RUSA Blog: Call for Volunteers

The RUSA Publications and Communication Committee is currently accepting applications for volunteers to lead the transition and future directions of the RUSA Blog (http://blog.rusa.ala.org/ ). The focus of the RUSA Blog will be for contributors to share, discuss, and promote current trends in reference and user services. The Blog will be written by a team of columnists with a publishing schedule facilitated by a coordinator.

We are currently looking for:

(1)  a blog coordinator

(2)  a blog website coordinator

(3)  columnists to contribute to the blog

Applications should be submitted no later than June 22, 2014.

Apply online: https://tamu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6QemdrOkMOMyYn3  

Available Positions:

RUSA Blog Coordinator:

·         Coordinator is responsible for recruiting and selecting four or more columnists with a variety of perspectives and sets publication schedule to ensure regular postings that represent a broad spectrum of ideas relevant to RUSA members and potential members.

·         Edit articles for content, style, format and correct grammatical usage.

·         Accepts, solicits, and selects requests for guest posts as needed

·         Collaborates with Blog Website Coordinator, Publications and Communications Committee, and RUSA staff to ensure Blog meets RUSA branding standards.

·         Serves ex-officio on RUSA Publications and Communications Committee

RUSA Blog Website Coordinator:

·         Website Coordinator is responsible for maintaining Blog CMS, design, and functionality.

·         Provides technical support to Blog Coordinator and columnists.

·         Coordinates with RUSA Webmaster on the technical specifications and the integration of the RUSA Blog with RUSA News, RUSA Website, and social media.

·         Collaborates with Blog Coordinator, Publications and Communications Committee, and RUSA staff to ensure Blog meets RUSA branding standards.

·         Serves ex-officio on RUSA Publications and Communications Committee

Columnists

·         Writes and posts 6+ articles per year

·         Serves as peer reviewer for other columnists as needed

·         RUSA Member

Recruitment Process:

The committee will accept applications for all positions thru June 22nd. The committee will conduct interviews after annual for the RUSA Blog and Website Coordinators. Once the Blog Coordinator is selected, that individual will lead the selection process for columnists.

Background:

In 2013, an Emerging Leader’s project created the blog “Chasing Reference”. This blog was a great way for members and new librarians to create content, share their experiences, and highlight trends within the profession. The Publications and Communications committee would like to see the blog continue and in order to do so a structure needs to be put in place in order to make the blog a sustainable project. Additionally, the current RUSA Blog has been rebranded as RUSA News with the RUSA office as the content creators which allows for the opportunity for a member driven blog.

CFP: Iowa IUG (Innovative Users Group)

Have you worked out a workflow process or done something innovative with your Innovative system? Why not share it with other Innovative users in the state of Iowa? The Iowa Innovative Users Group will be meeting September 19th 2014 at the Urbandale Public Library [http://www.urbandalelibrary.org/].

We would be interested in hearing success stories (or not-as-successful-as-we'd-like stories) at our conference. Share your experience with others! Presentations of 30-60 minutes, with some of the time set aside for questions, are planned. Ideas for forums or panel sessions to discuss a topic are also of interest. Topics can range from various Millennium/Sierra features and management to workflows - all ideas are welcome.

Contact Becky Yoose (yoosebec@grinnell.edu) with any questions or your proposal (Name, contact information, and a brief abstract). Proposals are due June 30, 2014.

Thanks,
Becky

------------------------------
Becky Yoose

Discovery and Integrated Systems Librarian, Assistant Professor

Grinnell College Libraries

E: yoosebec@grinnell.edu

ACRL e-Learning Proposal Submissions

ACRL e-Learning Proposal Submissions

Share your expertise as an ACRL e-Learning presenter

ACRL invites proposal submissions for our ACRL e-Learning program.  Submit a proposal for a live webcast or asynchronous online course and share your cutting-edge practices and innovative developments with your colleagues.  Time and time again, e-Learning is recognized as one of the most important professional development opportunities offered by ACRL. Much of the success of our e-Learning programs is due to the high quality presenters we have been able to attract each year.  We encourage your participation; the proposal submission deadline is July 7, 2014.

e-Learning Formats

Webcasts

ACRL webcasts are offered live and are 90 minutes in length, including participant Q&A.  Presenters can use PowerPoint, online polls, white board, and other interactive tools during the webcast.  We recommend having a few interactive elements incorporated throughout the session to keep the online audience engaged.  Participants can send questions (either via chat or audio) to which the  presenters can respond. 

