Call for Chapters: Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present and Future (ACRL Publication)

 Call for Chapter Proposals

We are seeking chapter proposals for a volume that has been accepted for publication by ACRL.

 

Working Title: Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present and Future

 

Editor: Dr. Doris Van Kampen-Breit, doris.vankampen@saintleo.edu

 

Chapter proposal deadline: March 1, 2021

 

Introduction
The current pandemic has provided a vivid reminder of how quickly crises can occur and spread, impacting libraries and their users. Crisis management is nothing new to libraries of all descriptions. Historically and currently, how have academic libraries, and librarians, as well as staff, stepped up to the challenges of a crisis? How does management respond to rapid change, when the change is driven by a crisis? How can the library effectively function as a team, if the team ends up scattered, downsized, and potentially demoralized?

Managing Crises in the Academic Library: Past, Present and Future, provides multi-layered perspectives on current and historical topics exploring and extending our understanding of how academic libraries respond to crises of all kind and strategies use to cope and thrive in an uncertain world. It includes issues that are organizational and human-focused, as well as lessons learned during and after a crisis subsides. These topics can be revealed and explored though quantitative, qualitative, or historical or case-based methods.

 

 

 

Target Audience

Administrators, librarians, and staff who work in academic libraries, and researchers who study and analyze crisis response and management in academic libraries can benefit from this book by presenting knowledge of and exploring experiences with past and present real-world situations and in preparing for future challenges.

 

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Management Perspectives

·         Librarianship in times of crisis

·         The role of academic libraries in economic uncertainty & financial crisis

·         Difficult decisions in times of crisis: management perspectives

o   Managing change, or change management case study one (lead from within)

o   Managing change, or change management case study two (top down)

o   Managing change, or change management case study three (faculty alliances)

·         Crisis planning and responses to an emerging crisis

·         Virtual teams and organizations; collaboration and commitment

·         Winner and losers: perspectives on staffing models during a crisis

 

History and Crises Explored

o   Documenting history: understanding the role of medical experts during a public health crisis using digital tools and library resources for research on the 1918 Spanish influenza

o   Where fact and fiction meet: historical fiction on pandemics

o   Natural disasters: addressing a crisis head-on and coping with what comes next

o   Libraries in the great depression: civic virtue and blue stockings           

o   Libraries in crises: when planning isn’t enough

o   COVID-19 and academic libraries: staff response and responsibilities

o   COVID-19 and other pandemics

o   Economic recessions and budgets cuts (can also be submitted from a management perspective)

o   Outsourcing (can also be submitted from a management perspective)

o   Case studies

Innovation, Orientation, and Survival Strategies

o   Imperatives or imperiled? faculty and staff emotional support strategies

o   Emotional intelligence in times of crisis

o   Allies and frenemies in times of crisis in and out of the building

o   Social media and innovation: leveraging the internet audience

o   Technical services

o   Public services

o   Instruction, support and cooperation

o   Practical approaches when preparing for contingencies

o   Case studies

Submission Procedure
Librarians, library researchers, staff, and library administrators are invited to submit on or before March 1, 2021, a chapter proposal of 250 – 500 words clearly explaining the proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by April 15, 2021 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by September 15, 2021.

 

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication.

 

All proposals should be submitted to doris.vankampen@saintleo.edu with the subject heading of:  Chapter Proposal Managing Crisis.

 

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by Association of College & Research Libraries. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2022.

 

Important Dates
March 1, 2021:  Proposal Submission Deadline
April 15, 2021:  Notification of Acceptance of Proposal

September 15, 2021:  Full Chapter Submission Deadline

Inquiries are welcome and can be sent to:
Dr. Doris Van Kampen-Breit

Doris.vankampen@saintleo.edu
University Librarian

Saint Leo University

CFP: MiALA Annual Conference Call for Poster Sessions

After having to postpone the 2020 annual conference last spring, the MiALA conference committee is looking forward to the virtual 2021 conference. While we have retained an excellent selection of poster sessions from presenters who generously agreed to present their 2020 content this year, we also have the opportunity to add additional posters. The MiALA conference committee seeks proposals for the 5th annual conference to be held virtually May 13-14, 2021.

