Category: Call for Papers

CFP: Reimagining “Modern” Heritage in Africa, Nsibidi: A Journal of African Heritage

Background to the Theme

The historiography of 20th-century modernism has historically marginalized the Global South, frequently framing Africa’s modern heritage as derivative, or strictly a product of exogenous colonial and post-colonial interventions (Le Roux, 2003; Uduku, 2006). For our inaugural issue, we turn our attention to a critically under-theorized and rapidly disappearing subset of the continent’s history: the Modern Heritage of Africa.

The material and socio-cultural realities of this heritage are vast and complex, ranging from the Afro-Brazilian typologies of West Africa and the brutalist university campuses of the independence era (Herz et al., 2015), to colonial railway networks, early industrial mining towns, and the mid-century cinemas and radio stations that gave birth to new urban cultures. Currently, mainstream heritage discourse often struggles to adequately conserve or interpret these sites, largely due to an over-reliance on Eurocentric conservation frameworks, such as the Venice Charter, which traditionally prioritize static material authenticity.

In response, and guided by the decentering mandate of the Cape Town Document on Modern Heritage (2022) alongside the recently adopted Nairobi Outcome on Heritage and Authenticity (2025), this issue argues that preserving the memory of these sites requires a profound epistemological shift. The Cape Town Document underscores the imperative to untether the concept of the “modern” from its Eurocentric origins, advocating for equitable, expanded definitions that account for plural modernities and multiple narratives. Complementing this, the Nairobi framework establishes that African heritage is dynamic, community-centered, and intricately links the tangible with the intangible. Consequently, we must re-examine these contentious structures not as inert, fossilized relics, but as active sites of socio-spatial negotiation whose authenticity is continuously evolving.

The “Nsibidi” Approach

We challenge the prevailing notion that “Modern” heritage is strictly a Western phenomenon or a direct import. Contributors from across disciplines: history, anthropology, architecture, urban studies, and cultural heritage are invited to analyze these sites critically through the lens of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS), the Cape Town Document, and the pluralistic framework of the Nairobi Outcome.

We ask scholars and practitioners to consider questions such as:

  • How do we interpret the “authenticity” and integrity of modernist structures when their spatial meaning and utility have been entirely reimagined by local communities?
  • How do modernist structures and infrastructural networks interface with the spiritual geography and traditional land-use practices of their contexts?
  • How have communities indigenized colonial spaces and technologies through ritual, informal urbanism, or adaptive reuse?
  • What do oral histories and archival research reveal about the indigenous labor, vernacular craftsmanship, and lived experiences that built and sustained these modern spaces?

“When the music changes, so does the dance.” — Hausa Proverb

In the spirit of this proverb, we seek to understand how African heritage practice dances with modernity, adapting to and transforming the physical and cultural remnants of the 20th century.

Sub-Themes

We welcome original research articles, case studies, conservation reports, and critical essays that engage with the following sub-themes:

  • Evolving Authenticities & Decentered Modernities: Applying the Cape Town Document and the Nairobi Outcome to the preservation, reconceptualization, and interpretation of 20th-century built heritage.
  • Architectural & Spatial Realities: Critical assessments of “Tropical Modernism,” civic monuments, and the indigenization of 20th-century architecture.
  • Infrastructural Memory: The social and cultural histories of colonial railways, ports, industrial sites, and segregationist urban masterplans.
  • Sites of Cultural Production: The legacy and preservation of mid-century cinemas, radio stations, printing presses, and post-independence cultural hubs.
  • Difficult Heritage: Managing, interpreting, and decolonizing sites associated with pain, apartheid, or colonial extraction.
  • Intangible Modernities & Oral History: Documenting the voices, labor narratives, and newly forged urban traditions associated with 20th-century modernization.

Language Policy

Nsibidi is committed to epistemic justice and encourages the use of indigenous languages for key theoretical, spatial, and cultural concepts. Terms without direct English equivalents should be retained in their original language and explained contextually within the text.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process. We encourage submissions from academic researchers, heritage practitioners, and spatial designers.

