CFP: 5th Biennial GSISC 2026

Existence is Our Resistance

How do the very acts of being, knowing, and communicating outside of normative frameworks create new forms of information, alternative archives, and innovative approaches? How do diverse gender and sexual identities illuminate biases in existing information practices and inspire more just and equitable futures?

Librarians, archivists, and information workers are on the frontlines of the assault on free speech, academic freedom, dissent, DEI, and the intellectual and creative foundations of social equity. As we convene in 2026 for the fifth Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium (GSISC), we seek to explore and celebrate the myriad ways in which lived realities, information practices, and intellectual contributions of queer, trans, non-binary, and other gender and sexually diverse individuals inherently challenge, disrupt, and transform the information landscape in this challenging time.

The GSISC planning committee invites you to join us June 17 and 18 for a virtual gathering to foster community and connection as we confront forces that seek to erase our existence, honor the legacies of the movements before us, and work to collectively imagine liberatory futures into being: we are everywhere. We welcome proposals that address a range of topics on how we nurture resistance in our profession, with consideration for its locus among the intersections of gender, queerness, race, and sexuality.

Questions and considerations might include, but are not limited to:

Existence as Resistance

Queer Realities

  • Affect in the body
  • Entering the LIS profession in 2026
  • Where can we work: navigating the assault on intellectual freedom and free speech

Self-care/Collective-care

  • Coming out whole on the other side: surviving the present wave of authoritarianism
  • Protecting our peace: stepping up and stepping back as strategic defenses
  • Loving the work when the work doesn’t love you back

Resistance as Existence

Misinformation, Disinformation, Censorship, and Freedom of Expression

  • Identifying silences, gaps, and lies in dominant information landscapes
  • Activating/archiving alternative information resources
  • Working outside of/against the establishment: providing information in defiance of institutional compliance
  • Teaching and mentorship in LIS graduate education in this liminal time

Know Your Rights

  • The right to resist: addressing rights information as an information literacy issue
  • Protest and the right to privacy on college campuses
  • Labor organizing and collective action, within and without unions

Submit your proposal: forms.gle/Uc9G3ofbvZxzCnoZA 

Please direct any questions or concerns to GSISC2026@gmail.com. Please note that we are a fully volunteer run conference. While we staff our inbox, sometimes we may take a few days to get back to you.

Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium (GSISC) logo by Bernadette Floresca.

Important dates

Deadline for proposals – February 27, 2026

Notification of acceptance – March 31, 2026

Registration opens* – April 13, 2026

Colloquium dates – June 17 and 18, 2026, Noon – 4pm (EST) each day

*Rates: Please note there will be a modest registration fee for this event, 

Note: Further logistics will be unfolding.

The Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies Colloquium emerged from the Litwin Books and Library Juice Press Series on Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies, and was founded by the series founding editor, Emily Drabinski. The first GSISC colloquium was held in 2014, inspired in part by the Feminist and Queer Information Studies Reader (2013). Its aim was to respond to the challenges posed by critical perspectives on gender and sexuality in our field. This gathering seeks to create an inclusive space for difficult, fruitful conversations that foreground gender, sexuality, and the body, with consideration for libraries and cultural heritage institutions as sites of both liberation and oppression. The colloquium intends to foster dialogue among librarians, archivists, and information workers on our profession and its locus among the intersections of gender, queerness, race, sexuality, and the freedom to exist and thrive in our bodies.

Call for Submissions: IASA Journal Issue 56

The IASA Journal invites contributions for Issue 56, to be published in 2026.

We welcome original research articles, case studies, reviews, and reports addressing all areas of sound and audiovisual archiving and preservation: from technical innovations to theoretical, ethical, and practical perspectives.

Key Dates

• Abstract deadline: 1 December 2025

• Submission deadline: 15 January 2026

Early submissions are encouraged! Questions and proposals can be sent to editor@iasa-web.org

Let your work contribute to global discourse in audiovisual archiving.

https://journal.iasa-web.org/index…/pubs/about/submissions

CFP: Treasures of Jewish Material Culture: Living Archives of Memory, Heritage, and Research in the Middle East and North Africa

The Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem invites scholars to submit proposals for a day-and-atwo-day-half conference, to be held in Jerusalem on March 29–30, 2026. This conference will explore the rich material legacy of Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa, examining how these tangible remnants serve as living archives of social, cultural, and historical experience. 

