CFP: Digitalisation and (Un)Sustainability: Assessing Digital Waste and Material Pollution in the City

CFP from Urban Planning, open access journal

About the Issue
Recent developments in AI technologies have exacerbated existing concerns about the (un)sustainability of digitalisation and datafication. These concerns are related to the limitations of resources both natural and infrastructure-wise (Dekeyser & Lynch, 2025), to the exhaustion of the latter provoked by the excessive AI-use (Wang & Yorke-Smith, 2025), digital archiving, and mundane data consumption (Vale et al., 2024). This is related to the glut of digital footprints and waste in cities, which has been a problem for both cities and the media for centuries, albeit supercharged in the contemporary moment. What is new is the excessive use and normalisation of an (un)sustainable relationship with digital technology, including the everyday use of tools such as Chat GPT (Hogan, 2024). These tools have severe carbon footprint impacts, using as much water as an average family uses in almost two years for server cooling and electricity generation. For every hundred words generated by the service, an average of three bottles of water are consumed (DeGeurin, 2023).

The smart city and the new digital twins’ tropes—along with prescriptive and acritical perspectives that technologies will be the panacea for any complex issue—are part of the problem (Chiappini, 2020). Discourses around the effectiveness of these types of initiatives and projects often create, semantically and semiotically (Babushkina & Votsis, 2022), a distorted view of digital solutions for fictitious issues, including distortions of key human traits such as knowledge, meaning, and embeddedness into reality. On a smaller scale, the everyday life consumption on search engines, direct messaging, social media addiction, multimedia file exchange, and purchases on big tech logistic platforms pollute not only the environment but the collective consciousness, producing confusion, exhaustion, and fatigue. This constant generation of an amount of information that pollutes the brain becomes what Lovink (2019) defined as “brain-junk.” The number of apps keeps increasing, and so does the data they collect, but users are not always aware and digitally literate about these risks. Hence, both co-dependency on media technologies and a lack of a high degree of digital literacy can be considered societal and spatial issues that might create unevenness. It is unfortunately not possible to control-click emptying the trash from digital waste and material pollution: much of it goes beyond the current understanding and technical capability to take care of. Therefore, there is an urge to overcome the rapid accelerationism of techno-determinism and solutionism and identify tactics and strategies aimed at reducing digital waste.

This thematic issue is concerned with the timely and vital problem of digitalisation and its (un)sustainability, fostering a discussion on the waste and pollution, digital and material, caused by massive datafication and urban platformisation (Cristofari, 2023). The relationship between the geographical scale, socio-political goals, and the technological design of digital infrastructures is of crucial importance to the understanding of the issue of digital waste and its possible reduction (Chiappini & Ferrari, 2024). For instance, data centres account for about two percent of all global energy use, and the raw amount of energy consumed by data centres doubles roughly every four to eight years (International Energy Agency, 2022). Hence, in terms of urban planning, the localisation of data centres has key implications, with direct consequences over the surrounding environment with regard to air pollution and climate change. The thematic issue encompasses inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives from urban studies and planning, including digital geography, sociology, semiotics, environmental studies, and legal approaches. It aims to engage critically with the normative and prescriptive discourses which favour a techno-determinist view where smart city projects are celebrated. We invite papers that deal with concepts such as waste, noise, and excess in terms of data, materials, time, labour, cultural surplus, chatbots, and AI-powered services, also, but not exclusively, in relation to the uselessness and ineffectiveness of smart city projects and digital twins’ experiments.

References:

Instructions for Authors
Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal’s instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Open Access
Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal’s open access charges can be found here.

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 Proposals: MAC/SOA Annual Meeting 2026

The Program Committee for the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) and Society of Ohio Archivists (SOA) are seeking session proposals for the 2026 joint annual meeting. MAC and SOA will hold a joint 2026 Annual Meeting on May 14-16, 2026, at the Ohio Union, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, THE Ohio State sits a few miles north of downtown Columbus. A city unto itself with an enrollment of over 65,000, Ohio State is known for its top ranked academic programs in engineering, agriculture, and business, its world class research endeavors, and, of course, football. For more information about the host and the conference, see the meeting website: https://www.midwestarchives.org/2026-annual-meeting 

From 2015 until 2023, Ohio’s tourism slogan was “Find it Here.” As a slogan, it raised the obvious question “find what here?”; but as an archives motto…well, to “Find it Here” is an archivist’s greatest hope for anyone exploring their collections. Join us as we explore the myriad ways in which archivists and memory workers make their collections accessible, discoverable, and usable.