  • Abstract Submission: Please submit an abstract (approx. 250–300 words) outlining your proposed paper, methodology, and relevance to the theme, along with a brief author bio.
  • Final Paper: Accepted abstracts will be invited to submit full manuscripts. Manuscripts should be formatted according to the journal’s style guide (provided upon abstract acceptance) and stripped of all identifying information to ensure a blind review. High-resolution archival photographs, maps, and diagrams are highly encouraged.

Important Dates

  • Abstract Submission Deadline: May 15, 2026
  • Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2026
  • Final Paper Submission Deadline: August 15, 2026

Contact & Inquiries

Please send all abstracts, full manuscript submissions, and inquiries to the editorial team at:

journal@nsibidi.institute

References

  • Folkers, A. (2010). Modern architecture in Africa. Springer.
  • Herz, M., Frei, I., Hunt, M., & Ritz, C. (Eds.). (2015). African modernism: The architecture of independence. Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zambia. Park Books.
  • Le Roux, H. (2003). The networks of tropical architecture. The Journal of Architecture, 8(3), 337–354.
  • MoHoA (Modern Heritage of Africa). (2022). The Cape Town Document on Modern Heritage. University of Cape Town / UCL.
  • Ndlovu, S. (2014). African heritage and the limits of traditional conservation charters. Journal of Heritage Stewardship, 11(2), 45–62.
  • Uduku, O. (2006). Modernist architecture and ‘the tropical’ in West Africa: The tropical architecture movement in West Africa, 1948–1970. Habitat International, 30(3), 396–411.
  • UNESCO & African World Heritage Fund. (2025). The Nairobi Outcome on Heritage and Authenticity. International Conference on Cultural Heritage in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

Contact Email

journal@nsibidi.institute

URL

http://journal.nsibidi.institute

CFP: Fwd: Museums Journal 2027 – Collections, Collecting, Collectives

Theme: Collections, Collecting, Collectives

The urge to collect predates the development of modern museums. The Wunderkammer, also known as the “Cabinet of Curiosities,” was a practice established in Europe in which collectors could admire the beauty and artistry of foreign artifacts while also exhibiting their wealth and power to society.  This model then became the basis for Western museums. These collections became open to the public through collectives gathering and demanding equal space, changing how objects were seen from sites of creation to consumption. Moreover, with the inclusion of the public, collections transformed from a performance of status to a highlighting of personal memorabilia, allowing people to preserve and display what is most important to them. How do we reframe collecting not as an elite pursuit but as a practice integral to our humanity? Collectives gather to admire what stands in pristine cases, that once were part of the earth, made by someone’s hands, and held close to someone’s heart. What begins as an intimate act of gathering soon hardens into structure. Collections emerge not merely as accumulations of objects, but as frameworks that determine what is preserved, displayed, and ultimately remembered.

Collections: 
A collection is an accumulation of objects. Cultural institutions and organizations inherit the work of preserving cultural and personal heritage. What responsibilities come with holding, curating, or inheriting a collection? How does collecting build upon these responsibilities? How do they build narrative and tell a story? How do museums portray history through the physical? How do we form relationships with relics?

Collecting: 
Collecting is an activity that manifests in auction houses, stores, homes, and streets. Along with histories of physical collections, the importance of oral history creates a sense of unity and oneness with oneself through history. When memory is sustained through people rather than objects, it becomes inherently collective. What are the economic and environmental impacts of collecting? How can collecting become a site of ritual for oneself and others? In the context of collecting, how can spaces such as libraries and personal collections demonstrate ways of life and create a sense of history? How can acts of collecting help preserve traditions in new and distinctive ways?

