Category: Call for Presentations

Call for Preservation Coffee Chat Topics and Presenters

SAA’s Preservation Section hosts monthly Coffee Chats on the last Thursday of each month. These 45–60 minute sessions are virtual, not recorded, free, and open to all. We’re currently gathering topic suggestions as well as volunteers who would like to share informally about a project or subject that could spark conversation or broaden the group’s understanding of preservation-related issues at future coffee chats.

We welcome all ideas, topics, and proposals, big or small!

If you’re interested in suggesting a topic, presenting, or simply have questions, please reach out to me at jkeel@nedcc.org.

Please feel free to share this announcement widely. 

Jesse Keel
SAA Preservation Section Steering Committee

Call for Panelists on Cataloging Practice – Graphic Novel and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) Metadata & Cataloging Committee (Webinar – April 2026)

The Graphic Novel and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) Metadata & Cataloging Committee seeks panelists for a webinar focused on local cataloging practices. Looking at how comics and graphic novels are cataloged in practice, it seems like every library does things differently. Why does your library do things the way that you do? 

In this webinar, we seek to bridge the gaps between specialized libraries focused on comics/graphic novels, academic libraries, and public libraries. We are seeking panelists from all types of libraries that perform cataloging work with comics and graphic novels and are involved in setting cataloging policy for their institution.

During this 1 hour webinar, each panelist will give a brief introduction to their institution’s collection and their cataloging practices. This will then be followed by a question-and-answer session. Attendees will be encouraged to submit their questions ahead of time so that panelists can prepare thoughtful responses. This event is planned to take place in April 2026. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Classification
  • Use of subject and genre/form terms, such as LCSH, LCGFT, etc.
  • How the type of comic or graphic novel impacts cataloging decisions: “floppies”, trade paperbacks, graphic novels, manga, manhwa, manhua, etc. 
  • And more!

Please email a short professional bio with the subject line GNCRT cataloging webinar to Katherine Manifold (katherine.manifold@unlv.edu), the Committee Chair, and Junghae Lee (jlee70@uw.edu), the Committee Vice Chair by March 1st, 2026. The applicants will be notified of decisions by March 9th, 2026.

Your bio should include the following: name, job title, affiliated institution, and a summary of your comics and graphic novel cataloging experience not to exceed 150 words. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Katherine Manifold (katherine.manifold@unlv.edu), the Committee Chair.

CFP: SAA Records Management Section Annual Colloquium

This colloquium is a great way to share your records management expertise and connect with your colleagues! We are seeking proposals for short presentations (6-12 minutes) on records management topics. The colloquium will be held virtually and is scheduled for Thursday, April 30, 2026 from 2-3:30 PM ET.

If you are interested in presenting, please complete the following proposal form no later than Friday, February 27, 2026. Late proposals will not be accepted. We will review proposals and notify presenters by the end of February.

The event will be free!

Send any questions or concerns to the section chair, Autumn Oakey, at oakeyaf13@uww.edu.

Please find the form here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/…

SAA RMS Committee

Call for Participation: Visual Culture Papers at the 2026 American Studies Association Conference

Call for Participation:
Visual Culture Papers at the 2026 American Studies Association October 22-25, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois

The Visual Culture Caucus (http://www.theasa.net/caucus_visual/) of the American Studies Association (ASA) promotes the participation of visual culture scholars at the ASA annual meeting. Within the theme “Improvisation” we are looking for papers and panels that investigate or interrogate visual culture in its many forms. We link potential panelists with shared interests in visual culture topics to encourage the formation of strong visual culture-related panels. We aim to host three proposed sessions, with one of these explicitly about the politics of racial representation. If you, your colleagues, or graduate students are considering proposals for the conference, please email us your panel idea or paper abstract and we will work to connect you with similar panelists and papers. We are also happy to offer suggestions on complete panel proposals. Topics might include a variety of visual practices outside of the art world as well as those that seek to transform what is possible within the privileged space of the gallery, creative films, filmmaking, and television; the Internet and social media; methods of studying visual culture; and the instruction of visual culture across various disciplines and cultural contexts.

