Category: Research

Call for Participation: practices and attitudes of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) refusal amongst academic library workers in the United States

We are a faculty member and graduate student in the Information, Library and Research Sciences Department at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro, and we are conducting a research study to explore the practices and attitudes of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) refusal amongst academic library workers in the United States. This survey will ask you questions about your attitudes and practices related to generative AI at your workplace.

The survey is open to anyone who works in an academic or university library in the United States. If you are a paraprofessional, student worker, or professional librarian in an academic or university library, we welcome your participation. Employees at university, college, community college, and special or branch libraries at an academic institution qualify to participate in this survey. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate.

The survey is expected to take about 15-20 minutes to complete. Participation is totally voluntary, and respondents can stop filling out the survey at any point. At the end of the survey, you will be asked if you would like to participate in a follow-up interview to further elaborate on your thoughts on this topic; participation in the interview is also entirely voluntary. Respondents will not receive any compensation for filling out this survey, though this information may contribute to the development of policy recommendations to support AI refusal in academic libraries. Responses will be anonymized to protect participants’ privacy.

Please review the full information sheet on the next page. After reviewing this sheet, we will ask you to agree to participate in the survey.

Survey form

Call for Participation: Food in Collections Survey

We are a group of archivists and librarians at Oberlin College working to quantify the impact of food in collections. We are asking you to consider participating in a brief Qualtrics survey about food in museum, library, or archival collections. The purpose of the survey is to assess inherent vice within different types of collections and its impact on preservation and conservation priorities. We are surveying librarians, curators, collections managers, conservators, and archivists from collecting institutions who are at least 18 years old and who currently work in the United States. 

Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary. Should you agree to participate in the survey, your responses will be kept confidential. Your anonymized data will be used for analysis. This study, Protocol AY25-26-ER-02, has been deemed exempt by Oberlin College’s institutional ethics board. For questions related to this survey and your rights as a participant or information about its IRB approval, please contact Associate Archivist Emily Rebmann (erebmann@oberlin.edu) or the Oberlin College Institutional Review Board, Cox 101, (440-775-8410) or email: ocirb@oberlin.edu.

To learn more about the project or to take the survey, please use this link. The Qualtrics survey will remain open until February 28, and we anticipate that it will take no more than 10 minutes to complete. 

Thank you for your consideration,

Emily Rebmann, Eugénie Fortier, and Gena Reynolds

Open Call for Feedback: A Research Agenda for SAA

We are pleased to announce that the first version of the SAA Research Agenda Draft (SAA-RAD) is now available for public comment. 

The SAA-RAD aims to provide SAA and its membership with a focused, practical agenda to guide prioritized research on the archival profession’s most pressing issues over the next 5 years.

The SAA Research Agenda project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant.

To read more context about the project, view and comment on the draft, see the Research Agenda microsite.

The deadline to submit feedback is January 30, 2026. 

With kind regards,

Chris Marino (Project Director), Jane Fiegel, Jennifer King, Emily Lapworth, Dennis Meissner

Call for Applicants: SHARP News Bibliographers

Over the past three years, SHARP News has expanded its range of bibliographies beyond the Annual Bibliography, publishing bibliographies on special themes such as paper, accessibility, and queer studies; bibliographies dedicated to dissertations and theses; and location-specific bibliographies on South America, South Asia, and Africa.

We are currently seeking a team of two or more Bibliographers to serve a 3-year term with SHARP News (2026-2029). The individuals serving in this role will collaborate to prepare an annual monograph and edited collections bibliography, an annual dissertation and theses bibliography, and 1-2 special topics bibliographies each year. They will also invite and manage occasional special topics collaborators from the SHARP community and support the Social Outreach Editor in promoting bibliographies. Familiarity with Zotero and strong search skills within bibliographic databases are required for this role. Bibliographers should have strong reading skills in English and another language. 

Applicants may apply individually or as a team. Each applicant should submit a one-page letter of interest indicating their vision for the role, as well as a brief (no more than two-page) resume highlighting relevant experience. We encourage applications from early career researchers (ECRs) and especially welcome applications from BIPOC. Please note that all positions at SHARP News are volunteer roles, and do not offer remuneration.