ACRL offers e-Learning webcast presenters a 10% royalty of webcast registration fees, less vendor fees, split between the presenters each time the webcast is offered.

Webcasts are offered via the Blackboard Connect/Elluminate platform.  Webcast presenters only need a computer with an Internet connection and microphone in order to present live.  Presenter orientation prior to the webcast and tech support during the webcast are provided. 

Online Courses

ACRL online courses are primarily asynchronous events offered over the course of three or four weeks.  Online courses are offered on the Moodle platform.  Courses should include weekly readings, discussion questions, weekly assignments, live chat sessions, and/or a final assignment. 

ACRL provides a one-time $1,000 for content development for new multi-week courses.  In addition, course presenters receive a royalty of 10% of the course registration fees, split between the presenters, each time the course is offered.   

How to Submit a Proposal

Complete the online proposal submission form .  Please note the form does not allow submissions to be saved and resumed. Prepare your submission materials before starting the online application.  You can cut and paste from Word into the text boxes on the form.  Please double-check all your data before pushing the ‘submit’ button.

1.  Program organizer contact information.  This person will be the main point of contact throughout the submission process.  Please include title, institution, address, e-mail address, and phone number.

2.  Type of event (webcast or online course)

3.  Presentation title

4.  Description (approximately 200-300 words).  The detailed description should outline your session’s main points, its relevance to attendees, how it is unique and different from others that may address the same topic, and the ways you will engage the online audience.

5.  Learning outcomes.  Think about the intended impact of the program and how it fills a need or solves a problem. Develop at least three learning outcomes that describe the end result in terms of the behavior of the learner.  

6.  Target audience

7.  Additional presenter(s) including contact information, if applicable

8.  Preferred presentation dates, if applicable

Deadline

Proposals must be submitted by July 7, 2014.  Notifications will be issued in August 2014.

Questions?

Questions should be directed to Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org or call 312-280-2522.

CFP: LITA Heads of Library Technology (HoLT) IG meeting (ALA Annual)

CFP: LITA Heads of Library Technology (HoLT) IG meeting (ALA Annual)

When:  Sunday, June 29  1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

The LITA/Heads of Library Technology Users Group is announcing a call for “Lightning Round” presentations for the upcoming meeting to be held on June 29th, 2014, during the 2014 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The idea of the “Lightning Round Presentations” is to provide a forum for anyone to give a short presentation on a library technology project you might be working on. 

Projects don’t need to be completed.  Physical attendance is required . Each oral presentation will run for a total less than 10  minutes. The timekeeper will be strict. 

Submission Guidelines

1. Send, via e-mail, an abstract (<200 words) in MS Word format by June 21st, 2014.

2. Use the lead author’s name as document file name (e.g., Smith.doc).

3. Put “Lightening Round/HoLT” in the Subject Line of the email message.

4. In the body of the e-mail, include title of presentation and full contact information for lead author.

5. Send to Meg Brown-Sica at margaret.brown-sica@ucdenver.edu or Hong Ma at hma2@luc.edu. 

Call for Proposals: SEMLOL Fall meeting on The Value of Academic Libraries (November 2014 - Livonia, Michigan)

SEMLOL (Southeastern Michigan League of Libraries) http://www.semlol.org/ is preparing a program for the Fall meeting on the value of academic libraries. We welcome presentation proposals broadly related to the topic as outlined in the ACRL white paper "The Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report" http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/?page_id=21. 

Proposals could focus on ways to measure or capture the value of library services using a range of approaches (from the most systematic, comprehensive ones to the most holistic, situated ones), as well as on demonstrating and communicating value to different audiences. Best practices, case studies, projects, and creative ideas are all welcome.

The Fall SEMLOL meeting will take place on November 21st, 2014, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. at Madonna University. Presentations can be 30 to 60 minutes long, including time for questions.