Collectives:
Collectives make up the core of museums. From administrators and educators to visitors and guests, people are the lifeblood of cultural institutions. Yet, collectivity does not begin or end within museum walls. How does collective action extend beyond institutional frameworks and move into communities, organizing, people-centric networks, and shared cultural labor?  How do collectives form through shared objects, tastes, grief, or resistance? How do we interact with various institutions? How can collectives change what is seen and what is obscured?  How can collectives be formed and appreciated outside of a central museum space? 

Produced and edited by the University of Illinois Chicago Museum and Exhibition Studies graduate students and published by Chicago-based Bridge Books, Fwd: Museums strives to create a space for challenging, critiquing, and providing alternative modes of thinking and production within and outside of museums.

For our twelfth issue, we invite contributions and collaborations rooted in reflections on collections across cultural institutions, personal archives, and community-held alike. What does it mean to collect within and beyond systems of capital and curation? How do institutional collections intersect with personal, familial, or grassroots forms of gathering and preservation? What is collective about museums?

Fwd: Museums invites academic articles, artwork, essays, exhibition/book reviews, creative writing, interviews, poetry, rants, love letters, and experimental forms to analyze, critique, and make space for new thinking about museums and exhibitions. All submissions should follow the guidelines and relate to the journal’s mission statement (bolded above). We strongly encourage book and exhibition reviews on multiple topics, but require all other submissions to connect to the 12th issue’s theme, “Collections, Collecting, Collectives.”

The submission deadline is January 5, 2027, 11:59 PM (CST). Submit your work here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewSwV6sx0d6mPwX7x6DrYObxj0X1e2WdhB2IVaVeQBzNzVYA/viewform 

Questions? Email fwd.museums@gmail.com. 

Find us on Instagram @fwd_museums 

Guidelines
Written submissions such as essays, research papers, and poems should be between 2,500 – 4,000 words and use Chicago Manual of Style formatting and citations, in a DOCX file. Broadly accessible language that a large audience can understand is preferred. If you think your submission may exceed 4,000 words, please email us at fwd.museums@gmail.com to discuss the length of your submission. 

All images should be sent as separate files (not embedded in text) at 300+ dpi in tiff format. Note in-text where images should be inserted and include credit, caption, date of execution, materials used, and dimensions, as appropriate.

A Note on Reviews
Reviews should be between 1,500 – 2,500 words. We welcome long-form museum, exhibition, film, and book reviews with a point of view and connections to social, historical, political, and other contexts, rather than summaries of book contents. We invite creative formats; email us if you’d like examples. Check our Instagram or email us for books available for review.

Who Should Submit?
Anyone! You! Students, faculty, scholars, museum employees, artists and art handlers, volunteers, part-timers, activists, and other people with something to say about museums, exhibits, and cultural work are welcome to submit. 

Please see the Journal Style and Manuscript Guide for information on how to format your submission.

Contact Information

Dr. Therese Quinn

Museum and Exhibition Studies

University of Illinois Chicago

Contact Email

fwd.museums@gmail.com

URL

https://fwdmuseumsjournal.weebly.com/

CFP: Fontes Special Issue: “Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Performing Arts”

Invitation for submissions on Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Performing Arts for a special issue of Fontes Artis Musicae.

This special issue focuses on the extraordinary efforts librarians, archivists, curators, and supporters of the performing arts have taken or are taking to preserve our cultural heritage for the future. It is amazing what we have saved in the face of war and conflict over the course of our histories. Today, the specter of war continues, as does this work. We are also at a moment when new methods and workflows for digital content must be developed in order to capture and preserve what is important and meaningful to us. This issue will explore past successes, present challenges, and ideas for the future. Submissions may take many forms, including original research, case studies, and essays.

Possible topics include:

Histories of collections saved in wars

Unique considerations for saving and preserving performing arts materials

Leveraging crowdsourcing for preservation

Toolkits for preserving collections at the onset of a conflict

Preserving born-digital compositions

Fontes Artis Musicae is a peer-reviewed journal published by the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML).