Submissions are due by October 1, 2025 to news@sharpweb.org. Successful applicants will be notified about potential next steps by November 1st, 2025. The new Bibliographers will begin their term on January 1st, 2026. 

Please feel free to direct any questions to the Editor-in-Chief, Andie Silva, at news@sharpweb.org and our outgoing Bibliographer, Alex Wingate, at bibliographer@sharpweb.org.

For more information about what happens behind the scenes at SHARP News, watch our video from SHARP 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PMcmYS5l5s.

Call for Applications: 2026 Penn State Global Asias Summer Institute: Vitalizing Global Asias: Artifacts & Archives

2026 Penn State Global Asias Summer Institute

VITALIZING GLOBAL ASIAS: ARTIFACTS & ARCHIVES

Penn State University and the Global Asias Initiative invites applicants for its annual Global Asias Summer Institute, to be held June 8012, 2026. SI2026, co-directed by Neelima Jeychandran (VCUarts Qatar), Monica Merlin (VCUarts Qatar), and Tina Chen (Penn State), will focus on the topic of “Vitalizing Global Asias: Artifacts & Archives.”

Institute participants spend a week reading and thinking about the annual theme, as well as significant time workshopping their work in progress. Particularly strong work will be considered for publication in an upcoming special issue on “Things That Matter: Materiality and the Making of Global Asias” (13.2) of the award-winning journal, Verge: Studies in Global Asias (https://www.upress.umn.edu/journal-division/journals/verge-studies-in-gl…).

SI2026 will cover housing and some meals, and offer an honorarium to help defray travel costs (USD 450 from the East Coast, 650 from the Midwest, 850 from the West Coast; USD 1100 from Europe; USD 1500 from Asia and the Middle East). Applicants must have completed their PhDs no earlier than June 2021, or be advanced graduate students who are completing their dissertations.

On the theme:

In a time of hyper-mobility, heightened migration, and refugee flows, we seek to rethink the making of local, trans-local, and trans-oceanic Asias by tracing the lives and afterlives of artifacts and archives. Even as much attention is paid to studying people, places, and practices, we propose to examine the movement of artifacts and the archival actions of such objects to reimagine the proliferous and heterogeneous histories of the aqueous, littoral, terrestrial, and diffused diasporic geographies of Global Asias. By focusing on things and their materiality as sites where histories of travels, transfers, and transits are inscribed, we hope to generate conversations on other forms of archives that exist and how they can offer new epistemological meanings on Global Asian worldmaking. In assigning agency to things, we aim to animate the archival dimension of artifacts as they turn into layered documents, palimpsests of creative practices, and lived experiences that continue to enrich our understanding of cultures in motion. At the same time, we also treat the archive itself as a historical artifact that can bring to the fore unconventional records and collections that include ordinary items, portable objects, built environments, protection items, photographs, maps, artworks, and forms of mnemonic media.

This institute, then, invites participants to look at the afterlives of artifacts and archives to offer fresh perspectives on place-making and unmaking, mobile bodies, and embodiment in the

making of Global Asias. During SI2026, our collective work will be guided by the following questions: How does mapping the life of objects and the creative practices surrounding their conception rearrange existing knowledges and theorizations on the relations between the diasporic universes and networked spaces of sea and land? How does the making of an artifact and archive, and also the stories generated from their existence and extinction, reveal unknown histories of transoceanic communities, displaced and marginalized groups within Asia, and outside? How does the focus on materiality and contemporary works of art provide new insights into imperial geographies, spaces of containment, fragile places, and transit zones? We welcome a diverse group of scholars focusing on historical and contemporary research projects interested in the study of material cultures and alternative archives who are reconfiguring places, practices, networks, and alliances—both old and new—within Asia and beyond.

Application Process:

To apply, please send the following documents to gai@psu.edu by November 3, 2025. Items #1-3 must be sent as a single PDF file; the recommendation letter for applications from advanced graduate students may be sent separately.

1. An abstract of 1000 words outlining research project and clarifying its

connection to the Institute theme.

2. A sample of current work.

3. A current c.v. (no longer than 2 pp).

4. A letter from a principal advisor about the advanced status of work (in the

case of graduate students).

Decisions will be made by early December 2025 so that international participants will have time to secure visas. Inquiries regarding the Summer Institute may be directed to GAI director Tina Chen (tina.chen@psu.edu).

