Category: General

Announcements from SAA and CFP

Introducing: American Archivist Submissions Window
SAA’s leading publication in the archives field, American Archivist, is introducing a submissions window beginning with issue 88.2 (Fall/Winter 2025). The submissions window for this issue opens January 1 through February 15, 2025. For more information on submitting content, including research articles, case studies, perspectives, book reviews, and book review essays, please visit the American Archivist submissions page.

Submit to a Special Section of American Archivist on User Experience
The American Archivist Editorial Board invites proposal submissions for a Special Section in American Archivist exploring the wide-ranging spectrum of user experience topics and initiatives in the archives field. The goal of this Special Section is to showcase the importance of user experience work to the wider professional community. The deadline for proposals is February 1, 2025.

Read the Latest Review on the Reviews Portal 
In the newest review on the American Archivist Reviews Portal, Cheryl Oestreicher (Boise State University) reviews Heritage, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Board Games, edited by Michal Mochocki (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2024). The book includes authors from a variety of disciplines examining game studies through numerous lenses, especially nostalgia and colonialism. Oestreicher writes, “Archivists are acutely aware that an ‘idyllic past’ does not really exist and thus understand the importance of ensuring a more historically accurate record.” Read the full review here. 

Call for Editor-in-Chief: Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals

Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals seeks a new Editor-in-Chief (EIC) to begin in January 2026. Building upon the EIC and Editorial Board’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as the cultivation of emerging professionals to write and serve the journal in various capacities, the journal seeks an individual or team with the capacity and abilities to introduce, cultivate, and embrace new perspectives will lead the journal, and the field of collections, in unseen directions.

Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals is not a society journal. It is a project of SAGE (initially published by Walnut Creek, AltaMira; and Rowman, before transitioning to SAGE in 2017). The relationship with SAGE affords opportunities for authors from across numerous fields and membership societies to bring their research to publication in a timely manner. 

The Editor-In-Chief (EIC) is the head of the editorial team. The responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Coordinating and cultivating the journal’s Editorial Board;
  • Convening the annual Editorial Board Summit once per year on Zoom (or similar platform);
  • Advancing the Editorial Board’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives;
  • Working with the Editorial team/Editorial Board to develop Focus Issues which are curated around a theme and usually overseen by one or more members of the Editorial Board;
  • Framing journal editorial policy jointly with SAGE, working with the Editorial team on development plans, indexing strategy, and initiatives decisioned by the Board;
  • Actively recruiting authors to contribute to the journal;
  • Promptly responding to author queries, escalating or referring any issues to SAGE as needed;
  • Managing submissions
  • Inviting referees from personal network, connections of the Editorial Board, and online submission site for papers assigned on the system
  • Rendering a final decision on all submissions
  • Ensuring an adequate flow of material to meet the publication schedules;

Application requirements:

The EIC may come from research, practice, or both, and will seamlessly navigate the spaces of archives, museums, and special collections, with an eye to collections (rather than curatorial or other matters, primarily). The EIC will have the support, expertise, and leadership of the international Editorial Board who reflect diverse geographies, perspectives, approaches, and capacities.

  • Current curriculum vitae, including a list of publications
  • Letter of intent explaining your interest in the role

Recent articles have addressed the following areas of interest: women and museums; photographic preservation and collections management; the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center; Atlantic world archives of Louisiana; provenance research; legal issues involving collections; and “hazardous heritage” involving dangerous materials in cultural heritage.

About the journal:

Established in 2004, Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals publishes multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed explorations of the issues, practices, and policies related to collections. The journal addresses all aspects of handling, preserving, researching, interpreting, and organizing collections. Archivists, librarians, curators, collections managers, registrars, scholars, and professionals at every stage of their research and practice contribute to the journal, serve as peer reviewers, and comprise the Editorial Board.

Key links:

Terms:

The EIC term is three years, with annual renewal following that period. Should an Editor wish to continue their tenure, they are eligible to serve two 7-year terms on a single journal for a total of 14 years.

Upon being named the incoming Editor-in-Chief, the candidate will undergo a period of orientation with the journal’s current Editor, Dr. Juilee Decker, jdgsh@rit.edu, will precede the beginning of the term (November-December 2025).

The position is supported by an annual honorarium from SAGE.

How to apply:

All applications and questions should be directed to the journal editor, Dr. Juilee Decker, jdgsh@rit.edu, by March 1, 2025. The announcement will be made by July 1, with the orientation to begin in November 2025.