The Program Committee encourages submissions from newer professionals, first-time presenters, and colleagues from non-academic institutions. A MAC or SOA membership is not required. Presenters may submit more than one proposal but may present only one session OR poster. We also encourage those from smaller shops to submit presentations for a focused SOA track. We want to hear from the solo archivists or from those with more limited institutional support! For a list of possible topics and details on the proposal process, please view the MAC/SOA 2026 Call for Proposals website.

To facilitate collaboration among those brainstorming session ideas, the Program Committee encourages use of the MAC Facebook page, SOA Facebook page,  and this spreadsheet for brainstorming session proposal ideas.

The deadline for submitting session proposals for the 2026 MAC / SOA Annual Meeting is October 17, 2025, at 5 pm CST. Use the Call for Proposals form to submit your proposal. There will NOT be an extension to the call, so make sure to get your proposals in by the deadline.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Program Committee Co-Chairs Hayley Jackson (jackha01@luther.edu) and Adam Wanter (awanter@midpointelibrary.org).

CFP: Printing History – Seditious Printing

Call for Papers for Printing History Themed Issue: Seditious Printing

In respect of the 250th anniversary of the printing of the Declaration of Independence, Printing History 38 will examine print as a means of provocation, agitation, and rebellion. We invite author submissions that interrogate print-as-protest across borders and cultural contexts, with a focus on printing’s particular power to foment political and social change. We particularly welcome submissions highlighting the print production of underresearched and/or marginalized groups and individuals. 

We invite interested researchers, professionals, and practitioners to share work engaged with the following topics:

  • Print production as a means of political provocation and rebellion
  • Print and the shaping of American (or other cultural/political) imaginaries
  • Print as a catalyst for social change
  • Activist print cultures: posters, broadsides, zines, ephemera
  • Printed matter as an organizing tool
  • Secret presses; underground printing 
  • Interrogations of print and power

In general, Printing History follows the Chicago Manual of Style. An APHA style guide and further information for contributors can be downloaded here.

Submissions should be emailed to editor@printinghistory.org. If you have questions about this issue, the process, or the journal in general, do not hesitate to write. We do not solicit proposals for articles, but we are happy to discuss ideas and abstracts via email.

Submission deadline: October 31, 2025

CFP: Cold altitudes: knowledge, imagination, and experiences of mountain ice

Editor’s Note: I think this is the first time I’ve seen the phrase “ice as archive,” and I hope there is an archivist who is able to participate!

Call for conference papers

Cold altitudes: knowledge, imagination, and experiences of mountain ice

Date: 11-12.05.2026

Venue: University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Organisers: Christine Bichsel (University of Fribourg), Katja Doose (University Lyon 2)

From glaciological expeditions to snow myths, from avalanche laws to mountain poetics, ice has shaped how humans engage with high-altitude environments. This conference explores how societies have known, represented, and inhabited mountain ice—broadly understood to include glaciers, snowfields and avalanches —through empirical and conceptual lenses across the humanities and social sciences. Recent advances in the ice humanities and related fields explored the manifold relationships between humans and ice mainly focusing on examining polar and circumpolar contexts. A systematic account on mountain ice is missing in the social sciences and humanities. This conference seeks to examine human-ice relations as part of the cultural, political, ecological, spiritual and scientific dimensions of mountains. 

We invite contributions that investigate mountain ice as a medium of knowledge, cultural meaning, and social life. How have glaciers and snow been imagined in literature and art? How have they been measured, inhabited, feared, celebrated, or transformed into resources? What epistemologies, cosmologies, infrastructures, or legal regimes have crystallized around frozen heights? We particularly welcome papers that address: 

• Histories of mountain glaciology, avalanche science, and snow observation 

• Scientific, local, and indigenous knowledge practices related to mountain ice 

• The cultural imagination of glaciers, snow, and avalanches in literature, film, or visual arts 

• Ice as a legal, political, or territorial entity in mountain regions 

• Aesthetic, emotional, or sensorial engagements with mountain ice 

• Ice as archive: materiality, memory, and temporality in frozen mountainous environments 

While grounded in mountain regions, we also welcome conceptual reflections that connect mountain ice to broader discussions in environmental humanities, environmental history, historical geography, or science and technology studies.