Contact Email

gai@psu.edu

URL https://sites.psu.edu/vergeglobalasias/2025/09/01/2026-summer-institute/

Seeking study participants: “Emotional Responses and Experiences in the Archival Donation Process” (UVA IRB-SBS # 7278)

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to invite you to participate in a study investigating emotionally adverse experiences among individuals donating personal materials to archives and special collections departments in the United States, as well as the emotionally adverse responses archivists observe during the donation process. By examining the nature and causes of these perspectives, this research seeks to expand the understanding of donor-archivist interactions and inform more empathetic, trauma-informed archival practices.

Survey Details

·       Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

·       Format: Online survey

·       Eligibility: To qualify as a participant, you must have donated materials to an archives or special collections department in the United States or must be an archivist who has worked with donors in an archives or special collections department in the United States (an archivist can also be a donor). Participants should be between 25 – 75 years of age.

·       Security: The information that you give in the study will be anonymous. Your name and other information that could be used to identify you will not be collected or linked to the data. Raw data will be stored on UVA Box, a secure file storage system managed by UVA IT.

·       Survey period: The survey will close on June 30, 2025.

Begin the survey here: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxTbH3l64LIPDng

If you have any questions about the study or the survey, please contact me at agreenwood@virginia.edu.

With warmest regards,

Amanda Greenwood

Archivist, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

University of Virginia

CFP: Request for Speakers: Libraries in Unexpected Places – 2025 ALA LHRT Research Forum (Library History Round Table)

Libraries are not confined to traditional institutions; they exist in a myriad of unexpected places, serving diverse communities in innovative ways. From lighthouses and artists’ studios to mobile book vans and digital platforms, libraries continue to evolve, offering knowledge and resources in creative and unconventional settings. This call for papers seeks to explore the rich and often overlooked world of libraries that exist outside the norm—whether in remote villages, repurposed structures, personal collections, or virtual spaces.

We invite scholars, librarians, historians, and researchers from various disciplines to present their research at the 2025 LHRT Research Forum, which will focus on how libraries in unexpected places serve communities, preserve history, and expand access to knowledge. The forum aims to highlight historical studies of library outreach and development, including 20th and 21st-century topics. Single-case studies, theoretical perspectives, and other approaches are welcomed, but use of primary sources is expected. Each speaker will be asked to present for approximately 20 minutes, with a 10-minute Q&A to follow.

To accommodate as many attendees as possible, the 2025 Research Forum will be held virtually after the ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition, on Wednesday, July 23, 2:00-3:30 EST.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

Libraries in Unconventional Spaces

  • Libraries and library collections housed in unique buildings or premises.
  • Personal and private libraries with public impact.
  • Community-based initiatives such as Little Free Libraries and other book-sharing projects.
  • Rural and mobile libraries that reach remote and underserved populations.

Library Outreach and Collaboration

  • Librarians bringing books and services to nontraditional settings.
  • Novel partnerships between libraries and other institutions and organizations.
  • Efforts to preserve and document library collections that exist outside formal institutions.

Access Beyond Physical Spaces

  • Online and open-access libraries in areas lacking traditional library services.
  • Hybrid models that combine physical and digital library services to reach broader audiences.
  • The role of technology in expanding knowledge beyond geographic and economic barriers.

Submission Guidelines:

We welcome submissions from a variety of perspectives, including historical studies, case studies, ethnographic research, theoretical analyses, and reflective essays. We will consider research projects already underway or, if at the beginning of the project, a discussion of new methodologies to be used in the work. Please note that projects or project plans should include a primary source research component.

  • Each proposal must include the paper title, an abstract (up to 500 words), and the presenter’s one-page vita. Please indicate in the abstract whether the research is in progress or completed.
  • Proposals are due March 15, and decisions will be communicated shortly thereafter.
  • Completed papers are due May 31.

Please submit proposals and direct inquiries to Jennifer Bartlett, LHRT Vice Chair/Research Committee Chair, at jen.bartlett@uky.edu.

We encourage interdisciplinary approaches and diverse voices to contribute to this exciting exploration of libraries in unexpected places. If you have a unique perspective or case study that falls outside these categories but aligns with the theme, we welcome your proposal! We look forward to your submissions and to celebrating the vast and varied ways libraries continue to inspire, adapt, and serve.