US Latina & Latino Oral History Journal—Editor Search

The US Latina & Latino Oral History Journal—Editor Search

 Pioneering scholar in 1971 Juan Gómez-Quiñones recognized oral history interviews “an indispensable source.” In 2012, scholars Maria McDonald and Abraham Hoffman urged others to interview more Chicano activists – “living documents” – while there was still time.

 In recognition of oral history as an essential methodology to research the Latina/o experience in the US, the Journal was established in 2017. Its goals: to promote high-quality, peer-reviewed academic research, providing a platform and feedback to authors; spotlighting successful community efforts that include oral histories; reviewing books that used oral history to study the Latina/o history in the US. Now in its ninth year, the journal seeks a new editor for a four-year term (2026-2029). The new editor will serve as the Associate Editor in spring 2025, observing Journal operations. In 2026, the new Editor will assume all duties.

 The peer-reviewed Journal is sponsored by the Voces Oral History Center at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication and published annually by the University of Texas Press. UT Press coordinates editorial production, manufacturing, distribution, and financial management of the Journal—which is self-supporting.

 The Editor would work closely with two managing editors (MEs), paid by Voces. One ME distributes submissions to the reviewers and communicates with authors submitting/resubmitting manuscripts; the other works on the production side, ensuring the quality of the images and accuracy of the captions. The incoming Editor is expected to secure a course release from their respective institution as an incentive. In addition, a modest stipend from Voces will be offered.

 Editor’s duties:

  • Supervise the managing editors to oversee all aspects of Journal operations
  • Provide an initial reading of article submissions to ensure they are appropriate for distribution to blind reviewers
  • Promote the Journal at conferences and other meetings where appropriate
  • Work closely with the University of Texas Press journal production team at the various stages of production
  • Schedule and host an annual Journal Editorial Board teleconference meeting to discuss current submissions and future work
  • Ensure that standing features meet deadlines
  • Write the Editor’s Note to preface each issue
  • Ensure the Journal meets its annual early April submission deadline for fall publication.

 Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated commitment to oral history methodology and/or theory
  • Some record of using oral history in academic writing
  • Demonstrated commitment to research on Latina/o experiences in the U.S.
  • Familiarity with the U.S. Latina & Latino Oral History Journal
  • Must secure institutional support in the form of a course release

 Deadline to apply: Monday, January 6th, 2025.

Please submit the following materials through this Qualtrics link:

  1. A CV
  2. A short statement (no longer than two pages, double-spaced) of why you wish to be the new editor and what you bring to the position 
  3. A written commitment from the candidate’s institution (dean or above) that they will provide at least one course release annually for the duration of the editorship

Contact Information

Jackie Pedota, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Austin

Managing Editor, US Latina & Latino Oral History Journal (University of Texas Press)

G.L.A.M. Bookworms discussion

Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Archives invites everyone to join the next G.L.A.M. Bookworms discussion:

THE BOOK OF LOST NAMES by Kristin Harmel
Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 7pm
via Zoom

[The next discussion (we’re switching things up a bit): 
THE VAULTS by Toby Ball
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, 7pm
via Zoom]

Please share with anyone who might be interested-​all are welcome to join the book club!

Please let me know if you have any questions: lkramer1@mdc.edu.

Regards,
Ms. Lou Ellen Kramer
Archives Manager
Miami Dade College

Seeking Associate Editor: Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (JCAS) is looking for a new volunteer Associate Editor! Associate Editors work with the JCAS Editorial Board to solicit, select, and develop content for the journal. Primary duties include:

  • Selection of peer reviewers for assigned submissions
  • Supervising the peer review process in consultation with the Managing Editor
  • Evaluating peer review reports
  • Making recommendations to the Managing Editor on the suitability of submissions for publication
  • Participation in programming at events
  • Soliciting submissions
  • Assisting in the development of content
  • Actively participating in the management of the journal

The term of service runs July 2024 – June 2027 with the opportunity to renew for another three-year term.

Applicants must submit a résumé or CV and a brief statement of interest to email.jcas@gmail.com by Friday, June 28.

Imago Mundi journal at the International Conference on the History of Cartography, July 2024

Date: July 1, 2024 – July 5, 2024

Location: France

The editors of Imago Mundi are looking forward to attending ICHC 2024 in Lyon, France. Imago Mundi turns 90 years old in 2025 and ICHC 2024 offers us a chance to reflect on and connect with our community. They are eager to speak with researchers about prospective submissions, as well as to discuss the journal’s scope and reach. 

The editors will lead a workshop on Wednesday, 3 July. Attendees will tackle questions that include how, in the next decade, Imago Mundi might:

  • foster debate on methodological and conceptual questions, advance pedagogy, increase public impact?  
  • ensure a full range of maps and mapmaking practices are presented? 
  • contribute to connecting researchers, collectors, librarians and archivists? 