 

We welcome posters in any topic related to work in academic libraries, and particularly if they have a connection to the conference theme. Broad participation is encouraged from librarians, staff, LIS students, and administrators from all types of academic libraries (including but not limited to public universities, private colleges, and community colleges). Poster proposals should include a description of no more than 300 words. They will be evaluated on relevance to the academic library profession, originality and creativity, and clarity/applicability of content and outcomes.

 

We are notably welcoming poster proposals on research and library projects related to current events in libraries including:

 

-Antiracism work in libraries in response to events of 2020

-Quick pivots in service models during COVID shutdowns. What have we learned?

-How COVID adjustments will transform library service models long-term

-Staff work-life balance in the work-from-home environment

-Role of academic libraries in a hyper-politicized era

 

You DO NOT need to be a member of MiALA to submit a proposal. Regardless of the decision on a proposal, MiALA encourages you to attend the conference. Poster session proposals may also be submitted if your presentation proposal is not accepted.

 

****Prior to submitting your proposal, please review the information provided on the Poster Session Guidelines page.****

 

Please submit your poster proposal using the application form located here by Friday, March 5, 2021. The primary contact listed on each proposal will receive a message indicating receipt of the proposal when it is submitted and decisions on proposals will be communicated to the primary contact by Friday, March 26, 2021.

 

Questions about proposals can be sent to David Scott DavidScott@ferris.edu. Questions about the conference in general can be sent to conference@miala.org.

CFP: HEAd'21 - 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances @headconf

 HEAd'21: Call for Papers

7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances

June 22 - 23, 2021. Virtual conference
http://www.headconf.org
twitter: @headconf

Scope

The Seventh International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21) is a consolidated forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, experiences, opinions and research results relating to the preparation of students, teaching/learning methodologies and the organization of educational systems.

The HEAd'21 conference will be held on June 22-23, 2021 as a virtual meeting organized from the Faculty of Business Administration and Management of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), which has been recently ranked as the best technical university in Spain by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020.

Topics of interest

The program committee encourages the submission of articles that communicate applied and empirical findings of interest to higher education professionals.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topic areas:

• Innovative materials and new tools for teaching
• Educational technology (e.g., virtual labs, e-learning)
• Evaluation and assessment of student learning
• Emerging technologies in learning (e.g., MOOC, OER, gamification)
• Scientific and research education
• Experiences outside the classroom (e.g., practicums, mobility)
• New teaching/learning theories and models
• Globalization in education and education reforms
• Education economics
• Teaching and learning experiences
• Entrepreneurship and learning for employment
• Education accreditation, quality and assessment
• Competency-based learning and skill assessment

Important Dates

Submission deadline: February 25, 2021
Acceptance notification: April 27, 2021
Camera ready due: May 13, 2021
Conference dates: June 22-23, 2021

Publications

All accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings with a DOI and ISBN number. They will be published in open access by UPV Press and submitted to be indexed in major international bibliographic databases. Previous editions are indexed in Scopus and the Thomson-Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Web of Science Core Collection (former ISI Proceedings).

Awards

The Program Committee will select the winners for the Best Paper and Best Student Paper awards. To be eligible for the best student paper award, the presenting author of the paper must be a full-time student.

Submission guidelines

Authors from all over the world are invited to submit original and unpublished papers, which are not under review in any other conference or journal. All papers will be peer reviewed by the program committee based on their originality, significance, methodological soundness, and clarity of exposition.

Submitted papers must be written in English and should be in PDF format. They must follow the instructions in the template file, available in Microsoft Word format at:

http://www.headconf.org/template.docx

Paper length must be between 4 and 8 pages, incorporating all text, references, figures and tables. Submissions imply the willingness of at least one author to register, attend the conference, and present the paper.