Please read about each of the submission options below and, if interested, send the materials requested to both co-chairs of the Visual Culture Caucus, Rebecca Kumar (rebecca.kumar@spelman.edu) and Carmen Merport Quiñones (cmerport@oberlin.edu) by February 15, 2026. Please put either “ASA proposal for scholarly paper/panel” or “ASA proposal politics of racial representation roundtable ” in the subject line. If you are particularly interested in helping locate other potential participants in a panel, please reach out as soon as possible.

The VCC will provide its decision on sponsored panels and roundtable participants by February 25. Panelists will then be responsible for following all posted instructions and for submitting their own panels or papers in proper ASA format to the ASA by the ASA deadline (March 1). For more ASA instructions on proposal submission, see: https://www.theasa.net/node/5681

Visual Culture Caucus Panel Sessions:

The “Improvisation” theme of this year’s conference asks us to consider “the ruins of what has been broken” while still “dar[ing] to imagine what might be built next.” It focuses on collaboration, experimentation, and creativity in light of the intersecting catastrophes of the present, on the urgent need for transformation. We hope to form two panels:

1. The Visual Culture Caucus invites proposals for conference papers/panels, especially from emerging scholars, that address this wide-ranging conference theme through analysis of visual practices that reflect past, present, and even future forms of creative interventions responding to injustice and social crisis. Please submit a paper abstract (maximum of 500 words per abstract), a 350-word (or less) biographical statement, and an abbreviated CV.

Some possible themes include, but are not limited to: 

-Resistant and/or reparative mass cultural representation
-Speculative and futurist practice in the margins
-Social change through social media
-Alternative and community print and broadcasting media
-Collaboration and collective artistry
-Visuality and vision in sacred spaces
-Visual representations of activists and activism
-Creative approaches to counter-surveillance
 

2. The VCC also invites proposals for conference papers/panels, especially from emerging scholars, that address the conference theme with an eye toward film and television. Not only are we seeking work delineating the contours of the current visual order but we also welcome submissions on the material conditions/limitations/possibilities of visual cultural production. 

3. Visual Culture Caucus – Politics of Racial Representation Roundtable: The VCC welcomes brief proposals (including individual submissions) for participation in a roundtable on visual culture centered on the politics of racial representation, broadly speaking. Topics might include classroom methods, exhibitions, film festivals, televisual culture, museum culture, social media, news media, and AI. We particularly welcome work that thinks about how visual culture is documenting and contesting our political moment. We also welcome alternative format presentations, i.e. show-and-tell or visual play. The session will feature short presentations by participants followed by a moderated discussion. Please submit a proposal or paper abstract (max 500 words), a 350-word (or less) biographical statement, and an abbreviated CV.

Contact Information

Carmen Merport Quiñones

Contact Email

cmerport@oberlin.edu

URL

https://www.theasa.net/communities/caucuses/visual-culture-caucus

CfP: Archival Matters: Queer Memory and Futurity in Southern Africa

Panel proposal to be submitted to the Southern African Historical Society Conference, to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 24-26 June 2026.

Archival Matters: Queer Memory and Futurity in Southern Africa

Queer histories in southern Africa are shaped as much by what is missing as by what is preserved: silences produced by criminalisation, medicalisation, family secrecy, and archival gatekeeping. This panel examines queer archives as promising and contested institutions – where memory work intersects with transition, displacement, and uneven regimes of value. The panel invite contributions from scholars working across case studies in community collections, state repositories, and digital platforms, to ask: how do we read absence as evidence, build ethical practices of care and consent, and confront the funding politics that determine what survives in the archive? How do we encourage a scholarly and political practice whereby queer archiving is also future-making?

More specifically we invite papers that grapple with:

  • Memory and erasure: how queer lives are recorded, mis-recorded, or deleted across state archives, mission collections, medical/judicial records, family repositories, and community archives.
  • Absences and futurity: how we “read”, sit with, and interpret gaps, silences, and refusals; how queer archiving becomes future-making (new publics, new genres, new claims to belonging).
  • Ethics of preservation: consent, anonymity, harm reduction, ownership, repatriation, access protocols, and the afterlives of sensitive materials.
  • Funding politics and infrastructures: how donor priorities, institutional risk management, digitisation agendas, and platform governance shape what gets preserved and what becomes legible.
  • Method and form: oral history, ephemera, performance/documentation, digital archives, cataloguing/metadata, and experimental archival practices.

