the editors will be going to primary authors.

Proposal submission and timelines:

• Proposals for chapters due to editors: February 18, 2026

• Notification by editors of proposal acceptance: Late April

• Authors submit completed chapters: Mid-November 2026

• Anticipated publication is 2027 or 2028

• Additional key dates will be sent to successful proposal authors

Email questions to:

1. Tina Liu, Cataloguing Librarian, tina.liu@mcgill.ca

2. Tellina Liu, Archivist and Liaison Librarian, tellina.liu@mcgill.ca

Call for Submissions: Nontheatrical Student Essay Award, Celebrating student work in The Moving Image

In collaboration with AMIA, the SCMS Nontheatrical Film and Media SIG is delighted to announce its third Nontheatrical Student Essay Award.

Designed to recognize outstanding graduate student scholarship founded upon archival nontheatrical research, this award underscores both organizations’ commitment to mentorship and professional development, connecting award-recipients with mentors to guide them through the process of crafting journal-ready manuscripts. The award-winning essay will also be published (subject to revisions) in The Moving Image.

Our second award went to Miao Wang (University of Chicago), for his paper ‘Formatting Chinese Cinema: Small-Gauge Projectors in the Socialist Era.’ Keep your eyes peeled for its publication in The Moving Image!

In 2025, we also introduced an Honorable Mention. It was received by: Gonçalo Albergaria (Utrecht University) for his paper ‘Geoscientific film in the 1957/58 Capelinhos eruption: Raquel Soeiro de Brito and the moving image as epistemic tool.’

Eligibility

Applicants must be enrolled in a recognized graduate program at the time of entry.

Submission Criteria

  • The winning scholarly essay will demonstrate original and critical analysis, clarity of argument and exposition, and engagement with varied source materials related to the study of nontheatrical media (e.g. science film, educational film, home movies, government films, etc.)
  • Students may submit their own paper, or they may be nominated by an advisor or professor with the author’s consent. In either case, the submitter should provide a short author’s CV.
  • Papers shall be submitted in English and may not have been published in part or in whole by the time of submission. The manuscript should be 4000-6000 words in length (double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt, with 1-inch margins, using the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition), including footnotes/endnotes but excluding bibliography.
  • Before the first-place essay is published in The Moving Image, its author will work with a faculty mentor and The Moving Image editors to revise the essay for publication, in keeping with the developmental editing procedures of the journal.
  • Submissions will be evaluated by the governing body of the Nontheatrical Film and Media SIG and editors from The Moving Image.

Submissions will be due February 15, 2026 and can be sent to nontheatricalessayaward@gmail.com. The author of the winning paper will be contacted in early March 2026, and announced at the 2026 SCMS Annual Conference.

Point of contact for questions about the award and the submission process: Sophia Gräfe, Co-Chair of the SCMS Nontheatrical Film and Media SIG: sophia.graefe@hu-berlin.de.

Download the Call for Submissions here.

The Moving Image is the journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA). It explores topics relevant to both the media archivist and the media scholar. The Moving Image deals with crucial issues surrounding the preservation, archiving, and restoration of film, video, and digital moving images. It features detailed profiles of moving image collections; interpretive and historical essays about archival materials; articles on archival description, appraisal, and access; behind-the-scenes looks at the techniques used to preserve, restore, and digitize moving images; and theoretical articles on the future of the field. More here.

The Nontheatrical Film & Media Scholarly Interest Group (SIG) of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) provides a setting for scholars working in this area to collaborate, share research tips, and debate methodological issues. Moreover, this SIG acts as another connection between the academic and archival worlds, and between other SIGs and committees within SCMS, such as the Media Archives Committee. The mission of the Nontheatrical Film & Media Scholarly Interest Group is to facilitate discussion, consolidation, outreach, and inclusion. More here.

CLIR 2026 Call for Proposals, “Pocket Burgundy” Series

2026 Call for Proposals, “Pocket Burgundy” Series

Deadline for Proposals: March 24, 2026

January 14, 2026 – The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) invites proposals for its “Pocket Burgundy” series. Prospective authors and writing teams can propose ideas for reports relevant to the information and cultural heritage communities. Selected authors and teams will be offered a stipend of $3,000 for each publication. The deadline for submissions is March 24, 2026. Decisions will be announced in late May.