Although today only a few Jewish communities remain in the Middle East and North Africa, the region preserves a rich and multifaceted Jewish past. This heritage is embodied in an extensive array of material culture, including hundreds of synagogues and cemeteries, and countless Judaica items and textual sources dispersed across Arab and Islamic countries.These materials are not static relics; they form part of a living archive, a dynamic and tangible conduit through which the histories and experiences of Jewish communities can be reinterpreted within their lived environments and the social, cultural, political, and historical dynamics thatshaped them and continue to reshape them. The study and preservation of this living archive emerges within the broader context of minority rights and cultural heritage in the region, though this conference will focus specifically on Jewish heritage itself rather than minority issues more broadly. 

Building on this perspective, the dynamic character of the living archive is continually reinforced, as ongoing discoveries and studies of archives, sites, and genizot further underscore its vitality. It is a continually evolving repository, offering invaluable sources for both qualitative and quantitative research across disciplines. Beyond their historical significance, these materials are vital for understanding how Jewish heritage is preserved, reused, and reinterpreted within local cultural practices and public discourse today—usually taking place through government institutions and civil-society organizations—most of whom are not Jewish and who regard the products of Jewish culture as part of the local culture. 

The conference invites contributions that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes: 

  • Mapping Jewish Material Culture: aesthetics, spatial organization, and reinterpretations of Jewish-Muslim relations 
  • Jewish Sites as Spaces of Memory: synagogues, cemeteries, and public heritage sites 
  • Libraries, Genizot, and Papyri: archival discoveries and the study of Jewish life in MENA 
  • Contemporary Responsibilities: preservation and legal status of Jewish sites, Judaica, and cultural heritage in modern Arab states  
  • Nationalism and Identity: the positioning of Jewish heritage within national narratives 
  • Repurposing and Reuse: adaptive uses of Jewish sites and Judaica in contemporary contexts 

Each talk will be 20 minutes long, followed by a discussion. 

Interested participants should submit a 300-word abstract and a short biography to: via this link  by November 9, 2025.

Questions may be directed at Ms. Sandra Furtos:  Sandra@ybz.org.il  The conference will be conducted primarily in Hebrew, with several lectures in English. Proposals may be submitted in either language.

CFP: Seeking Oral Historians for Bloomsbury’s Trans Studies Book Series

Oral historians are warmly invited to write books for Trans Studies, a book series published by Bloomsbury Academic. We seek books that give voice to previously unrecognized transgender and nonbinary people and issues, with a special emphasis on topics not well documented in written literature, but for which there are oral archives that allow the recovery of previously forgotten histories. We also welcome books that explore already well-recognized transgender and nonbinary topics that can be examined in greater depth through oral histories. 

Bloomsbury is a pioneer in innovative oral history, and its gender and sexuality list publishes leading scholarly research from around the world, with a longstanding commitment to insightful books on LGBTQIA+ topics.

Books that emphasize the broader significance and potential of oral history for transgender studies are especially invited. All books in the Trans Studies series—whether they are grounded in the humanities, social sciences, or biological sciences—reflect on the assumptions that guide the book’s specific version of trans scholarship. We seek works that provide innovative reformulations of the scope and practice of trans studies, including novel methodologies and theoretical concepts that challenge the status quo. We welcome books from disciplines that are underrepresented in trans studies.

To propose a book for Trans Studies, please complete this form and submit it to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Senior Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (Courtney.Morales@bloomsbury.com). Please include your CV, a list of five to seven potential reviewers you do not know personally, and a sample chapter. If you do not have a sample chapter for the book, please include a previous writing sample written in the same style that you envision for the book.

On the form, list the highest degree for each author, editor, and chapter author. For edited volumes, all chapters should have at least one author who has already completed their PhD. 

High priorities for the series include books that provide intersectional perspectives, as well as works that examine transgender and nonbinary topics with reference to particular linguistic, national, and regional groups. We encourage authors from around the world to contribute to the series, incorporating culture-specific insights as feasible.

Books based on oral accounts of either contemporary or historical topics and individuals are equally appropriate. Books in this series include monographs and edited volumes that target academic audiences. We value books that explore socially relevant issues and that both clarify and question the premises of fields outside of trans studies.

All books follow the most recent guidelines for best practices in using accurate and respectful language when discussing transgender and nonbinary people and topics. Key resources to these best practices include GLAAD’s overviews of Transgender People and Nonbinary People, as well as this Glossary of Terms.

Contributors to this series come from disciplines including but not limited to anthropology, architecture, area studies, art, biology, cinema studies, classics, communication studies, cultural studies, disability studies, ecology, economics, education, environmental studies, ethics, ethnic studies, gender studies, geography, history, law, literary studies, masculinity studies, media studies, medicine, medieval studies, oral history, philosophy, political science, psychology, public policy, queer studies, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, science fiction studies, sociology, theology, trans studies, and women’s studies. Proposals grounded in other disciplines are equally welcome.