The deadline for submission is June 30, 2026. Articles will undergo a double-blind peer review process. To discuss ideas or propose a paper, please email the guest editor:  Stephanie.Bonjack@Colorado.edu”

IOHA 2026 Call for Submissions: Articles and Reviews

The Editorial Team of Words & Silences | Palabras & Silencios is pleased to invite submissions for articles and reviews in our upcoming 2026 edition.

Published by the International Oral History Association (IOHA), the journal is a peer-reviewed, open-access digital publication, freely available online, that welcomes contributions from all individuals engaged in oral history, whether in academia, community-based projects, creative practices, or activist contexts.

For this edition, we are accepting submissions in three sections:

1. Special Topic: (Re)Thinking Oral History

The section draws from the theme of the 23rd International Oral History Association Conference, (Re)Thinking Oral History, held in Krakow, Poland, in 2025, and extends its concerns into the pages of the journal. It invites articles that take a critical look at how oral history defines its aims, responsibilities, and modes of practice in the present.

In a world shaped by democratic tensions, geopolitical conflicts, climate change, deepening inequalities, wars, and mass displacement, we are interested in how oral history is being reworked in response to these conditions, and in how its ethical, methodological, political, and public commitments are being rethought.

We welcome theoretically informed, empirically grounded, and practice-based contributions that engage with issues such as neutrality and involvement, technological change (including AI), documenting moments of crisis, care and healing, marginalized voices, environmental concerns, community archives, global asymmetries in knowledge production, multilingualism, and new ways of circulating oral history—asking, ultimately, what kinds of stories are we producing, and for whom, now and in the years ahead.

Deadline for submissions: May 30, 2026

2. Articles and Essays

This open section reflects the broad, plural spirit of the International Oral History Association and its commitment to dialogue among oral historians working in different contexts around the world.

We invite both research articles and reflective essays on a wide range of themes related to oral history, including theory, methodology, ethics, archives, memory, public history, artistic practices, and community-based work. Contributions should offer original perspectives on oral history’s practices, debates, and futures across regions, languages, and traditions.

Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2026

3. Reviews

We are looking for reviews of diverse products and mediums, created no earlier than 2023, that focus on oral history or critically reflect on its challenges, methodologies, and practices, including but not limited to: books, electronic media, exhibitions, podcasts, films, events, festivals, conferences, archives, and collections.

Reviews should go beyond summary, having oral history as a central focus and offering critical insight into the contribution, reach and significance of the work for oral history and related fields.

Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2026

Submission Guidelines

  • Length: 2,500–6,000 words (Special Topic and Articles and Essays) and 1,000–1,500 words (Reviews).
  • Format: Double-spaced throughout (except footnotes), Times New Roman, size 12pt.
  • Style: Chicago Manual of Style, including footnotes (not endnotes) and a complete References or Works Cited section at the end.
  • Articles and essays should include an abstract (150–200 words) and 3–5 keywords. Reviews do not require an abstract.
  • Language: Submissions may preferably be made in English and/or Spanish. Submissions in other languages are possible; however, upon acceptance, authors will be asked to provide a final revised version in English and/or Spanish. Authors are encouraged to submit the final version in more than one language to support IOHA’s multilingual tradition.

Submission Instructions

  • Submissions should be sent as a Word document (.doc or .docx) to iohajournal@gmail.com  
  • Please indicate in the subject line the section for which the submission is intended (Special Topic, Articles and Essays, or Reviews).
  • Manuscripts should be anonymized for peer review, with any identifying information removed from the text and file properties. A separate title page should include the author’s name(s), institutional affiliation (if any), a brief biographical note, and contact information.