We welcome submissions from junior and senior scholars. The format of the conference will be interactive. Conference papers will be pre-circulated, and participants’ commentaries will guide the discussions. We expect participants to submit their full draft conference papers by 01.05.2026. We aim to produce an edited volume from this conference.

Abstracts of up to 300 words, with an indication of the sources the research is based on, and a short biography (max. 100 words) should be sent by 31.10.2025 to christine.bichsel@unifr.ch AND katja.doose@univ-lyon2.fr. 

Accommodation and transport will be partially covered by the organisers, with priority given to financial support for junior scholars. 

Contact Information

Katja Doose

Université Lyon 2

Contact Email

katja.doose@univ-lyon2.fr

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/

Call for Participation: 2025 Minnesota Archives Symposium

The Minnesota Archives Symposium Work Group and your TCART Officers are pleased to release our call for participation in the 2025 Minnesota Archives Symposium, which will be held on Monday November 3, 9am-4pm in the historic Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul.

The Work Group and TCART officers are seeking proposals for participation in several formats this year, including:

  • long-form presentation (15+ minutes)
  • “Brag Box” lightning talks (5-7 minutes)
  • “Birds of a Feather” discussion facilitators

Participating in TCART programming is an excellent way to support the profession, share your expertise, and connect with other archivists!  To learn more about each participation opportunity or to sign up, visit our Call for Participation Form.  Proposals are due October 1.  If you have questions, concerns, or have problems using the form you are very welcome to email us at tcartmn@gmail.com

If you or your organization would like to sponsor the TCART Symposium, reach out to us at tcartmn@gmail.com.

CFP: MMDP Fall 2025 Meeting Call for Proposals

The Mid-Michigan Digital Practitioners (MMDP) will come together for an in-person meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at the Library of Michigan in Lansing. 
 
As with all MMDP meetings, we will bring together a wide range of professionals and students engaged in creating and curating digital collections in Michigan and the surrounding region, including librarians, archivists, museum curators, historians, students, educators, and more. The goal of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for the MMDP community to share knowledge and make connections. New attendees are always welcome!
 
Submit Your Proposals for the 2025 MMDP Meeting
The MMDP Planning Group invites you to submit your proposal for our November meeting. Proposals will be accepted for sessions in the following lengths and formats: 

  • Presentation: A single topic or project presented by up to three (3) presenters. Presentations will be slotted into either 30, 45, or 60-minute sessions, including time for Q&A. (30-60 minutes)
  • “Birds-of-a-Feather” Break-out Discussion Topics: Open sessions for discussion around a particular topic or theme. This session provides an opportunity to begin or get feedback on in-progress projects, collaborate on addressing challenges, and discuss thought-provoking questions. (approximately 30 minutes)
  • Demonstrations: Guided training sessions on a specific tool, technique, workflow, or concept. (10 minutes)
  • Lightning Talks: High-energy talks on any topic held in succession in a single session. (5 minutes)
  • Poster: Present research or project findings summarized using brief written statements and graphic materials, such as photographs, charts, graphs, and/or diagrams mounted on poster board. 
  • Panel: A discussion of up to three (3) presenters on a unified topic, plus a moderator. Panels will be slotted into 60-minute sessions, leaving a minimum of 15 minutes for Q&A and discussion at the end of each session. (60 minutes)

This is a great opportunity to reuse a poster shared at another conference! We welcome proposals from anyone, but are particularly interested in proposals from smaller institutions and students. For Presentations, Demonstrations, and Lightning Talks, we invite presenters to join us in-person or via a pre-recorded video. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate live-streamed presentations.
 
As always, we welcome proposals for demos, talks, or posters on a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to):  

  • Accessibility
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Collaboration
  • Community Archiving
  • Digital Collections Stewardship
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Digital Humanities
  • Outreach
  • Standards, Tools, and Formats
  • Web Archiving 

To submit a proposal, please complete the form with your idea: https://tinyurl.com/MMDP2025-Proposals. If you have any questions, please send us an e-mail (midmichdp@gmail.com).
 
Proposal Evaluation
The Planning Group will review the proposals and come up with a program for the MMDP meeting. 
 
Please submit proposals by Tuesday, September 30 for the MMDP Meeting on November 20. Individuals with proposals chosen for inclusion in the Fall MMDP Meeting will be notified by the end of business on October 14.

Registration
As with all MMDP events, attendance is free but registration is required. To register, please complete the registration form: https://tinyurl.com/MMDP2025-Registration.