HEAd'21 is using the OCS platform of UPV Press to manage the submissions. This platform provides you with a submissions homepage where you can register your paper submission and make appropriate changes. The submission website is:

http://www.headconf.org/submission-instructions/

The organizing committee looks forward to welcoming you all to a fruitful conference with open discussions and important networking to promote high quality education.

Call for Chapter: Instructional Identities and Information Literacy, a forthcoming ACRL edited book

Call for chapter proposals: Instructional Identities and Information Literacy, a forthcoming ACRL edited book

Instructional Identities and Information Literacy: Transforming Our Profession, Our Institutions, Our Programs, and Ourselves, edited by Amanda Nichols Hess

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2021, 11:59PM EDT

Instruction librarians at community colleges, four-year institutions, and research universities – and every kind of college or university in between – may enter into these roles with limited experience or education. Often, we have to figure out how to engage students in learning from our own observations, trial-and-error, or professional learning opportunities. But as our instructional responsibilities grow, shift, emerge, or change (hello, 2020!), we need to find more consistent, evidence-based ways for us to  develop sound pedagogical practices and hone our instructional identities at the individual, programmatic, institutional, and profession-wide levels.

The forthcoming edited volume, Instructional Identities and Information Literacy, seeks to emphasize real-world examples from an array of librarians to explore how teaching-centric perspective transformation can happen in diverse environments, for librarians with diverse needs, around diverse instructional issues (e.g. teaching with technology, considering critical pedagogy, integrating the Framework into instruction, finding nexus with other literacies). In this book, we’ll use transformative learning theory, and the diverse ways to consider this approach to adult learning, to more fully explore how these ideas may be put into action for libraries and librarians looking to reconsider their instructional identities and teaching practices.

Please consider submitting a proposal that addresses one or more of these proposed sections:

• Instructional Identities: Have you had personal experience in exploring, critically reflecting on, and/or redefining your own identity as an educator in the wake of social, political, or cultural events? Did you lead or engage in a shared professional learning opportunity for a group of librarians (journal clubs, learning communities, etc.) that focused on transforming or reshaping teaching identities?
• Program Identities: Has your library unit worked in systematic, intentional ways to reshape how your library offers information literacy instruction? How has transformation played a role in such work? 
• Institutional Identities: Have you and your colleagues spearheaded efforts to connect information literacy instruction to student success initiatives, high-impact practices, or other institution-wide efforts? Have you had a strong voice on your campus in redefining information literacy broadly or for specific disciplines, especially since the release of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education?
• Professional Identities: Do you have a distinct perspective on how we, in librarianship, might transform our instructional work to be more anti-racist, inclusive, or critical?

If you have an authentic case study, expert experience, or a passionate perspective to share that will help library colleagues explore how instruction-centric perspective transformation can happen, please consider submitting a proposal!

You can find more details, including information about the book’s sections, potential applications of transformative learning theory, and how to submit a proposal at  https://sites.google.com/oakland.edu/instructional-identities. All proposals must be submitted by March 31, 2021, at 11:59pm EDT. Contact Amanda Nichols Hess (nichols@oakland.edu) with any questions.

Call for Chapters: ALA Editions Book on Library and Cultural Humility

Proposals sought for chapters in an ALA Editions book that will explore cultural humility in libraries of all types.

Book Project Home: https://sites.google.com/view/cultural-humility/home

Cultural humility holds promise as a transformative approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts within librarianship. We hope to create a book that helps realize that promise by increasing our understanding of how the practice of cultural humility applies across all types of libraries and library services.

Cultural humility is “the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other oriented in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are most important to the other person, the ability to recognize the context in which interactions occur, and a commitment to redress power imbalances and other structural issues to benefit all parties.” (Hurley et al, 549) Cultural humility therefore offers a way of navigating the spontaneous interpersonal interactions in libraries, whether between our patrons and our staff or staff members with one another, with an awareness of and commitment to challenging inequitable structures of power.

We invite chapters that explore or demonstrate the concept of cultural humility in libraries as a practice rooted in self-reflection, compassion, and appreciation of the “other.” Proposals may be practical, theoretical, and/or research-based, considering libraries as workplaces (i.e. diversifying and educating the profession, leadership, conflict management) and/or how libraries serve our communities (i.e. collection development, reference & outreach services, technical services, access services, instruction).