CLIR encourages submissions on any topic affecting information or cultural heritage work anywhere in the world. Prospective authors are encouraged to propose projects that would benefit libraries, archives, museums, and the communities they serve.

Publications will be released in electronic form under a Creative Commons license and will be openly accessible, free of charge.

Applicants are encouraged to read through the full call for proposals, the program FAQs and to review previous Pocket Burgundy publications prior to submitting their proposals. Instructions for submitting a proposal are linked from the program web page. Questions about this opportunity or the application process should be directed to Christa Williford (cwilliford@clir.org).

CFP: Studies in Oral History (Australia)

Contributions for the peer review and reports sections of the 2026 issue of our journal Studies in Oral History are now being accepted. The deadline for submission of peer review articles is 31 March 2026 and for reports it is 29 May 2026.

This is the first issue to be produced by our new editors Mia Martin Hobbs and Geraldine Fela. It’s theme is ‘Bearing Witness, Making Histories’.

For further information including word limits and how to submit your article, go to the Call for Papers, Issue 48, 2026.

Contributors are advised to review the following before submission:

About the theme

We are living through a time of relentless violence, towards human beings, our social world, and to our environment. What then does it mean, as historians, to bear witness and make history? 
As oral historians, we are used to the role of witness. The creation of an oral history archive is a kind of witness bearing. In the interview we watch and listen in real time as life stories unfold, with all their attendant pain, joy, complications and moments of discomposure. To bear witness in this setting often means something profoundly intimate, but bearing witness can also speak to a broader political and responsibility: to bear witness can mean to speak or record a truth, or to gather collectively to remember, commemorate or protest.

The post Call for Papers – Journal 2026 appeared first on Oral History Australia.

CFP: Special Issues on GenAI Tools within Libraries, Archives and Museums – Information Technology and Libraries #ITAL

Guest editors Ellen Schmid and Katy Miller invite you to submit a proposal for an article in an upcoming special issue of Information Technology and Libraries that will explore the integration of Generative AI tools within library, archive, and museum research environments. This special issue will be published in September 2026. We welcome contributions that provide practical insights, case studies, or user research on the development, deployment, and impact of AI-enhanced research tools. Topics of interest include user-focused interfaces, implementation processes, UX assessments, and the influence of GenAI on workflows, data analysis, and research practices. Articles should present first-hand experience with designing, testing, or evaluating AI helpers, and may cover commercial or open-source solutions. 

Submissions of up to 5,000 words will be accepted for a publication target of September 2026. 

Article proposals are due February 1, 2026 and include a 500-word abstract and a brief statement about the author’s experience in the field. Authors will be notified of acceptance in late February, with a submission of the first draft of the article (no more than 5,000 words) due May 1, 2026. Articles will go through the same rigorous peer review, copyediting, and proofreading process as any other ITAL article.

This issue will be guest edited by Ellen Schmid and Katy Miller in collaboration with ITAL’s Editor (Ken Varnum) and Assistant Editor (Joanna DiPasquale). 

Submit your proposal: https://forms.gle/aSjdjpvoR2QG4By87

Email questions to: 

CfA: History – Theory – Criticism Journal 2/2026: The AI Turn in Contemporary Historiography: Challenges, Applications, Reflections

Call for Articles

Special Issue 2/2026

The AI Turn in Contemporary Historiography: Challenges, Applications, Reflections

Deadline for submissions: 30 June 2026

Scope and Aims

Artificial intelligence has entered the field of historiography not as a neutral instrument but as a phenomenon that unsettles its very foundations. The capacity of large language models to generate and reorganize knowledge on a scale that surpasses human comprehension compels historians to reconsider the principles that have long defined their craft: authorship, interpretation, verification, and the human mediation of evidence. The accelerating automation of textual production introduces a cognitive threshold that challenges the historian’s ability to control, evaluate, and verify the narratives emerging from algorithmic systems. 

This transformation reveals both the potential and the vulnerability of historical knowledge. Artificial intelligence enables new ways of analyzing extensive textual corpora, translating and connecting sources, and recognizing patterns across linguistic and temporal boundaries. At the same time, it alters the conditions under which meaning is produced and received, eroding the distinction between human interpretation and computational synthesis. The opacity of large models, concealed in their training data and hierarchies of value, complicates one of the historian’s central tasks: the capacity to identify, understand, and critique bias within sources. 