If interested, please submit a title and abstract (150-200 words) alongside a bio (50-80 words) to caio.simoes@graduateinstitute.ch by 18 February 2026.

Contact Email

caio.simoes@graduateinstitute.ch

CFP: SNCA/SCAA Annual Meeting Advocacy through Community

SNCA/SCAA Annual Meeting 

Call for Proposals

Many Voices, Stronger Archives: Advocacy through Community

UNC-Charlotte | Charlotte, NC | May 28-29, 2026

The Programming Committee encourages you to submit proposals for the SNCA/SCAA Joint 2026 Annual Meeting. This year’s theme, “Many Voices, Stronger Archives: Advocacy through Community” calls us to reflect on the roles and impacts of advocacy and community within the archival profession.

We encourage submissions that address a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to:

  • America’s 250th
  • Reflections of past communities
  • Outreach to communities: engagement and partnerships
  • Community-driven projects/exhibits
  • Community among archival professionals
  • Various aspects of advocacy
  • Support for small archives/lone archivists
  • Grant writing
  • Inclusive metadata and description practices

Proposal Form

Proposals are due by February 6, 2026 at 5:00 pm

CFP:  International Conference on Archives Management – Digital Governance and Smart Services 

The first National Archives of Taiwan opened its doors in November 2025, as part of the celebration of the new National Archives, an international conference will be held in June 2026. We sincerely invite your proposal for the conference. 

As information technology plays an increasingly vital role in the development of the public and private sectors, it has brought about significant changes in archival management automation processes and digital governance. This includes the application of Artificial 

Intelligence (AI), digital archives management, archive retrieval and open access. These digital technologies are transforming how archival value is created and transmitted, bringing benefits to the archival management field. 

In anticipation of the inauguration of the first National Archives, this bureau plans to hold the International Conference on Archives Management – Digital Governance and Smart Services on Wednesday, 10th – Thursday, 11th June 2026 at the National Archives, Linkou, New Taipei City. The conference will include keynote speeches, panel discussions, presentation sessions, and poster presentations. 

The National Archives hereby invites your proposals for presentations and posters related to the theme, and subthemes are described below. 

Subthemes 

1. Emerging Information Technology 

How is the new information technology used in archives management, access, and use of archives? 

• Blockchain 

• Big Data 

• Artificial Intelligence 

• Next Generation Wireless Technology 

• Digital Communication Tools 

• Machine Learning 

• 5G Internet of Things (IoT) 

• Text Mining 

2. Digital Transformation of Archives Management 

Digital transformation and its influence on archive management, including the digital transformation of the archival workspace, management, smart appraisal, and the use of mobile devices. 

• Evolution of Archives Digital Transformation 

• Digital Transformation and Organizational Adjustment 

• Digital Archive Professional Work Space 

• Management of Electronic Archives 

• Public Participation in the Digital Age 

• Creating Archive Value through Digital Transformation 

• Smart Archival Management 

• Smart Review and Appraisal 

• The use of Mobile Devices 

3. Smart Archival Services 

Discussion and experience sharing on applying digital tools to archive-related service, including access, value-adding, personal information protection and curation, promotion, and customer service on archives. 

• Archive Access and Digital Innovation 

• Digital Value-Adding of Archive 

• Personal Data Protection in Archive Application 

• Digital Curation and Promotion of Archive 

• Smart Customer Service on Archive 

4. Digital Resilience and Security 

How to protect and manage the risk of information security in archive management. 

• Digital Policy and Legal System on archive 

• Information Security on Archive Management 

• Digital Risk Management of Archive 

• Digital Ethics of Archive 

5. Digital Archival Competency 

How to empower archivists and archives management field with digital ability. 

• Digital Strategy Planning for Archives 

• Archivists’ digital training 

• Collaboration with Digital Tools 

• Use of Digital Data 

• Mobile working on archival workspace 

• Digital Communication on archival service 

6. Cross-disciplinary Archival Development 

How do digital tools and technology play a part in the cross-disciplinary archive use and promotion? 