For further inquiries, feel free to contact us at iohajournal@gmail.com

CFP: Thinking with Things: Narrative, Culture, and Material Politics

Call for Papers: Thinking with Things: Narrative, Culture, and Material Politics (with strong interest from Routledge, New York)

Even though questions of matter and materiality have long informed humanistic thought, recent years have witnessed a renewed and intensified engagement with “materiality” across the humanities and social sciences. This resurgence responds to a range of contemporary challenges—environmental instability, planetary disruption, digital overdetermination, infrastructural fragility, and the erosion of anthropocentric exceptionalism—all of which have reshaped how we understand what it means to be human in a more-than-human world. While materialist, new materialist, and posthuman paradigms have expanded the grammar of critical discourse, much existing scholarship remains focused on conceptual elaboration, often treating literary and cultural texts as secondary illustrations of theoretical claims. Such an approach risks reinstating the familiar Cartesian divide between mind and matter, idea and experience, theory and praxis. What remains underexplored is how material thinking itself operates within narrative practices—how conceptual structures are articulated through storytelling, and how narratives are shaped, constrained, and transformed by the presence and agency of things.

As Jane Bennett suggests, materiality is never passive; it possesses “the curious ability of inanimate things to animate, to act, and to produce effects.” Taking this insight seriously, Thinking with Things: Narrative, Culture, and Material Politics seeks to reposition narrative as a site where matter is not merely represented but actively participates in the production of meaning, ethics, and power. The volume brings together contributions that explore how material entities—objects, infrastructures, ecological conditions, nonhuman agents, technological assemblages, and everyday artefacts—intervene in and generate narrative processes. Rather than approaching materiality as a neutral medium, the collection understands it as a dynamic force that mediates relations and constitutes the very conditions of meaning-making. In doing so, the project aims to move beyond human-centered epistemologies and purely representational frameworks, demonstrating how material forces reshape ontological assumptions, challenge inherited political models, and reconfigure ethical frameworks.

By foregrounding the active role of things in cultural and political life, the volume fosters a cross-disciplinary dialogue across literary studies, philosophy, cultural theory, media studies, anthropology, geography, and science and technology studies. It is particularly interested in how things, understood as “material-semiotic” agents in the sense articulated by Donna Haraway, enable new modes of conceptual and narrative practice that move beyond the dualisms of mind and matter, theory and praxis, while remaining attentive to textual specificity. The volume also seeks to examine how objects—from everyday artefacts to large-scale infrastructures—mediate temporality, responsibility, and relations of power; how narratives respond to ecological disruption and planetary instability; and how literary and cultural texts reimagine the human by tracing the co-constitution of human and nonhuman actors within complex material assemblages.

We invite contributions that engage with themes such as materiality and narrative form; objects and material culture; literature, cinema, and visual culture; affect and embodiment; ecological and planetary imaginaries; everyday life and capitalist circulation; ethics and material relations; transmedia storytelling; human/nonhuman interfaces; urban space and spatial materialities; temporality, ruin, and breakdown; archives and material traces; digital media and technological assemblages; and object-oriented ontology, among others. Submissions that combine theoretical rigor with close attention to texts, media, or cultural practices are especially welcome.

Submissions are invited from scholars who have completed the doctoral degree or are at an advanced stage of doctoral research with an established record of scholarly engagement. Abstracts of approximately 300 words, along with a brief bio (100–150 words), should be sent to thinkingthings.project@gmail.com by May 30, 2026. Accepted chapters will be expected to be in the range of 6000–8000 words; the full submission timeline will be communicated after the selection of abstracts.

This is a selective, peer-reviewed edited volume currently under development. Contributors will be chosen on the basis of originality, conceptual rigor, and relevance to the thematic concerns of the collection. The volume is co-edited by Ratul Nandi (Department of English, Siliguri College, University of North Bengal, India) and Anik Sarkar (Department of English, Uttar Banga Maheshwari College, University of North Bengal, India).

