Tag: allied professions

CFP: Special Issues on GenAI Tools within Libraries, Archives and Museums – Information Technology and Libraries #ITAL

Guest editors Ellen Schmid and Katy Miller invite you to submit a proposal for an article in an upcoming special issue of Information Technology and Libraries that will explore the integration of Generative AI tools within library, archive, and museum research environments. This special issue will be published in September 2026. We welcome contributions that provide practical insights, case studies, or user research on the development, deployment, and impact of AI-enhanced research tools. Topics of interest include user-focused interfaces, implementation processes, UX assessments, and the influence of GenAI on workflows, data analysis, and research practices. Articles should present first-hand experience with designing, testing, or evaluating AI helpers, and may cover commercial or open-source solutions. 

Submissions of up to 5,000 words will be accepted for a publication target of September 2026. 

Article proposals are due February 1, 2026 and include a 500-word abstract and a brief statement about the author’s experience in the field. Authors will be notified of acceptance in late February, with a submission of the first draft of the article (no more than 5,000 words) due May 1, 2026. Articles will go through the same rigorous peer review, copyediting, and proofreading process as any other ITAL article.

This issue will be guest edited by Ellen Schmid and Katy Miller in collaboration with ITAL’s Editor (Ken Varnum) and Assistant Editor (Joanna DiPasquale). 

Submit your proposal: https://forms.gle/aSjdjpvoR2QG4By87

Email questions to: 

CfA: History – Theory – Criticism Journal 2/2026: The AI Turn in Contemporary Historiography: Challenges, Applications, Reflections

Call for Articles

Special Issue 2/2026

The AI Turn in Contemporary Historiography: Challenges, Applications, Reflections

Deadline for submissions: 30 June 2026

Scope and Aims

Artificial intelligence has entered the field of historiography not as a neutral instrument but as a phenomenon that unsettles its very foundations. The capacity of large language models to generate and reorganize knowledge on a scale that surpasses human comprehension compels historians to reconsider the principles that have long defined their craft: authorship, interpretation, verification, and the human mediation of evidence. The accelerating automation of textual production introduces a cognitive threshold that challenges the historian’s ability to control, evaluate, and verify the narratives emerging from algorithmic systems. 

This transformation reveals both the potential and the vulnerability of historical knowledge. Artificial intelligence enables new ways of analyzing extensive textual corpora, translating and connecting sources, and recognizing patterns across linguistic and temporal boundaries. At the same time, it alters the conditions under which meaning is produced and received, eroding the distinction between human interpretation and computational synthesis. The opacity of large models, concealed in their training data and hierarchies of value, complicates one of the historian’s central tasks: the capacity to identify, understand, and critique bias within sources. 

The AI turn in historiography, therefore, marks more than a technical or methodological innovation. It signifies a shift in the scale and ecology of knowledge, shaped by the asymmetries of global computational power and by growing dependence on corporate infrastructures. This situation calls for reflection on how historical inquiry can preserve its ethical and interpretive integrity while adapting to an environment governed by automation, data abundance, and limited transparency.

This special issue of History – Theory – Criticism invites contributions that address these challenges. We seek studies and reflections that examine how artificial intelligence transforms the epistemology, methodology, and ethics of historical work, how historians can critically engage with opaque algorithmic systems, and how humanistic scholarship re-articulates alternative, locally grounded, and sustainable approaches to technological innovation. 

Themes and questions

1. Epistemology, authorship, and interpretation 

a) How does the massive production of synthetic text alter the relationship between information and interpretation? Can historians still claim control over the evidentiary process when relying on systems whose reasoning and corpus remain opaque? 

b) To what extent can AI be said to “understand” the past, and how does its pattern-based synthesis differ from human interpretation? 

c) What frameworks of transparency, citation, and disclosure are needed to ensure accountability in AI-assisted research and writing? 

d) How might the concept of authorship evolve when historical texts are increasingly co-produced by human and machine intelligence? 

2. Methodology, infrastructure, and the Black box 

a) General-purpose models reproduce values, hierarchies, and linguistic biases embedded in their training data, often without the user’s awareness. This deepens the “black box” problem and undermines one of the foundations of historical scholarship—the capacity to identify and critique bias in sources. 

b) How can historians engage critically with these systems without surrendering epistemic agency? 

c) What role might smaller, domain-specific, and ethically curated models play in building more transparent and interpretable infrastructures for historical research? 

d) How can collaboration between historians, computer scientists, and archivists foster local, open, and sustainable alternatives to corporate AI ecosystems? 