More details about MMDP and past events are available on our website, MidMichDP.wordpress.com.

Call for Papers: Queer/Trans History Conference 2026

The LGBTQ+ History Association is pleased to announce a call for papers for its fourth conference, the Queer/Trans History Conference* 2026 (#QTHC26), to be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from June 2 to 5, 2026. 

*Yes, this is a new name! The LGBTQ+ History Association has always interpreted “queer” as an umbrella that included queering of gender identity and expression, but it is important to name the work that we do more explicitly. With this name change, we’re affirming that this conference is a place to have the conversations about how sexuality, gender, and transness intersect and diverge. Also, in a political moment when the U.S. federal government is actively erasing trans history, we are committing to defending history, resisting fascism, and continuing to tell stories from the queer and/or trans past. 

Scholars working on any aspect of the queer and/or trans past, in any region of the world, during any period, are encouraged to apply. This conference highlights historical approaches to queer/trans scholarship, and while interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, we are soliciting proposals that explore queer/trans lives in the past. There is no specific theme; rather, we hope that this gathering will simply showcase the best of current work and new directions in the fields of queer and/or trans histories, including panels addressing historiographical debates or states-of-the-field. We encourage queer/trans scholarship on racial formations and racial capitalism, colonialism and empire, disability and embodiment, paid and unpaid labor, and practices of kinship and intimacy. Moreover, we are interested in panels that look beyond the twentieth-century United States. To promote robust conversations, we encourage panels organized by theme rather than region.

We particularly encourage panels and roundtables that respond to the political crises and technological changes impacting how we research, study, and teach queer/trans history today. In an era in which the teaching of history, ethnic studies and gender/sexuality studies faces increased scrutiny and backlash, we welcome panels and roundtables that explore critical reflections on queer/trans history in the classroom, from K-12 through higher education. As the US National Park Service deletes trans history content from government webpages, we encourage submissions that discuss queer/trans public history projects today. As the media through which queer/trans history knowledge circulates continue to diversify, we welcome panels that discuss how historians are using podcasts, online exhibitions, blogs, documentaries, social media rolls, Signal threads, Zoom webinars, and other formats to tell stories about the queer/trans past. 

Dorm rooms and on-campus hotel rooms will be available to make this conference as affordable as possible and registration fees will be minimal. 

A note from the conference co-chairs:

We want to thank members who’ve reached out to express concern about hosting the 2026 conference in the United States. We’re working to address those concerns, and particularly to make the conference as accessible as possible given the circumstances, including offering fully virtual options, sponsoring visas, and helping keep the costs of the conference as low as possible. We encourage folks to keep reaching out to us–this process is collaborative, and there would be no QTHC without all of you.

There is no perfect solution. While the U.S. is a place that international scholars may want to boycott or feel is unsafe to travel to, it is also a place that is hard for our trans and/or immigrant members to leave and return to. We also believe it is important to keep discussing trans and queer histories in the United States when the federal government is actively trying to erase these fields of inquiry. We considered several options and went with one where we had a dedicated local organizer with the capacity to facilitate the logistics on the ground. We want this conference to be accessible for as many people as possible. Ann Arbor has a generally welcoming climate for LGBTQ folks, ample institutional resources, interesting archives, and a richly documented local/regional LGBTQ history, so we’re excited about this opportunity. 

We see a future for the QTHC that continues to move around, and if you and your institution can host for 2028, please be in touch with the LGBTQ History Association co-chairs! We are open to a Canadian location for 2028, and look forward to an ongoing discussion with our membership to explore how best to facilitate accessible transnational dialogue about the queer/trans past in the years to come.

Guidelines for Submission

We are accepting proposals for:

  1. Fully in-person panels (three papers, a chair, and a comment; chair and comment roles can be fulfilled by the same person), roundtables (three to five speakers who will speak for 5-10 minutes each, plus a chair), workshops (an event in which one or more facilitators present on a topic and engage the audience in hands-on activity or constructive dialogue; examples might include  “Writing for the Public with the Editors of Nursing Clio,” “How to Launch a Podcast with Dig: A History Podcast,” “Writing a Book Proposal,” etc; workshops will require attendees to pre-register, and a max participant threshold should be set in the proposal), or single papers. 
  2. Fully virtual panels (three papers, a chair, and a comment; chair and comment roles can be fulfilled by the same person), roundtables (three to five speakers who will speak for 5-10 minutes each, plus a chair), or single papers. In response to member feedback about hybrid panels and prohibitive costs around technical support, we have decided not to accept hybrid proposals that require conference support to implement the hybrid experience. 

