Call for Book Chapter Proposals for Item Not Found: Accounting for Loss in Libraries, Archives and Other Heritage and Memory Organizations
Editors: Anna Chen, Rebecca Fenning Marschall, Molly McGuire, Nina Schneider, and Emily D. Spunaugle
Loss is inevitable in heritage preservation, and a nuanced understanding of the fundamental role of loss is essential to collections preservation, permanence, and sustainability. Cultural memory and heritage workers, too, face many other kinds of loss within the workplace that impacts their labor, including loss of resources, safety nets, and colleagues.
The conference organizers of the 2023 online conference, “Item Not Found: Accounting for Loss in Libraries, Archives and Other Heritage and Memory Organizations,” co-hosted by the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library and Oakland University Libraries, seek proposals for additional chapters for an edited collection based on the conference theme. This collection will consider the ongoing reassessment of memory and heritage work and heritage ownership, as it is understood by libraries, archives and related organizations, through an examination of the multiple meanings, complexities, and resonances of loss.
Featuring the voices of practitioners and scholars of libraries, museums, and archives, this volume will grapple with questions including, What is heritage and cultural property, and to whom do they belong? Who owns the past, and what does such ownership mean? How can a sustained interrogation of collection and heritage loss be productively leveraged to reckon with other kinds of loss in the cultural memory and heritage workspace?
We invite proposals from diverse perspectives on a range of topics including, but not limited to, the following:
- Theft, repatriation, virtual reunification, shared print/collection development
- Endangered archives, postcustodial archival practice
- Approaches to loss in preservation and conservation
- Other related aspects of practice and research
We are especially interested in receiving proposals in the following areas:
- Deaccessioning, redirections, removals
- Human and resource loss, including loss of institutional knowledge, in and beyond the workplace
- Loss and conservation of collections
We welcome proposals of chapters that will thoughtfully engage with experiences derived from the practice of scholar-practitioners, including librarians, archivists, curators, conservators, scholars, museum professionals, students, and other stakeholders at any point in their careers, from institutions and organizations of all sizes, and including independent researchers.
Timeline for Accepted Proposals:
April 2025: Completed first drafts of no more than 6,500 words (references included) due to editors
May/June 2025: Editors review chapters
June 2025: Editors return feedback to authors
September 2025: Authors submit final draft to editors
October 2025: Typescript due to publisher.
Please submit proposals (400-word maximum) using the following form: https://forms.gle/ek3vmf8sCqDjPb4F8
Please submit proposals by December 6. Presenters will be notified by January 6.