Some areas that the chapters can explore, but not limited to:

  • Things and Narrative Form
  • Things and Objects of Material Culture
  • Things and Literary Texts
  • Things and Cinema and visual culture
  • Things and Affect
  • Things, materiality and Psychoanalysis
  • Things and Ecological and Planetary imaginaries
  • Things, Objects and Everyday Life
  • Things and Capitalist Circulations 
  • Things and Questions of Ethics
  • Things and Transmedia Storytelling
  • Things and the Human / Nonhuman Interface
  • Things and Critical Theory
  • Things and Polity and definition of the Political
  • Things and Temporality
  • Things and Graphic Narratives / Comics
  • Things and Ruin, Breakdown, and Failure
  • Things and the question of Archive
  • Things and Digital Media
  • Things and in-betweenness 
  • Things and Object-Oriented Ontology

Contact Information

Editors

Ratul Nandi, PhD
Department of English
Siliguri College, University of North Bengal, India

Anik Sarkar, PhD
Department of English
Uttar Banga Maheshwari College, University of North Bengal, India

Contact Email

thinkingthings.project@gmail.com

Call for Papers: transfer – Journal for Provenance Research and the History of Collection

The online journal transfer is an academic publication platform in the area of provenance research and the history of collection as well as adjacent fields of investigation, like art market studies, reception history, cultural sociology, or legal history. Issues are published semi-annually and exclusively online in Diamond Open Access. Research articles and research reports, to be submitted in English or German, are subject to a double-blind peer-review. All submissions undergo an internal evaluation by the editors supported by the advisory board and receive professional copy-editing before publication. The journal is based at the Research Centre for Provenance Research, Art and Cultural Property Law at the University of Bonn and at the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. transfer receives funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Webhosting is provided by our partner institution Heidelberg University Library via arthistoricum.net.

Website: https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/transfer/index

Editors: Felicity Bodenstein, Ulrike Saß & Christoph Zuschlag

Managing Editor: Florian Schönfuß

Advisory Board: Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V., dbv-Kommission Provenienzforschung und Provenienzerschließung, Didier Houénoudé, Larissa Förster, Gilbert Lupfer, Antoinette Maget-Dominicé, Barbara K. Murovec, Gesa Vietzen

Open Call for Submissions

transfer is an interdisciplinary, cross-epoch and international journal. It primarily addresses a scholarly audience. Besides experienced researchers, transfer equally aims at early career researchers, including PhD students, offering broad impact and high accessibility for the publication of recent research. Abstaining from any author charges or other publication fees, transfer provides a Diamond Open Access platform assuring research quality as well as transparency, fostering research interconnection and the crossing of disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Authors are invited to submit papers on the following fields of interest:

– Provenance research on individual objects or object groups

– Collections, History of collection

– Translocation of art and cultural assets 

– Art and cultural property law

– Culture of remembrance, Cultural identity, Collective memory

– Art trade, Art market studies

– Art policy, Sociology of art, Cultural sociology

– Restitution, Return, Repatriation

In conjunction with the articles in transfer, corresponding research data sets can be published via the Open Research Data platform heiData. For further information on this and regarding submissions, text categories, peer-review as well as our Style Sheet, please see the journal-website or contact us under redaktion.transfer@uni-bonn.de.

The editorial deadline for issue 5 (2026), no. 2, is July 15, 2026.

Contact Information

Dr. Florian Schönfuß

transfer – Zeitschrift für Provenienzforschung und Sammlungsgeschichte / 

Journal for Provenance Research and the History of Collection

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Forschungsstelle Provenienzforschung, 

Kunst- und Kulturgutschutzrecht

Kunsthistorisches Institut

Rabinstraße 1

53111 Bonn (Germany)

florian.schoenfuss@uni-bonn.de

Contact Email

redaktion.transfer@uni-bonn.de

URL

https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/transfer/index

Call for Chapter Proposals: Intangible Archives

Call For Chapter Proposals

Book Title :Intangible Archives (Working Title)

Editors: Jeannette A. Bastian, Professor Emerita, Simmons University.

Stanley H. Griffin, Head, Dept. of Library and Information, University of the West Indies.