3. Cognitive, political, and environmental boundaries 

a) The automation of interpretation introduces a cognitive threshold: the scale of machine-generated material now exceeds what human scholars can meaningfully read or evaluate. This raises the question of how knowledge is curated, filtered, and trusted in a post-verificatory environment. 

b) At the same time, the concentration of computational resources in a few global centers reinforces inequalities between academic communities and widens the gap between those who design AI and those who merely consume it.

c) Finally, the environmental and energy costs of large-scale AI infrastructures compel the humanities to consider the ecological ethics of technological progress. What forms of scholarship might align critical inquiry with sustainability and local autonomy? 

4. Education, practice, and the future of humanistic knowledge 

a) How can historical education cultivate critical AI literacy rather than simple tool proficiency? 

b) What pedagogical strategies can help students and researchers maintain interpretive depth and ethical reflection in an environment saturated by generative systems?

c) Should AI be understood as an auxiliary method, a paradigm shift, or a mirror revealing the epistemological foundations of humanistic knowledge itself? 

d) How can universities and professional organizations shape guidelines that safeguard integrity and creativity while embracing innovation? 

Submission guidelines

Submissions and inquiries should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief via email. 

Language: English 

Text length: articles 36–72,000 characters including notes; discussion papers 18–36,000 characters; reviews 9–18,000 characters. All articles should include an abstract (150–200 words) and 4–5 keywords. 

Format: Microsoft Word (*.docx) or Libre Office (*.odt), following the DTK Manual of Style and Ethical Code 

Peer review: Double-blind by two independent reviewers 

Deadline: 30 June 2026 

Publication: Winter 2026, Diamond Open Access 

Guest Editors: Jaromír Mrňka, Jiří Hlaváček

About the journal

Dějiny – teorie – kritika (History – theory – criticism) is a peer-reviewed, Diamond open-access journal, founded in 2004 and published by the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University. Indexed in SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, EBSCOhost, CEEOL, and DOAJ, the journal provides a platform for theoretically grounded and methodologically innovative approaches to the past. 

Contact Information

Petr Wohlmuth, Ph.D. (Editor-in-Chief): Petr.Wohlmuth@fhs.cuni.cz

Journal website: https://ojs.cuni.cz/dejinyteoriekritika

Contact Email

Petr.Wohlmuth@fhs.cuni.cz

URL

https://ojs.cuni.cz/dejinyteoriekritika

CFP: Thinking Through Printing symposium

Thinking Through Printing
A Symposium on Book Arts Studios and
Book History Scholarship
University of Toronto  |  June 4 – 6, 2026
www.ThinkingThroughPrinting2026.ca

Dates: June 4 – 6, 2026
Location: University of Toronto (in-person only)
Proposal due date: January 19th, 2026, 11:59 pm EST
Submit proposals to: Submission Form

For scholars of the history of books, reading, authorship, design, and publishing, first-hand experiences with the technologies and practices of the book arts have moved from the margins to the centre of their discipline. Experiential bibliography has flourished within academic programs in book history and adjacent fields, which are increasingly populated by aspiring printer-bibliographers, faculty and students alike. To that end, book arts studios are becoming vital spaces for book history education and research.

Essential for the long-term success of these initiatives is a coherent and focused conversation on the rationales, educational goals, and research potentials of print studios and other spaces for experiential bibliography. As a follow-up to the 2025 Building Book Labs symposium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, this event will gather present and future leaders working at the intersection of book history, research creation, and digital scholarship to reflect on achievements, share strategies, explore challenges, and plan future projects that combine book history scholarship and experiential learning in the book arts.

The Thinking Through Printing symposium will offer participants two full days of experiential workshops, roundtables, and exhibitions (June 5-6), plus a public keynote talk by Ryan Cordell (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; June 4), founding director of the Skeuomorph Press & Book Lab.

What are the research questions in book history that can only be answered via work in a print studio? How does experiential bibliography open up areas of inquiry for students and advanced researchers alike? In an age of unsettling technological change, what role do older printing technologies and practices have in helping society understand the power of words, images, and material artifacts? How might we understand the past differently by making bookish artifacts of our own within communities of practitioner-scholars? How can research creation projects that emerge from these book arts studios be better supported and recognized in academic contexts?

Our symposium will address these high-level questions through a multi-modal approach that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the book arts and book history, combining roundtable discussions, experiential workshops, student-led poster sessions, rare book library tours, a keynote lecture and roundtable (both open to the public), and other activities.

We invite brief statements of interest (max. 300 words) which address: 1) your interest and experience in the field; and 2) a proposal for a specific topic, question, or experiential workshop that you would like to address or have addressed by the symposium. For those interested in facilitating a 90-minute workshop, please provide a short description of the activity, its goals, and tools, supplies, and other resources needed for the workshop. Workshops could be hands-on, discussion-based, or both.

