Category: Call for Presentations

CFP: BitCurator Consortium

The BitCurator Consortium (BCC) invites proposals for the 2026 BitCurator Forum to be held virtually on June 17th, 2026. An international, community-led organization representing 31 member organizations, the BCC promotes and supports the application of free and open-source digital archives tools and practices in libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations.

The 2026 conference theme, Hitting Reset, reflects the challenges and changes of the past several years and the importance of pausing to reflect on our practices before moving forward. This theme invites us to reassess how we work, what we prioritize, and how we adapt in a rapidly evolving professional landscape. Hitting Reset also encourages us to respond intentionally to new opportunities, expanding responsibilities, and changing environments.

Within the context of digital archives tools and practices, how are you “hitting reset” in areas including, but not limited to, the following?

We welcome proposals that explore reflection, reinvention, and practical approaches to moving forward with intention.

This year’s call is for 5 or 10 minute “lightning talks.” Lightning talks are a great format for case studies, digital archives “success stories” or “tales of woe,” research updates, practices and procedures, and short demos or how-tos. Options include:

·  One presenter for 5 minutes 

·  Up to two presenters for 10 minutes

The Forum Committee welcomes participation from organizations and individuals working outside of academic and special collections libraries and archives, members from BIPOC communities, students, and new professionals.

For more information, see the Call for Proposals page on our website.

Submission deadline: Sunday, March 8th, 2026

The BitCurator Forum is open to all. You do not need to be a BCC member or BitCurator user to submit a proposal and/or attend the event.

CFP: Permanence/Impermanence: Collecting and archiving contemporary clay practices

Permanence / Impermanence: Collecting and archiving contemporary clay practices 

Conference: In-person, London, 24-26 June 2026

Deadline for proposals: 16 March 2026

Conference organisers: Ceramics Research Centre-UK, CREAM, University of Westminster, in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The conference addresses how artworks in the ‘expanded field of clay’ can be made accessible and visible to current and future audiences.

Artists’ practices in the expanded field of clay can result in raw clay artworks, large-scale site-specific installations, performance-based events and involve audience participation (Brown, Stair and Twomey, 2016). Due to their ephemeral or mutable nature, such works pose significant challenges to museums, which have more often acquired permanent ceramic objects due to the complexities of capturing live or transient clay artworks. 

The conference takes place in the context of important recent work on collecting performance, installation and live art (Tate, 2018-22; Hölling, Feldman & Magnin, 2023-4), and on the politics and practices of museum collecting (Jones, 2021; Krmpotich & Stevenson, 2024).

Proposals are invited from artists, academics and museum professionals, including archivists, conservators, curators, collection managers, learning officers and others. Proposals may take any of the following formats: 10-minute provocations that ignite debate, 25-minute papers and 60-minute panel discussions. We particularly welcome case studies of artworks, acquisitions, exhibitions, interventions or other museum projects. Presenters may address issues relating to, although by no means limited to, the following themes and questions:

Artists / Artworks / Projects: 

  • How can artists be active in the process of their artworks being represented in collections?
  • Object, concept, experience, process? What is it that museums are collecting?
  • Can the re-performance of a work or its translation to a different medium be a productive, rather than reductive, process?
  • Outside of documentation through photography and videography, how might the physical sensations of interacting with a work, beyond sight, be preserved when it no longer exists in the same form?

Museums: 

  • How are museums engaging with the expanded field of clay practice through collections, learning programmes and other activities?
  • What are the implications if these artworks are not collected in a sufficiently meaningful way?
  • What is the impact on visitors and institutions when working with ephemeral, performance-based, participatory and site-specific ceramic or clay artworks?
  • What are the challenges of stewarding and/or documenting contemporary clay artworks, including issues of care, ethics and long-term availability, and how can museums meet them?
  • How can museums welcome, accommodate or document intentional decay in ephemeral artworks?

Collections / Archives:

  • What can be learned from the strategies of collecting other kinds of ephemeral art practices, such as performance, digital and hybrid objects? 
  • Do the nuances of materiality inherent in experimental clay and ceramic practices pose particular challenges?
  • Collections or archives? Where can transient artworks be best represented for the future?

Timeline

16 March 2026: Deadline for proposals (max. 300 words + 100-word biography per presenter/panel member).

Submit proposals to: Ceramics@westminster.ac.uk   

Early April 2026: Notification of acceptance. 

Mid-April 2026: Registration opens.

The conference is staged in the first year of the AHRC-funded Future Ecologies of Clay research project (August 2025-July 2028) with the objective of gathering information on the experiences and needs of artists, museums and researchers. It is the first event of a ‘long conference’, which reconceptualises the notion of the conference-as-catalyst and functions as a means to develop ideas and approaches within a follow-on seminar series and summit day. Conference presenters will initially be invited to contribute to the project website, and selected conference papers and research findings will be published in an edited book of essays in 2028. 

The Future Ecologies of Clay research involves creating four new artworks with four UK museums, including the V&A. These practice-based case studies of ephemeral, site-specific, participatory and live art will provide new content for each museum’s collection. An Open Call for museums interested in participating will be publicised in Spring 2026. 

The Future Ecologies of Clay research is being undertaken by the Ceramics Research Centre-UK in partnership with the V&A. This work is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number UKRI748].

References:

Brown, C., Stair, J., & Twomey, C. (eds.) (2016), Contemporary Clay and Museum Culture, Routledge.

Hölling, H. B., Feldman, J. P., & Magnin, E. (eds.) (2023-4), Performance: The Ethics and the Politics of Conservation and Care, Vols. 1 & 2, Routledge.

Jones, M. (2021), Artefacts, Archives and Documentation in the Relational Museum, Routledge.

Krmpotich, C., & Stevenson, A. (eds.) (2024), Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice, UCL Press.

Tate (2018-22), Reshaping the Collectible: When Artworks Live in the Museum: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/reshaping-the-collectible 

Contact Information

Ceramics Research Centre -UK, CREAM, University of Westminster, UK

Contact Email

Ceramics@westminster.ac.uk

URL: https://cream.ac.uk/ceramics-research-centre-uk/

TS-DACS Seeks Presenters for Spring Webinar on “The Power of Dacs”

TS-DACS is seeking three presenters for a webinar centered on, “The Power of DACS,” to discuss how and why they have implemented DACS at their institution. We are looking for presenters who can answer questions such as: Why did you choose DACS as your descriptive standard? How have you used DACS to create finding aids and gain intellectual control over your institution’s collections? This webinar is meant to appeal to a broad audience and we are especially interested in presenters from various institution types and sizes.

The webinar will be held on April 24, 2026 1pm EST/10am PST and will last one hour. Presenters will each speak for 10 minutes, followed by a 20 minute Q&A. 

Please reach out to Sarah Jones (sarah.jones1@unlv.edu) if you are interested in presenting, or have any questions.

Thank you,

Sarah Jones (on behalf of the TS-DACS Education Subgroup)

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)