Introduction

In the primarily text-driven archival discipline, intangible expressions are too often discounted as records.  And yet these expressions, created by societies world-wide and in multiple formats, are carriers of significant information, recorders in themselves of a  variety of beliefs, history, customs, and cultures. Intangible Cultural Heritage  (ICH) as defined by UNESCO includes orality, performance, social practices, festivals, and generational knowledge, and can also encompass craftsmanship, landscapes and memory texts,  but to what extent are these cultural signifiers also the archival records of the societies that produce them? And to what extent are these active forms of documentation and memory seen as valid and equal archival representations in ways that textual works are  traditionally perceived to be?

     Seeking essays from an international range of cultures and traditions, we invite chapters on intangible archives for an edited book to be published by Bloomsbury Press.  

Possible topics include:

·      Exploring the ways in which societies ‘document’ themselves through intangible expressions.

·      Whether intangible expressions are archival within traditional understandings of records or whether they are indicative of new understandings of what an archive could be.

·      Tensions between intangible and tangible archives, between community memory and  official records.

·      How community rituals and practices serve as record formation and archival processing

·      Institutional configurations to center intangible cultural heritage collections and holdings.

·      Ethical considerations and challenges for inclusion of intangible cultural heritage materials within archival collections.

·      Digital culture as intangible cultural heritage archives.

·      Preserving the intangible.

Please send an abstract of no more than  300 words to Jeannette Bastian at jbastian6@gmail.com  and Stanley Griffin at stanley.griffin@uwi.edu  by March 25, 2026.

Deadlines:

Submission of Proposals: March 25, 2026

Notification of Acceptance: April 10, 2026

Full Chapter Submission: June 30, 2026

Call for Proposals: Media Studies Grant 2026

The Media Studies Grant call for proposals is open until March 15th, 2026.

Download the full call for proposals. (there is extensive detail)

The 2026 Call for Proposals for the Media Studies Grant is now open for applications. The FIAT/IFTA Media Studies Commission is looking to commission two small-scale research projects that deal with one or more of the following core themes: audiovisual archives and public service value, memory and identity through the lens of audiovisual archives, precarity in audiovisual archives, and audiovisual archives in the Latin American context.

The Media Studies Grant aims to promote archive-based research and ensure the valorization of scientific knowledge for archival practice. Junior and senior researchers from across different disciplines (e.g. media studies, history, sociology, political sciences, cultural studies, environmental studies, anthropology, conflict studies, etc.) are encouraged to apply. We particularly encourage researchers from outside Europe to apply.

Requirements

  • Candidates are required to send in their application in PDF format by 15 March 2026;
  • Applications should be emailed to: msc@fiatifta.org.
  • Awarded candidates need to sign a funding agreement with FIAT/IFTA;
  • Awarded candidates should report back on their work in progress to the Media Studies Commission at regular intervals, as specified in the funding agreement;
  • Awarded candidates are expected to deliver by the end of their grant period:
    • A written research report at the quality standards of a scholarly article but written for a readership made up of broadcast archivists.
    • A discussion of their research findings at the FIAT/IFTA World Conference in São Paulo, Brazil, 6-9 October 2026, pitched to an audience of FIAT/IFTA members.
    • A short video to be distributed further on social media and which highlights some of the interesting discoveries, curiosities or inspirations of their research.
    • Other forms of creative output aiming to disseminate the research findings to a wider audience are encouraged (e.g. audiovisual essay, an interactive digital story, creative demo, etc.). Please make sure there are no copyright restrictions for the archival material you may want to re-use in this type of output.
  • All output needs to mention the support of FIAT/IFTA and should be made available to FIAT/IFTA.
  • Candidates may be asked for promotional interviews and/or to share their research progress during an online session.
  • FIAT/IFTA reserves the right to make accessible the output of funded studies on its own website.
  • Proposed studies can be part of a bigger project (e.g. a PhD dissertation, book project, etc.) or can be stand-alone research initiatives that the candidate wishes to pursue.

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

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