Bloomsbury Academic’s Trans Studies book series is based on a three-fold commitment to:

  • Provide inclusive, global representation of transgender and nonbinary topics and authors
  • Challenge assumptions of trans studies and other fields
  • Engage diverse disciplines from the humanities, social sciences, and biological sciences

Contact Email

dvakoch@meti.org

CFP: Popular Culture Association Libraries, Archives, and Museums

The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (https://pcaaca.org/) annual conference will be held April 8-11, 2026, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, Georgia. Scholars from a wide variety of disciplines will meet to share their Popular Culture research and interests.

The Libraries, Archives & Museums area is soliciting papers dealing with any aspect of Popular Culture as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, or related areas. Possible topics include:

  • Descriptions of research collections or exhibits
  • Developments in technical services for collecting/preserving popular culture materials
  • Using popular culture materials in education programs and/or information literacy
  • Analyses of social networking or web resources
  • Challenges and bans on library materials and related attacks on libraries and personnel
  • Issues related to museum and archive repatriation
  • Representations of libraries, librarians, or museums in popular culture and media
  • The future of libraries and museums, including the effects of emerging technologies and generative AI on exhibits, collections, or services.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is November 30, 2025. Proposals may be submitted at https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines.

Please direct any questions to the area chair for Libraries, Archives & Museums, Beth Downey, at edowney@library.msstate.edu.

Contact Information

Elizabeth “Beth” Downey
Professor and Popular Culture Librarian
Mississippi State University Libraries
Mississippi State, MS 39762
662-325-3834
Contact Email: edowney@library.msstate.edu
URL: https://pcaaca.org/members/group.aspx?id=250621

CFP: Best Practices Exchange 2026

Best Practices Exchange 2026

Sustaining Best Practices: Humans Required

The Best Practices Exchange (BPE) Program Committee is now accepting session proposals for our next unconference, which will be held May 18-20, 2026, at Indiana University Indianapolis in Indianapolis, IN.

Submit your proposal via this short form (https://forms.gle/KphBNMQcnsSYrL8E7) by Friday, November 21, 2025. Acceptance notifications will be sent in January 2026.

About BPE

BPE is a community of practitioners in the area of the management and preservation of digital information who gather annually to share experiences and have honest conversations about our work. It is an unconference in the sense that we prioritize providing a safe space for active participation and peer-to-peer learning both in the sessions and outside of them. Speakers and attendees come from a variety of backgrounds, including government and university archivists, library and information science educators, technologists, special collection librarians, records managers, and product developers.

This year’s theme: Sustaining Best Practices – Humans Required

Since 2006, the Best Practices Exchange (BPE) has brought together practitioners to share ideas and strategies for managing, preserving, and providing access to digital information. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we invite you to join us in reflecting on what sustains the work we do and the people who do it.

For BPE 2026, we are seeking proposals that explore how we maintain and evolve “best practices” in a rapidly changing world. Possible topics include—but are not limited to:

  • The impacts of reduction in budgets and grant funding
    • How do we sustain digital work in a largely grant-funded world?
    • How do we advocate for funding to stakeholders? How do we justify the long-term funding commitment required to simply maintain and steward what we already have? 
  • Strategies for sustaining professional ethics in a shifting societal landscape
    • Navigating new laws and requirements (e.g. DEI changes, ADA Title II compliance)
    • Environmental impact of digital infrastructure
    • Keeping our professional ethics (i.e., ALA and SAA code of ethics) and judgement to align with changing technologies
    • Balancing our authentic selves and professional ethics while responding to emerging directives
  • The positive and negative impacts of AI on digital preservation and access
    • Practical applications 
    • Mitigating bias in AI algorithms 
    • AI as an enhancement of human intelligence – supporting professional expertise rather than replacing it
    • Navigating the tension between user access and protecting infrastructure against AI bots 
  • How do we sustain the people who do this work?
    • Strategies for addressing burnout, retention, and workload balance

Tips for creating a strong proposal

A strong proposal for BPE is one that is:

  • Based on real-world examples and experiences
  • Open and honest
  • Examines successes and key factors to that success

OR

  • Examines failures and discusses steps taken to rework ideas or lessons learned
  • Includes practical take-ways
  • Encourages active participation from attendees

*Please note that sessions will not be recorded.