• Digital Sharing on Archival resource 

• Digital Innovation and Cooperation on Archive 

• Promotion and Exchange of Digital Skills of Archive 

• Collaborative writing of Audio-Visual Archives 

• Digital Marketing of Archive 

Submission form (bottom of page)

CFP: Preservation & Migration Seminar 2026

Preservation & Migration Seminar 2026

Digital time: show me how you do it!
Recipes for audiovisual content longevity

The FIAT/IFTA Preservation & Migration Commission (PMC), in collaboration with RTÉ and the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), will host the first on-site edition of the annual PMC Seminar at the Royal Irish Academy on June 4-5, 2026.

The call for proposals welcomes submissions that explore both theoretical perspectives and practical experiences, presented as presentations (30 min), discussion panels (45-60 min), or demos (20 min), within the scope of preservation, migration, and digital preservation of media content.

The deadlines to submit your proposal are:

  • March 2 – Presentations and Discussion panels
  • March 30 – Demos

Submit proposal

CFP: Librarians, Archivists, and Museum Professionals in the History of the Health Sciences Annual Meeting

2026 LAMPHHS Annual Meeting Call for Proposals

Librarians, Archivists, and Museum Professionals in the History of the Health Sciences (LAMPHHS) invites you to submit a proposal for its annual meeting, to be held in Buffalo, New York, June 3 – 4, 2026.

The concept behind this year’s program is thinking beyond the boundaries of conventional health practices. Building on this idea, the Program Committee invites members to look beyond traditional ideas of healthcare and explore the often-overlooked world of alternative healing. We encourage you to review your collections with a new perspective, looking for stories, artifacts, and practices that highlight spiritualism, cultural medical traditions, faith healing, folk medicine, and other local health systems that are hidden in the records of midwives, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, chaplains and other spiritual caregivers, and family caretakers. This theme opens up conversations about how communities have found wellness in many different ways, including groups such as Christian Scientists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and how allopathic medicine has responded to or included these alternative treatments. By exploring these connections, the conference aims to expand our understanding of what healing has meant in different times, places, and belief systems.

Session Formats: The Program Committee encourages submission of proposals that may include, but are not limited to, the following formats:

Traditional Conference Presentations: Speakers should expect to give a presentation of no more than 15 minutes followed by discussion.

Panel Discussion: 60-90 minute session with a panel of 3 to 4+ individuals informally discussing a variety of theories or perspectives on a common topic. Please confirm participation with all panelists before submitting the panel proposal.

Special Focus Session: 60-minute session designed to highlight innovative archives or museum programs, new techniques, and research projects. Audience participation is encouraged.

Workshops, Other Formats: Have a format idea that isn’t represented? Feel free to propose an alternative!

NOTE: Panels and sessions are limited to 90 minutes: 12-15 minutes for each panelist + 12-15 minutes for Q&A.

Please submit your proposal via this submission form: https://forms.gle/mUvE6EASRzPeHGvP8

The deadline for submitting session proposals is February 15, 2026.

You must be a LAMPHHS member to submit a proposal. Not a member? Join for only $25.00 at https://lamphhs.org/

If you have any questions, please email Howard Rootenberg at (howard@rootenbergbooks.com) or Brooke Fox (foxeb@musc.edu)

Call for Posters: Midwest Archives Conference and the Society of Ohio Archivists joint 2026 Annual Meeting

Annual Meeting: Call for Poster Presentations 2026

The Midwest Archives Conference and the Society of Ohio Archivists will hold a joint 2026 Annual Meeting on May 14-16, 2026 at the Ohio Union on The Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus, Ohio.

Founded in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, The Ohio State University sits a few miles north of downtown Columbus. A city unto itself with an enrollment of more than 65,000, Ohio State is known for its top ranked academic programs in engineering, agriculture, and business, its world class research endeavors. For more information about the host and the conference, see the meeting website.

The 2026 Program Committee invites poster proposal submissions on all aspects of archival practice and research, as well as on topics from allied and related fields. The Program Committee seeks a diverse slate of presenters, representing a variety of personal and institutional backgrounds, perspectives, and voices. We seek to foster a culture of inclusion in the MAC-SOA program and encourage submissions from students, new professionals, first-time presenters, and those from allied professions. Membership in MAC and/or SOA is not required to present. Poster presentations will be onsite only, and at least one author must be present.