Our hope is that with options for fully virtual panels we can support opportunities for scholars who feel unsafe traveling to the United States to gather, share scholarship, and connect. 

We will consider individual paper submissions, out of which the program committee will assemble a very limited number of panels (either fully virtual or in-person). See below for ways to connect with others working in your field.

Panels and roundtables will be 1.5 hours. We encourage all full panel submissions to include at least one graduate student where possible. All panels should include a diversity of scholars in terms of institution, rank, and identity. Please only apply as part of one panel or roundtable. (The exception to this rule is for the role of chair or commentator, which may be performed by someone who is also giving a paper or appearing on a roundtable.) You do need to include someone to perform the chair, with an optional commenter. 

You may reach out to conference co-chairs for help in locating a chair and/or commentator: email conference@lgbtq-ha.org. In order to assemble panels, feel free to use the LGBTQHA listserv to connect with others working on similar topics (LGBTQHA@groups.io; if you are not already a member, you can register here: https://groups.io/g/lgbtqha) or use the hashtag #qthc26 on BlueSky or Facebook. 

Full Panels should include, in one Word document:

  • Title of panel
  • Panel abstract (300 words max.)
  • Title and abstract for each paper (300 words max.)
  • One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each participant
  • Chair (required) and Commenter (optional) roles specified

Roundtables should include, in one Word document:

  • Title of roundtable
  • Panel abstract (300 words max.)
  • Abstract for each contribution (300 words max.)
  • One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each participant
  • Chair role specified

Workshops should include, in one Word document:

  • Title of workshop
  • Workshop description  (300 words max.)
  • Maximum number of participants 
  • Expectations of participants (Do they need to bring a book proposal in progress? A laptop or other equipment? Sturdy walking shoes?) 
  • Support that the facilitators would need from the conference staff
  • Workshops can run up to 3 hours; please make a note in the proposal of the desired run time. 
  • One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information for each facilitator

Single paper submissions should include, in one Word document:

  • Title of paper
  • Paper abstract (300 words max.)
  • One-page CV or biographical statement with contact information

Please submit all proposals by November 1, 2025 to conference@lgbtq-ha.org. The QTHC 26 program committee will make decisions and send notifications in December. All presenters are expected to be (or become) members of the LGBTQ History Association by the time of the conference. Membership information is here.

In solidarity,

Co-Chairs: Alex Burnett, Averill Earls, and Nikita Shepard

Contact Information

Co-Chairs: Alex Burnett, Averill Earls, and Nikita Shepard conference@lgbtq-ha.org

Contact Email

conference@lgbtq-ha.org

URL https://lgbtq-ha.org/conferences/queer-and-trans-history-conference-2026-cfp-coming-soon/

Call for Submissions: Public Services Quarterly

Call for Submissions 

The “Special Libraries, Special Challenges” column in Public Services Quarterly is currently seeking submissions for issues that explore all aspects of working in a special library. Articles generally are approximately 2,000 words and focus on practical ideas rather than theory. Case studies are always welcomed.   

Column Description 

“Special Libraries, Special Challenges” is a column dedicated to exploring the unique public services challenges that arise in libraries that specialize in a particular subject, such as law, medicine, business, special collections, university archives, governmental settings, and so forth. In each column, authors discuss innovative projects, public service issues, and creative solutions that arise specifically in special libraries.

Potential Article Topics

  • Plans to commemorate anniversaries and historic dates
  • Profile of libraries/archives at professional organizations
  • Case studies of operations and scope of work in corporate libraries
  • Profile of libraries supporting the work in various branches of government  
  • Rebuilding library services and facilities after a building disaster (fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc.)
  • Innovative pilot projects 
  • Developing new programs for students and/or faculty
  • Professional and continuing development for library staff
  • AI and library services
  • Emerging trends, such as empirical research, data analytics and alt-metrics 
  • Teaching various literacies (information, media, technology, etc.) 
  • Other ideas welcomed!  

Contact  Special or subject-matter librarians interested in authoring a piece for this column are invited to contact the co-editors, Patti Gibbons (pgibbons@uchicago.edu) or Deborah Schander (deborah.schander@ct.gov).