Topics for workshops, roundtables, and subsequent discussions will be chosen by the program committee with the goal of representing a broad range of approaches and outputs in experiential bibliography.

Examples of workshop and roundtable topics include:

  • Interdisciplinary research methods combining book arts, book history, and digital humanities;
  • Book arts studios as sites for pedagogical research;
  • Advocacy for and implementation of experiential, studio-based research creation in the humanities;
  • Connections between contemporary and historical practices in printing;
  • Material and practical challenges in the implementation of experiential activities;
  • Productive connections (and tensions) between digital and analog technologies, practices, and ways of thinking about material texts; what can digital scholarship learn from the book arts (and vice versa)?
  • Working and teaching with artifacts that have culturally specific histories (e.g. Indigenous type, as potential objects for repatriation), whose provenance is complex and raises ethical questions about their use

Please fill out this Submission Form to apply. The deadline for proposals is Monday, January 19, 2026 at 11:59 pm EST.

Any questions about the event or the application process may be sent to thinkingthroughprinting@utoronto.ca.

CFP: Bibliographical Society of Canada Conference, June 2026

The Many Hands of Book History
Conference of the Bibliographical Society of Canada / Société bibliographique du Canada
8-9 June 2026, University of Toronto

The Bibliographical Society of Canada invites proposals for its annual conference on the theme, The Many Hands of Book History. Drawing on Robert Darnton’s foundational article “What is the History of Books”(1985), this conference turns toward the expanded, evolving, and interdependent networks that shape book history. Darnton’s Communications Circuit model traced the movement of books through multiple hands and bibliographers today continue to stretch, challenge, and reimagine that circuit. This year’s theme considers books not simply as paper, ink, and binding, but as profoundly collaborative objects shaped at every stage by labour, creativity, culture, ownership, and interpretation.

We invite participants to explore the diverse social, material, and cultural processes through which books—broadly conceived—have been created, preserved, circulated, and transformed. We encourage papers that explore interactions between any hands involved with the book, including creators, artists, printers, illustrators, binders, publishers, booksellers, readers, collectors, archivists, scholars, and communities. We also welcome contributions that provoke new methodological, material, and theoretical questions—especially from disciplines and practitioners who may not always identify themselves as “book people.”

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Materiality and Meaning: How formats, illustration, binding, decoration, wear, repair, and digital remediation shape the interpretation, circulation, and preservation of textual objects.
  • Books as Collaborative and Communal Objects: The ways in which book creation fosters shared identities, reflects or silences human experience, and emerges from the labour and creativity of diverse communities.
  • Research Centered on Marginalized Voices: Studies of book culture by, for, and/or from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, BIPOC communities, persons with disabilities, women, and/or religious or cultural groups.
  • Analogue and Digital Materialities: From parchment, paper, ink, and leather to bits, bytes, algorithms, and born-digital forms; questions of reprinting, digitization, open access, and remediation.
  • Tools, Methods, and Approaches: Bibliography, critical theory, scientific analysis, digital humanities, artificial intelligence, data-driven research, and other interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary methods.
  • Pedagogy and Practice: Teaching with books and cultural heritage materials; hands-on learning; community-engaged scholarship; and the impact of archival and material encounters on students, communities, and other learners.
  • The Diverse Forms and Functions of “The Book” Across Time and Place: Manuscripts, archives, zines, artists’ books, digital platforms, print ephemera, community publications, and experimental or hybrid forms.

This conference emphasizes welcoming participation across fields and career stages, including students, early-career researchers, conservators, librarians, book artists, digital humanists, bibliographers, and scholars working within or alongside book history and bibliography. Proposals may engage with material, visual, scientific, technological, or community-based approaches; with Canadian or international contexts; and with intersectional, cross-cultural, and transnational perspectives.

Proposals:

Proposals for twenty-minute conference presentations, entire panels (three presentations), or hour-long workshops may be submitted in English or French. Proposals, which must be submitted via the online form, must include the following elements:

  • Title of presentation/panel/workshop
  • Abstract indicating argument, context, and methods (max. 250 words)
  • Bio (50-100 words) including full name, professional designation (e.g., graduate student, faculty, librarian, researcher etc.), and institutional affiliation or place

In order to accommodate financial and accessibility issues, this conference will be presented in a limited hybrid capacity. Please specify whether your proposal is for an in-person or online presentation when submitting. Priority will be given to in-person presentations, and online presentations must be recorded and submitted prior to the conference.