Proposals are due by 11:59p CST February 8, 2026. There will be no deadline extension.

The Program Committee invites poster proposals touching on the theme “Find it Here.”

Potential areas of focus include:

  • Distinct approaches to collecting, reference, and instruction
  • Overcoming challenges to making collections accessible and discoverable
  • Successful community archiving projects and partnerships
  • Utilizing facilities in unique ways to highlight and provide access to collections

For more ideas, see the earlier conference Call for Session Proposals here.

Authors are required to present their posters in person during scheduled times during the meeting, Thursday 3:00 – 3:30 pm and Friday 3:00 – 3:30 pm. These presentations are more like elevator speeches that summarize the poster content with attendees who stop by the poster to view it and ask questions. 

Proposal Evaluation

The MAC-SOA PC Poster Subcommittee will evaluate all proposals submitted by the deadline. Proposals will be evaluated in two ways: 1) merit and clarity of the 1750-character abstract; and 2) completeness of the proposal, particularly having well-developed content to understand all relevant aspects of the topic. Authors of posters accepted for inclusion in the MAC-SOA 2026 Annual Meeting will be notified in February 2026.

To submit a proposal, please fill out the MAC 2026 Poster Proposals Submission Form.  The deadline for submitting poster proposals for the 2026 MAC-SOA Annual Meeting is February 5, 2026.  We look forward to seeing you in Columbus!

Poster Prizes

MAC memberships will be awarded to a select number of posters based on the following criteria: 

  • Originality 
  • Relation to meeting theme (“Find It Here”)
  • Creativity displayed in the poster

Poster Session Tips

Poster sessions are a means to communicate and exchange ideas, programs, research, and projects to fellow MAC-SOA meeting attendees

Posters typically include pictures, data, graphs and/or diagrams with narrative text on paper backing that are approximately 36×24 inches. MAC will provide easels, thumb tacks, and appropriately sized foam board. 

Helpful tips on creating posters are available at these links:

Poster sessions cannot be used to advertise products or to display vendor items. If you are unsure if your proposal qualifies or if you have questions about the poster submission process, please email Adam Wanter, Poster Coordinator, at awanter@midpointelibrary.org

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Question: Will MAC pay my travel expenses and/or registration fee to attend the annual meeting if I am presenting a poster?

Answer: No, MAC cannot reimburse you for your travel or conference registration expenses. However, MAC offers travel scholarships for first-time meeting attendees. Applications for the Mark A. Greene Award for First-Time Meeting Attendees are due March 16, 2026. SOA also offers a variety of scholarship opportunities.

  1. Question: What if I have a conflict with poster session presentation time?

Answer: At least one author of the poster must be present during the poster sessions.This is an opportunity to engage with conference attendees who stop to ask questions and provide further details about poster content. Poster sessions cannot be presented unless at least one author is present during the allotted times.

  1. Question: What happens if I must cancel my poster session because I can’t attend the conference?

Answer: Please plan on a backup person who will be able to represent your poster if an emergency arises. If an alternate presenter is unable to be arranged, your poster will not be included in the poster session.

  1. Question: Can I have an internet connection or other electrical or technical support?

Answer: If your poster session includes electrical equipment, you may need to provide your own source of power (e.g., batteries). We cannot guarantee electrical support or Internet connections in the poster session area. Audio-visual presentations that include sound are not encouraged, as they can be distracting to the other presenters and attendees. However, if you can supply headphones for viewers/listeners, sound is acceptable. Please note in your proposal if you request specific electrical support.

  1. Question: What about simultaneous submissions? Can I submit a poster session proposal about a project for which I’ve also submitted a manuscript for publication in a journal?

Answer: Yes, poster submissions for articles that have been simultaneously submitted for publication are welcomed, if you note the simultaneous submission on the proposal form.

  1. Question: What is the difference between the MAC Exhibit area and the MAC Poster Session Area?

Answer: The exhibit area is designed for vendors or organizations to promote their wares or groups. The poster session area is expressly for authors to present their work on research or projects.

  1. Question: Can I present a session and a poster?

Answer: Yes, but submission preference will be given to authors who are not already presenting.