We especially seek and welcome submissions from and about voices that are underrepresented in the literature, including those of people of color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, school librarians, public librarians, and librarians from other non-academic contexts.

Final chapters should be approximately 4000-5000 words, aimed at both practicing library professionals and students in Masters of Library Science programs. Chapter proposals of about 300 words and a short bio can be submitted here.

 

Important dates

• March 1 - Chapter proposals due
• April 1 - Editor decision on proposals
• July 1 - Draft chapter submissions due
• August 9 - Editor feedback to authors
• September 15 - Author final revisions to chapters due

CFP: 2021 Popular Culture Association Annual (PCA) Virtual Conference, June 2-5, 2021: Submission Deadline Extension (2/28/21)

CFP: 2021 Popular Culture Association Annual (PCA) Virtual Conference, June 2-5, 2021: Submission Deadline Extension (2/28/21) 

The Popular Culture Association will be holding their annual conference virtually, June 2-5, 2021.

The Biographies Area is soliciting papers that examine the connections between biography and popular culture. Papers and full panel presentations regarding any aspect of popular culture and biography are encouraged. Potential topics might include:

– Biography and entertainment, art, music, theater
– Biography and film
– Biography and criminal justice
– Television programs about biography
– Biography and urban legends
– Biography and folklore
– Biography and literature
– Scholarly Biography
– Controversial Biography
– Psychoanalysis and Biography
– Historical Biography
– Political Biography
– Autobiography

Sessions are scheduled in 1½ hour slots, typically with four papers or speakers per standard session.  Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes. The deadline for submissions has been extended to February 28, 2021.

 

To submit an abstract, please visit:
https://pcaaca.org/conference/submitting-paper-proposal-pca-conference

 

Submissions will only be accepted through the PCA website. Individuals must be current, paid members to submit to the conference.

 

Please direct any queries to the Biographies Area Chair:

Susie Skarl
Associate Professor/Urban Affairs Librarian
UNLV Libraries
Las Vegas, NV 89154
susie.skarl@unlv.edu OR susieskarl@gmail.com

Susie Skarl, MLS

Associate Professor/Urban Affairs Librarian

UNLV Lied Library

(702) 895-2141 | susie.skarl@unlv.edu

ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2723-3889   |   she, her, hers 

Call for “Notable Works” Submissions - ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group

 Call for “Notable Works” Submissions

 

The ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group’s (ALSGS) Notable Works for Library Support of Graduate Students Working Group seeks nominations for our inaugural annual Notable Works List. 

 

Our goal is to recognize and showcase excellent professional contributions that inform the work of library colleagues who support graduate students.  Submissions can include projects and publications by library workers or by researchers in related fields who shed light on important elements of serving graduate students.

 

Categories of work to be considered include: 

·         Journal articles / Conference proceedings 

·         Websites

·         Blog posts

·         Library resources / Research guides

·         Digital learning objects / Tutorials / Instruction videos

·         Conference program / Presentation / Panel

·         Media / Multimedia / Video

·         Game / Software

·         Other

 

Please nominate work here. You are encouraged to submit both your own work and that of colleagues.

 

We are especially interested in projects that meet the criteria in our rubric.

 

Submissions deadline:  March 5, 2021 

 

Please direct any questions to Abbie Basile (abasile@odu.edu), Geoff Johnson (geoff.johnson@ucdenver.edu), or Mark Lenker (mark.lenker@unlv.edu).

 

The Notable Works for Library Support of Graduate Students Working Group is:

·         Abbie Basile (Chair), Engineering & Physical Sciences Librarian, Old Dominion University

·         Victor Baeza (Vice Chair), Graduate Initiatives and Engagement Coordinator, Oklahoma State University

·         Anne Melville (Recorder), Education Librarian, George Mason University

·         Mandy Havert, Head of Research Services, University of Notre Dame

·         Geoff Johnson, Graduate Teaching and Learning Librarian, University of Colorado Denver

·         Mark Lenker, Teaching & Learning Librarian, University of Nevada Las Vegas

 

If you would be interested in participating in this work in the next year, let us know or look for a call for working group members in the spring.