The AI turn in historiography, therefore, marks more than a technical or methodological innovation. It signifies a shift in the scale and ecology of knowledge, shaped by the asymmetries of global computational power and by growing dependence on corporate infrastructures. This situation calls for reflection on how historical inquiry can preserve its ethical and interpretive integrity while adapting to an environment governed by automation, data abundance, and limited transparency.

This special issue of History – Theory – Criticism invites contributions that address these challenges. We seek studies and reflections that examine how artificial intelligence transforms the epistemology, methodology, and ethics of historical work, how historians can critically engage with opaque algorithmic systems, and how humanistic scholarship re-articulates alternative, locally grounded, and sustainable approaches to technological innovation. 

Themes and questions

1. Epistemology, authorship, and interpretation 

a) How does the massive production of synthetic text alter the relationship between information and interpretation? Can historians still claim control over the evidentiary process when relying on systems whose reasoning and corpus remain opaque? 

b) To what extent can AI be said to “understand” the past, and how does its pattern-based synthesis differ from human interpretation? 

c) What frameworks of transparency, citation, and disclosure are needed to ensure accountability in AI-assisted research and writing? 

d) How might the concept of authorship evolve when historical texts are increasingly co-produced by human and machine intelligence? 

2. Methodology, infrastructure, and the Black box 

a) General-purpose models reproduce values, hierarchies, and linguistic biases embedded in their training data, often without the user’s awareness. This deepens the “black box” problem and undermines one of the foundations of historical scholarship—the capacity to identify and critique bias in sources. 

b) How can historians engage critically with these systems without surrendering epistemic agency? 

c) What role might smaller, domain-specific, and ethically curated models play in building more transparent and interpretable infrastructures for historical research? 

d) How can collaboration between historians, computer scientists, and archivists foster local, open, and sustainable alternatives to corporate AI ecosystems? 

3. Cognitive, political, and environmental boundaries 

a) The automation of interpretation introduces a cognitive threshold: the scale of machine-generated material now exceeds what human scholars can meaningfully read or evaluate. This raises the question of how knowledge is curated, filtered, and trusted in a post-verificatory environment. 

b) At the same time, the concentration of computational resources in a few global centers reinforces inequalities between academic communities and widens the gap between those who design AI and those who merely consume it.

c) Finally, the environmental and energy costs of large-scale AI infrastructures compel the humanities to consider the ecological ethics of technological progress. What forms of scholarship might align critical inquiry with sustainability and local autonomy? 

4. Education, practice, and the future of humanistic knowledge 

a) How can historical education cultivate critical AI literacy rather than simple tool proficiency? 

b) What pedagogical strategies can help students and researchers maintain interpretive depth and ethical reflection in an environment saturated by generative systems?

c) Should AI be understood as an auxiliary method, a paradigm shift, or a mirror revealing the epistemological foundations of humanistic knowledge itself? 

d) How can universities and professional organizations shape guidelines that safeguard integrity and creativity while embracing innovation? 

Submission guidelines

Submissions and inquiries should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief via email. 

Language: English 

Text length: articles 36–72,000 characters including notes; discussion papers 18–36,000 characters; reviews 9–18,000 characters. All articles should include an abstract (150–200 words) and 4–5 keywords. 

Format: Microsoft Word (*.docx) or Libre Office (*.odt), following the DTK Manual of Style and Ethical Code 

Peer review: Double-blind by two independent reviewers 

Deadline: 30 June 2026 

Publication: Winter 2026, Diamond Open Access 

Guest Editors: Jaromír Mrňka, Jiří Hlaváček

About the journal

Dějiny – teorie – kritika (History – theory – criticism) is a peer-reviewed, Diamond open-access journal, founded in 2004 and published by the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University. Indexed in SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, EBSCOhost, CEEOL, and DOAJ, the journal provides a platform for theoretically grounded and methodologically innovative approaches to the past. 

Contact Information

Petr Wohlmuth, Ph.D. (Editor-in-Chief): Petr.Wohlmuth@fhs.cuni.cz

Journal website: https://ojs.cuni.cz/dejinyteoriekritika

Contact Email

Petr.Wohlmuth@fhs.cuni.cz

URL

https://ojs.cuni.cz/dejinyteoriekritika