Applicants to the Emerging Scholar Prize must also include:

  • Cover letter (1 p.) explaining the applicant’s suitability for the prize
  • CV (max. 3 pp.)
  • Proof of student status or of graduation within the past two years (copy of diploma, student identification, or official or unofficial transcript)

Deadline: 30 January 2026

For more information: https://event.fourwaves.com/bsc/pages 

CFP: International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) Annual Meeting

Dear all,
I am pleased to share with you the call for papers for the upcoming ICOHTEC Annual Meeting, which will be held at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece from 8–11 October 2026, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Technologies, Research & Applications in Education/ School of Humanities and the Ethnological Museum of Thrace in Alexandroupolis, Greece.

The theme of this conference, “Engaging the History of Technology”, invites critical reflections on how history of technology can engage with evolving methodologies, theories and pedagogies, and other branches of historical study to demonstrate that understanding technologies’ pasts are essential to navigating contemporary challenges. The conference, therefore, seeks contributions across spatial and epistemic boundaries: from the everyday and local to the geopolitical and planetary; from archival practice to classroom teaching and public engagement; and from discipline-specific research methods to interdisciplinary collaborations.

Contributors may engage with one or more of the following themes, or even suggest new ways of thinking about: 
1. The History of Technology between the Local, the Regional, and the Global:
• Circulation of technologies, expertise, and knowledge across borders
• Adaptation and appropriation of technologies in different cultural contexts
• Tensions between globalisation and localisation in technological change
• Regional networks and their role in shaping technological trajectories
• Colonial, postcolonial and decolonial dimensions of technology
• Networks of maintenance and repair

2. History of Technology, Historiography and Education:
• Methodological innovations in researching the history of technology
• Interdisciplinary approaches and their challenges
• Teaching the history of technology in universities and schools
• Public engagement and the communication of technological history
• The relevance of technology history to contemporary policy debates
• Digital humanities and new forms of historical scholarship

3. Intersections between the History of Technology and Other Fields of Historical Study:
• Technology and social history: class, labour, gender, and everyday life
• Technology and cultural history: representation, identity, and meaning
• Technology and environmental history: sustainability, resource use, and ecological change
• Technology and economic history: innovation, industrialisation, and development
• Technology and political history: governance, regulation, and power
• Technology and the history of medicine: cultural values, therapeutic practice, and material conceptions about the human body

4. Special Focus: Museums, Material and Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Public Engagement: 
Given our collaboration with the Ethnological Museum of Thrace, we particularly welcome proposals that engage with material and intangible culture, museum practices, and public history. We are interested in innovative session formats that:
• Explore tensions and synergies between academic and museum approaches to technological history
• Demonstrate object-based learning methodologies
• Address the challenges of communicating technological history to diverse publics
• Examine the role of museums in preserving and interpreting technological heritage
• Study visitor engagements with intangible heritage, particularly those of marginalised and silenced ethno-cultural communities
• Critically examine the funding relationships between private technological and industrial interests, and museum

We welcome proposals in the following formats:
Paper presentations
Individual and author teams’ presentations. Please, submit an abstract of up to 350 words.

Panel Sessions
Thematically coherent sessions of 3-4 papers. Panel organisers should submit a panel abstract (up to 400 words) describing the theme and its significance; after approval the conference committee and the panel organisers will issue a specific call for proposals (individual or author teams’ paper abstracts up to 350 words each).

Roundtables
Discussion-based sessions with 4-6 participants addressing a specific question or debate. Organisers should submit a description of the topic and format (up to 350 words); names and brief bios of participants (up to 100 words each); key questions to be addressed.

Graduate Student and Early Career Opportunities
ICOHTEC is committed to supporting emerging scholars. We particularly welcome submissions from graduate students and early career researchers. The conference will feature:
• Visual Lightning Talk Competitions for graduate students
• Mentorship opportunities pairing students with established scholars
• Book development workshops

Submissions of abstracts through the conference website
Opening: 15 December 2025
Deadline: 31 January 2026

Official conference website: https://icohtec2026.hs.duth.gr
Email address: icohtec2026@gmail.com

Please find attached the detailed CfP and feel free to circulate it with your networks.

Thank you very much.