In short, we invite the map history community’s thoughts on what a flagship journal should strive for as it looks towards a second century.

Additionally, the editors will be available for discussions and one-on-ones during the lunch session each day during the conference. Please feel free to approach Jordana Dym or Katie Parker at the ICHC to chat about possible article topics, how to write an article, special issues, or other matters. Alternatively, reach out ahead of time to plan a time. 

Questions? Please contact editor.imagomundi@gmail.com. We will see you in Lyon and remember, early bird registration ends April 20! Learn more at https://ichc2024.univ-lyon3.fr/registration  

Contact Information

Katie Parker and Jordana Dym, editors

Contact Email

editor.imagomundi@gmail.com

Call for Applicants: Associate Editor for SAA Case Studies on Teaching with Primary Sources

The Teaching with Primary Sources sub-committee of the Reference, Access and Outreach Section of the Society of American Archivists is accepting applications for the role of Associate Editor for the Case Studies on Teaching With Primary Sources series. For more information about the series, visit: https://www2.archivists.org/publications/epubs/Case-Studies-Teaching-With-Primary-Sources.

The Associate Editor works with the Editor to maintain the Teaching with Primary Sources Case Studies as a contribution to the professional scholarship and illustration of the application of the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy. The position, in collaboration with the Editor, coordinates the review process and works with peer reviewers. The Associate Editor role shall become the Editor when their term expires, requiring a two-year commitment. The expected start date for the Associate Editor is July 1, 2024.

Duties:

●       In consultation with the Editor, identify potential authors and solicit proposals

●       Assist in coordinating the peer review process, and work with peer reviewers to provide timely feedback

●       As directed by the Editor, communicate reviews and feedback to authors

●       Promote recently published case studies to the RAO membership and broader community of practitioners

Applications will be accepted to twps-casestudies@archivists.org until June 7, 2024. Applicants should submit a statement of interest explaining their experience editing; their ideas for including more diverse voices, institutions, and/or case studies; and a resume/CV. Questions may be addressed to current editors, Mary Feeney and Kara Flynn, at twps-casestudies@archivists.org.

American Archivist Generative AI Statement

Introduction:

In Spring of 2023, American Archivist editors learned that authors had used artificial intelligence (AI) platforms such as ChatGPT in submissions to the Reviews Portal. This sparked a conversation within the Editorial Board about the ethical use of AI in American Archivist content. As ChatGPT and other AI programs are becoming ubiquitous, the American Archivist Editorial Board is endorsing the following Norms and Recommendations for AI use within our publications. 

The Editorial Board recognizes that the technological landscape is rapidly evolving with regard to AI in scholarship and journal publication. We recognize that AI has great potential to contribute to archivists’ professional work, including creating summary documents for finding aids and facilitating data analysis for large projects. The American Archivist Editorial Board recognizes the opportunity to engage AI for scholarship and professional growth.

For the integrity of the journal, our goal is to define standards for the journal and the reviews portal, and to encourage authors to be transparent about their use of generative AI platforms, including ChatGPT, in content they submit. While the Editorial Board will not reject a piece solely based on the use of AI, we want to be clear about how AI is used in any context in American Archivist. We value an ethical approach to publishing and transparency for our professional membership and our readership.

We recognize that there is a distinction between using AI for assistance with spelling and grammar, and using AI to generate content. Multiple disciplines are voicing concerns about generative AI, and as a journal representing one arm of the allied information professions, this is what concerns us most. First, generative AI may pose substantial issues for copyright and intellectual property: generative AI uses other publications and writings that appear online, and these may not be appropriately attributed for copyright purposes. AI generated content may also reproduce biases from existing online content, and spread misinformation. In addition, our own editorial experience has shown that AI generated citations may produce references to articles that simply do not exist.[1]

In an effort to discourage the spread of misinformation, in an effort to maintain integrity of the journal, and to value our responsibility to authors, Society of American Archivist (SAA) members, and readers, the American Archivist Editorial Board is setting forth these Norms and Recommendations for the use of AI in our publications.

Norms and Recommendations:

These Norms and Recommendations represent an ethical agreement between authors submitting content to the journal and portal, and the Editorial Board. They are intended to encourage transparency in the use of AI in the research and publication process. They are not strictly enforced, nor do they purport to be a legally binding agreement between SAA, American Archivist, or the authors submitting content. The Editorial Board will review these norms and recommendations on an annual basis.

• No article will be summarily rejected because of the use of AI.

• Articles containing purely generated AI content are prohibited. 

