CFP: The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA)
Conference: ALA Annual Meeting
Conference Location: Chicago, IL
Conference Date: June 23-30, 2005
Deadline: November 30, 2004
The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) seeks papers for its Research Forum at the 2005 ALA Convention, Chicago, Illinois, 23-30 June, 2005. While we encourage the submission of any paper that takes a cultural and historical perspective on libraries, we are especially interested in the submission of papers that illustrate the use of library records as primary sources and that discuss their research processes rather focusing primarily on their
findings.These might include:
* circulation and acquisition records
* registers of borrowers
* library catalogs
* minutes of library board meetings
* annual reports
* library policy manuals
* librarians' work diaries
* correspondence
Although scholars are accustomed to thinking of libraries as containers of useful materials, they have tended to ignore the libraries themselves as sources of historical data. Librarians, too, have not always recognized the value of retaining materials that document their institutions' own past. Scholars, including historians of reading, the Cold War, intellectual freedom, philanthropy and civil rights, are
beginning to make use of this relatively untapped wealth, however, and to encourage librarians to make a priority of preserving the records of their practices and policies.
Proposals for papers should give the paper title, an abstract (up to 400 words), and biographical identification of the scholar. The program will be publicized on or before January 15, 2005. Presenters must be members of ALA and LHRT before May 1st, 2005. See http://www.ala.org for membership details.
Christine Pawley
School of Library and Information Science
The University of Iowa
3074 Main Library
Iowa City, IA, 52242-1420
phone: (319) 335-5711
fax: (319) 335-5374
Email: christine-pawley@uiowa.edu
For more information, visit the website at
http://mingo.info-science.uiowa.edu/~pawley/LHRT2005CFP.html