Session formats

Sessions can be designed for a variety of formats including a full 45-minute presentation or panel discussion, a 20-minute presentation that may be combined with a complementary presentation to create a full session, a 10-minute lightning talk, a workshop offering hands-on experience, or use your imagination! 

We welcome new ideas and will do our best to accommodate them.

BPE also offers birds of a feather sessions that provide space for ad hoc, peer-to-peer learning based on a specific topic. These sessions lean toward being less structured, but topics and general goals for discussions will receive a light review. Please submit your birds of a feather session ideas via the short form for proposals. Some examples of past topics can be found here. 

Looking for more information?

Find more information about the 2026 unconference here: https://bpexchange.wordpress.com/2026-conference/. View programs from past conferences here for examples of topics and session formats.

Interested in collaborating with others on a particular topic? Connect with others about potential proposals: BPE Proposals Brainstorming Spreadsheet

New Publication Special Issue: “Heritage in the Margins: Forgetting, Remembering, Rewriting”

International Journal of Heritage Studies, Volume 31, Issue 9 (2025)
(partial open access)

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce that our special issue, “Heritage in the Margins: Forgetting, Remembering, Rewriting,” has been published with the International Journal of Heritage Studies. We’d like to thank all the authors who contributed to this issue and for the insightful conversations we shared around the topics we explored.

This collection of articles explores how marginalized communities navigate heritage preservation, representation, and cultural memory in complex and often contested spaces.

What’s Inside:

Heritage in the Margins: Forgetting, Remembering, Rewriting – Merve Kayikci and Sertaç Sehlikoglu

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2543747

Islam Exhibited – Merve Kayikci examines representation challenges in pluralistic societies

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2535326

Inheritance Without the Heritage – Sertaç Sehlikoglu explores ecological dimensions of cultural conquest narratives through fig trees

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2025.2496873

Life-Sustaining Transboundary Survival – Nelli Sargsyan & Tamar Shirinian rethink Armenian heritage struggles

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2024.2401806

Colonialism as ‘Shared History’? – Alexandra Oancă investigates European colonial heritage negotiations in Casablanca

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2024.2386698

Identity and (Dis)owning the Past – Erol Saglam provides anthropological insights into heritage preservation and revitalization

https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2024.2443891

Why This Matters

This collection challenges traditional heritage narratives by centering voices and experiences often relegated to the margins. From Islamic representation in museums to ecological memory and transboundary survival strategies, these scholars illuminate how communities actively shape their cultural legacies.

In an era of increasing cultural polarization, understanding how marginalized communities preserve, contest, and reimagine their heritage is crucial for building more inclusive societies.

We’re grateful for the collaborative spirit that made this issue possible and excited to share these important contributions with the world.

Read the full issue: https://lnkd.in/eEvWyiSV

Warm regards,

Merve Kayikci & Sertaç Sehlikoglu

Contact Information

Merve Kayikci

Radboud University

Gender and Diversity Research Group

Contact Email

kayikci.mrve@gmail.com

URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjhs20/31/9

CFP: Reclaiming Craft: Decolonial Perspectives on Heritage and Innovation in the Islamic World

Craft traditions from the Muslim world have often been framed through colonial and Eurocentric lenses, reducing them to exotic artifacts or static relics of a bygone era. This session seeks to disrupt these narratives by exploring and reimagining traditional crafts in present and future contexts while maintaining their profound historical and cultural significance. Can crafts be represented in contemporary art and museums without erasing their original meaning or commodifying their heritage? Can current theoretical and/or methodological frameworks dismantle colonial legacies and promote equitable engagement with these traditions?

We invite submissions of papers presenting a critical examination of the decolonizing process of craft histories within the Islamic world and their evolving paths. Case studies exploring different artistic traditions are welcome, as well as ones focusing on specific media (including ceramics, textiles, metalwork, woodwork, calligraphy). Panel contributors could address topics such as intersections between craft and contemporary art expressions, technological adaptations of crafts, the role of Islamic aesthetics, and resistance to cultural appropriation. We also encourage different methodological approaches to examine the various facets of craft preservation and innovation, such as postcolonial theory, material culture studies, Islamic art historiography and Islamic epistemologies. Submissions may be in the form of traditional research papers or more informal practice-based presentations. We would also consider combining some presentations into a roundtable discussion, allowing for a more collaborative dialogue.

Ultimately, the session seeks to reframe traditional crafts as dynamic, living practices that contribute to the formation of cultural and spiritual identities, an exploration of the ways in which decolonial perspectives can encourage sustainable and innovative approaches to craft representation and evolution in a global context.