 

Abbie Basile

(she, her, hers)

Engineering & Physical Sciences Librarian

Liaison Services Dept.

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA

CFP: 2021 Annual Amigos Library Services Member Conference, "What Will We Keep: Creating the Next Remix of Library Services”

 Announcing the 2021 Annual Amigos Library Services Member Conference, "What Will We Keep:  Creating the Next Remix of Library Services”.

 

In 2020 we saw libraries close, partially reopen, and fully reopen, some going through the cycle multiple times. Through it all, libraries adapted to the new operational and service landscape in unique and unprecedented ways. While some of these changes are not sustainable or ideal long term, many of these adaptations are proving to be beneficial solutions.

How will/should your library compose its new suite of services? Which services will be part of the new mix? Which new service delivery methods, unique programs, and systems will continue into the future? Share your experiences at the Amigos’ 2021 Annual Member Conference where we will highlight libraries’ new directions, services, and opportunities and what libraries expect to keep as our changed landscape continues to develop.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

·        Curbside service

·        Home delivery

·        Online programming for all age levels and audiences

·        Book clubs

·        Working from home - both policies and best practices

·        Self-care

·        Employee policies

·        Policies for the public/library users

·        How to catalog a book when working from home

·        Communicating with staff and the public

·        Online tutoring sessions

 

If you can speak on one of these topics or have another in mind, please submit a proposal by March 3, 2021. Tell us your story and share what registrants can expect to learn from your presentation. All sessions are 45 minutes with time for questions and answers and all chosen speakers will be asked to share a song title for the conference playlist. Be sure to submit your proposal by March 3^rd!

 

For more information about this conference, contact Tracy Byerly at byerly@amigos.org or 800-843-8482, ext. 2893.

CFP: SOUCABL Conference: Chapter 3 (Virtual - April 23, 2021) - Southern University and College Academic Business Librarians Conference

Call for Proposals, due Monday, March 1, 2021.
What: The SOUCABL Conference: Chapter 3
When: Friday, April 23, 2021 (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
Where: Online (via Whova<https://whova.com/virtual-conference-platform/>)

Cost: Free

Are you an academic librarian with liaison responsibilities in business, finance, or entrepreneurship? In the Southern US? If so, the Southern University and College Academic Business Librarians Conference (SOUCABL) is for you! SOUCABL is a great opportunity to meet other information professionals, develop your regional network of colleagues, share ideas, and brainstorm solutions.

Participants are invited from the District of Columbia and 14 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Program Committee is now accepting proposals on topics related to business librarianship in a variety of presentation formats. We especially encourage proposal submissions from librarians who work at smaller institutions in the South or for whom providing public and technical services for business, finance, or entrepreneurship education and programming is only part of their job.

Topics

This year’s theme is “What’s next?” SOUCABL: Chapters 1 and 2 focused on successes and failures during “the before time.” Chapter 3 is all about working under less than ideal circumstances in unprecedented times. What have you tried this past year? What’s planned for the future? As academic business librarians, where do we go from here?


Suggested topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Online instruction & emergency remote teaching strategies
• Outreach (to students, faculty, campus partners, community members, etc.) and partnerships during a global pandemic
• Balancing your business, finance, and entrepreneurship responsibilities with others, especial those related to campus and library safety policy and procedure
• Research strategies & resources for working from home
• Shifting collection development and budgets for both physical & electronic resources
• Recent changes that have affected any or all the above aspects of librarianship

Formats

Select a format for your proposal.

• Presentation (plenary): 15 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.
• Poster (concurrent): An opportunity to share your recent, “unprecedented” experiences and/or future aspirations related to business librarianship. If you would like a template, consider using the ones found here: https://osf.io/ef53g.