Research Committee Members:

Jennifer Bartlett

Bernadette Lear

Catherine Minter

Deborah Smith

Rachel Trnka 

CFP: 2025 SAA Research Forum

MAY 2 DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR THE SAA RESEARCH FORUM 

On behalf of the 2025 Research Forum Committee, we invite you to submit abstracts (of 300 words or fewer) for either 10-minute platform presentations or 5-minute lightning talks. Topics may address research on, or innovations in, any aspect of archives practice or records management in government, corporate, academic, scientific, or other settings. 

The 2025 Research Forum will be conducted as two Zoom-based virtual sessions, each four hours long, on July 23 from 12:00 – 4:00 pm CT and July 30, 12:00 – 4:00 pm CT. 

The 2025 Research Forum will be made up of 10-minute platform presentations and 5-minute lightning talks, extended from 3 minutes. A limited number of presentations will be accepted to allow for longer presentation times, extended Q&A periods, and opportunities for discussion between attendees. An abstract submission rubric will be used by the Committee to evaluate submissions. The 2025 Research Forum webpage provides additional information about the schedule and links to past Forum proceedings.

We invite presentations on research results that may have emerged since the 2024 Joint Annual Meeting Call for Proposals deadline, as well as reports on research completed within the past three years that are relevant and valuable for discussion as defined by the rubric. On the submission form, please indicate whether you intend a platform presentation or a lightning talk. See the full call here: https://www2.archivists.org/am2025/research-forum-2025. 

The Research Forum Committee and CORDA encourage submissions on a range of topics, which may include:

  • Global challenges and their implications for archives and archivists, such as climate change, armed conflicts, environmental disaster, and human rights; 
  • Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) as a core value for archives and archivists; 
  • Collaborating across domains-archives, libraries, galleries, and museums; 
  • Repository-level data: how archives measure their output, outcomes, and activities over time;
  • Centering users in the design of archival systems for discovery; and/or, 
  • Building audiences to increase the impact of archives on society. 

These themes can be found in the SAA Research and Innovation Roadmap (v1.4). 

Abstracts will be evaluated by the 2025 Research Forum Committee convened by Chris Marino (Stanford University) and Emily Lapworth (Kennedy Presidential Library).

Deadline for submission of abstracts: May 2, 2025. You will be notified of the Committee’s decision by June 2, 2025.

Proposals should be submitted here.

Call for Participants Special Collections Catalogers and ILS/LSP Migrations

Dear Colleagues,

Special collections catalogers (those who spend at least 30% of their time cataloging special collections and/or rare materials) are invited to participate in a survey related to Integrated Library System (ILS) or Library Services Platform (LSP) migration and special collections data.

To participate, individuals must be over the age of 18 and currently employed as a special collections cataloger. Participants must have migrated Integrated Library Systems (ILS) or Library Services Platforms (LSP) in the last 5 years.

Participation within this survey is voluntary. Participants may stop completing the survey at any time. The survey will be anonymous but not confidential. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

osu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b8U2I30vUZ49hum

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact

Libby Hertenstein

hertenstein.9@osu.edu

614-247-9802

Office of Responsible Research Practices

hsconcerns@osu.edu

(614) 688-8457

(800) 678-6251

Call for Participation: Survey on Archival Collecting Reflex

Colleagues,

I’m seeking archivists who have participated, or declined to participate, in rapid response collecting in the aftermath of a tragic event at your institution or in your community to complete an anonymous survey for new research on the archival collecting reflex. 

Do archivists have a collecting reflex, an embedded professional drive to collect material, especially to document tragedies in the immediate aftermath of them. What fuels this reflex? From where does it come? Is it possible to privilege the personal over the professional in situations where the tragedy happened in your institution or community? These are basic questions in my research on how archivists manage their professional obligations to gather and preserve with their personal emotional needs to grieve with their fellow community members in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy.

The following is a link to a Qualtrics survey that launches my research exploring the “archival collecting reflex.” The survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. The survey will close on February 23, 2025.

The Qualtrics link: virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Hs5t4KH6eEd44m
Participants must be 18 years or older to take the survey. 
With appreciation,
Brenda Gunn, Principal Investigator
UVA IRB-SBS 7274