Contact Information

Organising Committee, ICOHTEC 2026

Contact Email

icohtec2026@gmail.com

URL

https://icohtec2026.hs.duth.gr/

Special Issue: The iJournal

Vol. 10 No. 3 (2025)
Special Summer Issue: Diasporas and Cultural Heritage Institutions in the GTA and Beyond

Curating Diasporas
Community Museological Practices and Politics of Immigration Memories in the GTA and Beyond
Bruno Véras

Behind the 1944 “Great Escape”
Cycling and Politicized Memories at the VEMU Estonian Museum Canada
Kim, Yoonkyung, Ke Wang

Capturing the Migration Memory of Canada’s Diverse Ismaili Muslims
A Case Study of the 50 Years of Migration Exhibit
Zhikall Kakei, Samantha Tsang

“Don’t Talk Defeat to Me”
The Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the First Baptist Church of Toronto
Alejandra Mendoza, Laura Prior

Sharing Histories of Immigration
Narratives on Display at the Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Jacob Fralic, Vasiana Moraru

Trunk Tales
A Case Study of the Ukrainian Museum of Canada – Ontario Branch
Kathryn Hawkins

Recalling Through Belonging at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre
Melanie Dunch

Is e an Taigh an Taisbeanadh
Hillary House and the Exhibition at Home
Erica Michele Frail-Brocco

A Living History Museum
Joseph Schneider Haus
Yvonne Wang

Navigating Shifting Identities
Culturally Specific Museums in the Rise of Multiracialism
Felicity Brassard

CFP: Propose a Topic for an ITAL column: “From the Field” or “ITAL &”

Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL), the quarterly open-access journal published by ALA’s Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures division, is looking for contributions to two of its regular, non-peer-reviewed columns: ”From the Field” and “ITAL &” for volume 45 (2026). Proposals are due by December 1, 2025, and authors will be notified by December 31, 2025.

The two columns are intended to be practitioner-focused, and editors will happily entertain submissions from folks who have expertise in libraries and technology but who may not work in a traditional “library” environment or role. We are also happy to work with first-time authors and folks based outside of North America, though columns must be submitted in English.

Columns are generally in the 1,000-1,500 word range and may include illustrations. These will not be peer-reviewed research articles but are meant to share practical experience with technology development or uses within the library. The September 2026 issue of ITAL will likely be a special issue about AI, so we will be looking for AI-themed topics to coincide with that publication. Topics for the other three projected ITAL issues in 2026 will include a broader variety of subject areas, as outlined for each column below.

Please note: there is more information about each column below, and there are different submission forms for each column. You are welcome to submit proposals to one or both, but please avoid submitting the exact same proposal to both columns, and please ensure you are using the correct form for your submission.

From the Field:

“From the Field” highlights a technology-based project, practice, or innovation from any library in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) community. The focus should be on the use of specific technologies to improve, provide access to, preserve, or evaluate the impact of library resources and services.

Recent “From the Field” columns highlighted innovative technology projects in small and large libraries and archives ranging from using visualization technology to make more effective use of library budgets to using ChatGPT to identify and highlight the work of early modern women printers. Sample future columns could include implementations around management of research data; implementation of new open source products; preservation of digitized or born-digital objects; uses or development of AI tools; support of open science/open education, etc.

Those who are interested in being an author for “From the Field” should submit a brief proposal / abstract that outlines the topic to be covered. Proposals should be no more than 250 words. Please submit your proposals via this form no later than December 1, 2025.

ITAL &:

“ITAL &” is a featured column that focuses on ways in which the library’s role continues to expand and develop in the information technology landscape. The emphasis will be on emerging ideas and issues, with a particular aim to recruit new-to-the-profession columnists.

Recent “ITAL &” columns have discussed accessibility requirements for web-based content, critical thinking about and usage of emerging generative AI tools, a review of a practitioner’s first year as a new systems librarian, issues surrounding knowledge access in the prison industrial complex, and a comparison of free graphic design software platforms commonly used by library workers. Future topics could include, but are not limited to: disability and accessibility, cybersecurity and privacy, the open movement / open pedagogy, linked data and metadata, digital humanities / digital praxis, digitization efforts, programming and workshops, the overlap between library technology and other library departments (acquisitions, readers advisory, information literacy and instruction, scholarly communications), or other emerging technologies and their implications for library work.

Those who are interested in being an author for this column should submit a brief proposal / abstract that outlines the topic to be covered. Proposals should be no more than 250 words. Please submit your proposals via this form no later than December 1, 2025.

____

Since these are both non-peer-reviewed columns, there is also an opportunity to engage in new or different formats, so creative submissions will also be considered. (Examples: comics, zines, videos, autoethnography, case studies, white papers, policy documents, interviews, reports, or other things commonly referred to as “grey literature.”) If you would like your column to be in a format that differs from a standard editorial essay, please explain in your proposal.

Contact Cindi Blyberg at cindi@blyberg.net (From the Field) or Shanna Hollich at shollich@gmail.com (ITAL &) with any questions. Please forward to any colleagues who may be interested. Thank you!

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.

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

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