Proposals

Proposals are accepted via submission form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScL1cFcz92dTSVJu8-YivWbW4JrjTVQkDXH1JyW9HYlqGhBtg/viewform>. You will be asked to include the following:

• Presentation
• Title
• Abstract (150-200 words)
• Learning Objective(s): “Attendees will …”

• Poster
• Title
• Abstract (150-200 words)
• Learning Objective(s): “Attendees will …”

Proposals will be accepted through Monday, March 1, 2021, and the Program Committee will follow up by Friday, March 19, 2021.

Questions

Contact the Program Committee with any questions or for more information.

• Allison Cruse, acruse@email.wcu.edu
• Amanda Kraft, kraftal@cofc.edu
• Dan Le, dle@gsu.edu

CFP: EBSS Virtual Research Forum - Education and Behavioral Sciences Section Research Committee (May 2021)

The Education and Behavioral Sciences Section Research Committee invites proposals for presentations at their virtual research forum, to be held online in early May, 2021. Our charge is to investigate and propose ways for education and behavioral science librarians to share ideas about new
directions in education and behavioral science librarianship, research in progress or recently completed, and other current topics of interest.

The Research Forum encourages and supports researchers of all levels and offers an opportunity to present research that is currently underway through a 10-minute lightning talk format. Participation in the forum offers presenters an opportunity to share their work in a peer-reviewed venue and receive
feedback from the ACRL community. Lightning talks are selected via a competitive, open peer review process. Those who are not selected will receive formative feedback from the EBSS Research Committee.

Proposals are due March 19, 2021. Applicants will be notified regarding acceptance the week of March 29.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

To submit a proposal, submit the following (.doc or .pdf) via email to the EBSS Research Committee Chair, Annie Armstrong (annie@uic.edu).

Proposals should be approximately 250-300 words, and will be evaluated via rubric by the extent to which they address the following elements:

• Proposal Title
• Presenter Information:
• Names and institutional affiliations of presenter(s)
• Phone number
• E-mail address
• Relevance & Value: The proposal clearly articulates relevance and value of the research project to academic librarians, and has broad appeal to academic librarians and/or relevance to an education, behavioral, or social sciences subject area.
• Innovation & Originality: The proposal makes a clear and compelling case for the innovation and originality of the research and its contribution to the field. The research explores novel ideas, approaches, or concepts or offers new approaches to common topics.
• Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Lens: The proposal clearly explains how the research relates to Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) and/or provides evidence of how research affects diverse communities. If the research is not specific to EDI, the proposal acknowledges the implications of the project’s limited perspective or scope in this regard.
• Research Design & Analysis: The proposal describes research questions, objectives, methodology, and results/findings. Project design/methodology is appropriate to the stated research question(s) and objectives and there is evidence of carefully planned research design and thoughtful analysis (i.e., results/findings).
• Project Status/Timeline:  The proposal clearly identifies what stage of the project has been completed and estimates a timeline for the remainder of the project. (Note: Research may be in progress at the time of proposal submission, but some results/findings must be available by the presentation date. Research that has been previously published or accepted for publication by January 1, 2021 will not be considered.)

Email submissions or questions to EBSS Research Committee Chair Annie
Armstrong at annie@uic.edu by Friday, March 19, 2021.

CFP: THE GLOBAL DRUMBEAT: PERMEATIONS OF HIP HOP ACROSS DIVERSE INFORMATION WORLDS - Special Issue of The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

A Special Issue of The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI)

THE GLOBAL DRUMBEAT: PERMEATIONS OF HIP HOP ACROSS DIVERSE INFORMATION WORLDS

 

The work of library and information science (LIS) professionals can be likened to the work of DJs in Hip Hop culture. For example, both DJs and LIS workers curate content as an act of service that adds meaning and context to peoples' lives.

 

When Hip Hop artist D-Nice began DJ'ing virtual sets on Instagram Live at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was not only providing joy in midst of a widespread sense of isolation, grief and loss, but through his #clubquarantine we witnessed the unique power of Hip Hop to permeate and permute across diverse information worlds in an amoeba-like fashion. In the scientific sense, amoebas do not form into a single taxonomic group; instead, they are found in every major lineage of eukaryotes. Like an amoeba, Hip Hop has a unique ability to extend, retract, and most notably to reshape, the normative behaviors that occur in diverse information worlds.