• Authors must disclose the use of AI when a manuscript (review or article) is submitted. This includes, but is not limited to, AI generated content and data analysis. For maximum transparency, this disclosure should appear at the beginning of the article—in an author’s note, the abstract, or a statement prior to the article’s introduction.

• All content—regardless of the use of AI—will go through normal review channels (double blind peer review and/or editorial review, as appropriate).

• Editorial decisions are made based on peer/editorial review, quality of writing, and content. 

• Editors reserve the right to request AI transcripts from authors as well as additional information about its specific use, including where and how AI was used in the piece.

• Editors reserve the right to provide AI transcripts to peer reviewers as context for the piece.

Adopted February 15, 2024

Next scheduled review: February 2025

[1] Why does ChatGPT generate fake references? – TECHE (mq.edu.au) 

Read other submissions guidelines here. 

Announcement: Virtual Roundtable on Publishing, RBM Editorial Board

Join editors for printing history and special collections journals and book reviews on May 1 with your questions about publishing!

Have questions about how to turn your work into an article? Want to know more about the vast landscape that is special collections, printing history, and cultural heritage peer-reviewed publications? Join us for a conversation with editors of the following, who are all confirmed speakers:

  • RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage (Diane Dias De Fazio)
  • RBM book reviews (John Henry Adams)
  • American Printing History Association’s Printing History (Josef Beery)
  • Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (Sarah Werner)
  • Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research (Jennifer Hoyer)
  • Book History, journal of the Society of History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) (Greg Barnheisel)

Attendance to this special one-time-only event is open to the public and free, but you must register in advance through ACRL.

Register at the following link: ala-events.zoom.us/meeting/register/…

Title: ACRL RBM Editorial Board: Virtual Roundtable on Publishing

When: May 1, 2024

Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We looking forward to seeing you there!

Call for Volunteers: H-HistBibl Listserv

Join us in making H-HistBibl bigger, better, and more useful!

H-HistBibl is an international network of librarians, archivists, curators, and other scholars and practitioners interested in the practice and study of bibliographic, library and cultural heritage services to support the study and teaching of history. In line with the guidelines of our parent non-profit, H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences online, our network is an open, moderated forum that makes all its digital content available for free and is committed to academic and editorial best practices. We are free from spamming, trolling, and narrowly self-promotional behaviors. Our content circulates directly to our subscribers around the world.

Service with an H-Net network like H-HistBibl can be an excellent way to support scholarship and pedagogy, gain experience and academic connections, and drive the field forward. H-Net provides quick and helpful online training to our editors and sustains an editorial support network.

If you are interested in joining our volunteer staff, please note that we require that all volunteers: 1) have regular internet access; 2) can read and write English well; 3) can work collaboratively with other scholars as well as independently of them; 4) remain in regular communication with the rest of our staff and H-Net via email; and 5) are active in our fields of study and practice.  If you haven’t already done so, please take some time to acquaint yourself with the topics we cover.

We are always eager to correspond with scholars and practitioners who believe they might be interested in volunteering, so please do not hesitate to contact us with questions at editorial-histbibl@mail.h-net.org

Open Positions

We are very interested in volunteers who can help develop the following projects and initiatives.

Announcements: we would welcome support with circulating academic announcements to our subscribers. This work is light and routine in nature, but interesting as it helps us stay current with significant issues of interest to subscribers. It can be particularly helpful to junior scholars and other academics seeking to gain a broad view of the field. Duties include browsing H-Announce for relevant posts (like calls for papers) and monitoring relevant submissions to H-HistBibl.

Subject editors: editors in these positions focus on tracking discussions about topics relevant to H-HistBibl that can be found in informed public media, such as through scholarly publications and blogs, news reporting, social media, and more. The work involves publishing posts on H-HistBibl on a regular basis, weekly or semi-weekly, pointing to an interesting resource and briefly summarizing it.

Subscriber Engagement: we would welcome an editor to help oversee the approval of new subscriptions to our network, with an emphasis on requiring new subscribers to fully complete their user profiles. 

Advisory Board Members: advisory board members actively support our editors, help with subscriber recruitment, remain in reliable email communication, advise on the scope and projects of H-HistBibl, and mediate any disputes that arise. Ideally, they may propose new initiatives and offer improvements of ongoing efforts.

We encourage candidates who will further advance the goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive online community.

More information about joining and volunteering with H-Net is available at Join H-Net.

To Apply

Please email a single PDF containing the following to editorial-histbibl@mail.h-net.org : 1) Your C.V., including current contact information. 2) A description of about 250 words explaining your areas of expertise. Before applying, please update your H-Net profile if you have not already done so (see the Updating your Profile guide for more information).