Submit your Paper via this form. Please download, complete and send it directly to the Session Convenor(s) below by Sunday 2 November 2025:

Sami L. De Giosa, University of Sharjah, lgiosa@sharjah.ac.ae

Mariam Rosser-Owen, V&A Museum, m.rosserowen@vam.ac.uk

For further information, see: https://forarthistory.org.uk/reclaiming-craft-decolonial-perspectives-on-heritage-and-innovation-in-the-islamic-world/

CFP: Seeking Material Culture Scholars for Bloombury’s Trans Studies Book Series

Seeking material culture scholars to write and edit books for Trans Studies, a book series published by Bloomsbury Academic. We welcome books on transgender and nonbinary lives and experiences as reflected in material culture. 

Bloomsbury Academic is a leading international publisher of books on material culture, and its Gender & Sexuality Studies list pioneers scholarship about marginalized gender identities and sexualities, as seen in the press’s commitment to LGBTQIA+ topics. 

High priorities for the Trans Studies series include books that provide intersectional perspectives, as well as works that examine transgender and nonbinary topics with reference to particular linguistic, national, and regional groups. We encourage authors from around the world to contribute to the series, incorporating culture-specific insights as feasible.

Contemporary and historical works are equally appropriate. Books in this series include monographs and edited volumes that target academic audiences. We value books that explore socially relevant issues and that both clarify and question the premises of trans studies.

To propose a book for Trans Studies, please complete this form and submit it to General Editor Douglas Vakoch (dvakoch@meti.org) and Senior Acquisitions Editor Courtney Morales (Courtney.Morales@bloomsbury.com). Please include your CV, a list of five to seven potential reviewers you do not know personally, and a sample chapter. If you do not have a sample chapter for the book, please include a previous writing sample written in the same style that you envision for the book.

On the form, list the highest degree for each author, editor, and chapter author. For edited volumes, all chapters should have at least one author who has already completed their PhD. 

All books in the Trans Studies series—whether they are grounded in the humanities, social sciences, or biological sciences—reflect on the assumptions that guide the book’s specific version of trans scholarship. We especially seek works that provide innovative reformulations of the scope and practice of trans studies, including novel methodologies and theoretical concepts that challenge the status quo. We welcome books from disciplines that are underrepresented in trans studies.

All books follow the most recent guidelines for best practices in using accurate and respectful language when discussing transgender and nonbinary people and topics. Key resources to these best practices include GLAAD’s overviews of Transgender People and Nonbinary People, as well as this Glossary of Terms.

Contributors to this series come from disciplines including but not limited to affect studies, anthropology, architecture, area studies, art, biology, cinema studies, classics, communication studies, cultural studies, disability studies, ecology, economics, education, emotion studies, environmental studies, ethics, ethnic studies, gender studies, geography, history, law, literary studies, masculinity studies, media studies, medicine, medieval studies, philosophy, political science, psychology, public policy, queer studies, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, science fiction studies, sociology, theology, trans studies, and women’s studies. Proposals grounded in other disciplines are equally welcome.

Contact Email

dvakoch@meti.org

CFP: Online Northwest, Re: Community – Reimagining Connections, Reframing Communications, and Redefining Collaboration

Online Northwest is pleased to announce we will be hosting an in-person conference on April 10, 2026. It will be held at the University of Oregon, Portland Campus. 

We invite proposals for 30-minute and 45-minute sessions, trainings, or panels on the theme: Re: Community – Reimagining Connections, Reframing Communications, and Redefining Collaboration. Presenters will be given a reduced registration rate to attend the conference. For more information, please visit our website.

The Program Committee is open to session proposals that explore areas of this theme in a variety of contexts. The committee welcomes proposals from library professionals at any level and from all libraries. We welcome work that is in progress, inspires us to explore areas in which we are not experts, and will help us grow as professionals and libraries.

There are many paths for sharing experiences, and we are able to accommodate a multitude of formats including (but not limited to) panel discussions, social/networking gatherings, and presentations. Please be aware that we are not offering hybrid or recorded options. There will be a reduced registration cost for presenters.

Want some inspiration or a place to start? Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Reviewing the “unwritten” aspects of library and archives work – why we do what we do
  • Navigating change – with projects, systems, structures, and more
  • Explorations – new processes, platforms, services, and interactions
  • Updates about pilot projects or early research
  • Collaborations and communities – supporting each other and fostering growth

Proposals will be accepted until 5pm on December 16, 2025. To submit a proposal, follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OnLineNWProposals

Thank you for your time and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tamara Marnell or Elizabeth Duell