 

The concept of an 'information world' is closely linked to Alfreda Chapman's theory of normative behavior (Burnett, Besant, and Chatman, 2001), which examines information behavior in the context of definable social groupings of people, or "small worlds." Hip Hop essentially started as a small world developed by Black and Latino youth during the early-1970s on the East Coast of the United States that included arts, media, cultural movement and community. Fifty years later, Hip Hop has expanded and evolved in ways that give it a global border-crossing impact that is unparalleled among other subcultures that similarly started with youth, such as Punk or Manga.

 

The crossover appeal of Hip Hop has permeated everything from mainstream television advertisements like The Kroger Company's playing of Flo Rida's song "Low" to tell customers how to get the lowest prices on fresh products, to politicians like President Barack Obama gesturing to brush his shoulders off to give a nod to an urban colloquialism popularized by rapper Jay-Z. The vestiges of Hip Hop can be found in every major modern culture well beyond Urban Black America, from Asia to Europe, South America, and every corner of the earth.

 

In service to and honor of Hip Hop, this special issue invites submissions that hold space for the contributions, controversies and other insights that this cultural movement has on the way LIS professionals understand and study diverse information worlds. We welcome a broad spectrum of submissions that touch on the following themes:

• Intellectual debates about Hip Hop that intersect with hallmark themes and theoretical constructs in LIS
• New models that use Hip Hop to examine hallmark themes and theoretical constructs in LIS (see e.g., Kumasi, 2018)
• Case studies of culturally relevant Hip Hop arts-based programming in libraries
• Exemplars of partnerships between LIS organizations ana diversity of youth focused community organizations
• Examinations of Hip Hop expressions of literacy in the literate lives of people across diverse demographic categories

• Explorations of the how the shifts on today's new media ecology (the internet, digital media production tools portable media and social gaming environments) have been shaped by Hip Hop culture
• Explorations of Hip hop literacies and their intersections with African oral traditions and modern poetry spoken word traditions
• Historical, ethical, political developments and debates around sampling, intellectual property and breaking norms about traditional notions of copyright
• Hip Hop Based education curricula, information literacy and library instructional strategies and resources

 

References

Burnett, G., Besant, M., & Chatman, E. A. (2001). Small worlds: Normative behavior in virtual communities and feminist bookselling. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 52(7), 536.

Kumasi, K. D. (2018). InFLOmation: A model for exploring information behavior through Hip Hop. The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, 9(1). http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2018/07/inflo-mation-a-model-for-exploring- information-behavior-through-hip-hop/

 

We invite proposals for the Articles section, as well as shorter submissions for the Special sections: the latter may include opinion/viewpoint pieces, interviews, work in progress reports from the field, doctoral projects,  and  theory-to-practice  essays. We are also interested in creative non-fiction, photographic essays, and poetry.

 

This issue will be guest edited by:

Kafi Kumasi, Associate Professor, Wayne State University, USA (ak4901@wayne.edu)

And co-edited by:

Kendra Moyer, MA, MLIS Candidate Wayne State University, USA (cs8840@wayne.edu)

 

Submission Process – Important Dates

This special issue of IJIDI is scheduled for publication in January 2022. The following submission timeline applies:

 

31 March 2021: Abstracts and Expressions of interest (name, role and affiliation: extended abstracts of up to 1,000 words for full research papers/articles, and 250-500 words for contributions to the special section). Please email your submissions to: ak4901@wayne.edu.

01 May 2021: Notification of acceptances

31 July 2021: Full papers due (peer reviewing August – December)

January 2022: Special issue published

 

Author Guidelines and Peer Review Process

Please consult IJIDI Author Guidelines and IJIDI Peer Review Process at: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

 

Any questions related to this issue should be addressed to: ak4901@wayne.edu.