To submit a presentation proposal, please send a title, name of speaker(s), and an abstract of no more than 250 words tosemlol.board@gmail.com by August 1st. Accepted proposals will be notified by the end of August.

Kindly,

Mariela

SEMLOL Executive Board, Chair

Call for Panelists at ALA Annual 2014: ACRL NMDG: “The Stories We Tell: Academic Librarians and Identity”

Call for Panelists at ALA Annual 2014: ACRL NMDG:  “The Stories We Tell: Academic Librarians and Identity”

Date/Time:  Saturday, June 28, 2014 from 10:30-11:30

Room:  Bally Palace 5

How do we begin to describe the professional identity of academic librarians? What are the stories we tell about ourselves to our users, our institutions, and especially to each other? Do these stories provide a view that is multidimensional and reflective of the racial and ethnic diversity of our field and the users we serve?

This year, the ACRL New Members Discussion Group is teaming up with the creators of Librarian Wardrobe to discuss the shared stories of academic librarianship: ones that reflect our view of ourselves, our professional identities, and professional stereotypes.

We are looking for two panelists to join Sarah Steiner and Isabel Gonzalez-Smith, two of the authors featured in the forthcoming 2014 book, The Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Presentations and Perceptions of Information Work, for an informal discussion on professional identity in academic libraries. This panel will be geared toward new members and new academic librarians and so whether you are new to the field or a seasoned professional, we encourage you to apply.

If you are interested in speaking on this panel (the format will be roundtable discussion), please complete the submission form available at: http://bit.ly/nmdgan14

Submissions will be accepted until June 2, 2014 and all candidates will be notified whether they were selected by June 6, 2014.

Cheers,

Tyler Dzuba, John Jackson, and Elizabeth Psyck

Co-Conveners for the ACRL New Members Discussion Group

John M. Jackson

Reference & Instruction Librarian

Wardman Library, Whittier College

(562) 464-4537

Call for Papers - Print Media in the Colonial World

Print media in the colonial world: form, function, and the power of knowledge in the colonial public sphere

URL: http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=213792

Across the colonial world, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a flourishing of newspapers and periodicals. Some were published in colonial languages, others in local vernaculars or newly standardised lingua francas. Some were published by the colonial state or religious organisations, others were set up using private funding on the initiative of an enterprising editor. These publications sometimes lasted only a few issues before disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared, while others lasted for decades and evolved to meet changing expectations and demands from their readers and publishers.

In recent years a growing body of literature has addressed the varying role of print media hitherto explored largely for their anti-colonial content, uncovering once forgotten newspapers in archives and libraries around the world and mining them as a source with which to write the intellectual, cultural and social history of colonial societies. But this literature has tended to focus on specific regions, and to focus more on the content than the form. At the same time, a body of literature has explored the role of media in particular empires, focusing on the creation of new networks of exchange through the press, yet this literature has less to say about the press produced in colonial societies for local readerships.

Print publications across the colonial world existed in an ambivalent relationship to colonial power and in a nexus of transnational entanglements. In West Africa, newspapers worked to cultivate anti-colonial alliances, yet printed government advertisements. Pan-African ideas were developed in newspapers funded by Asian capital. In Egypt, newspapers and journals run by Syrians were criticised as overly sympathetic to British power. There were commonalities of form, layout and imagery shared between newspapers published by the colonial state and those financed and produced independently. Expectations of the newspaper as a purveyor of truth and a source of information, whether through didactic editorials, question and answer columns or the printing of announcements, were often shared between newspapers published by the colonial state and those published independently and sometimes in opposition to the colonial state. To what extent did this edifying form, which sought to educate and inform readers, serve to make ‘good subjects’ – whether colonial or nationalist? Such publications served to connect people beyond their locality to the wider world, whether through the use of a lingua franca such as Swahili, Arabic or English, or through imagining print as a medium which would travel to the far reaches of the globe, but newspapers also served to accentuate local identities through standardising and publicising vernaculars, as in the case of Kenya’s Kikuyu and Luo language press. Can these newspapers, then, be thought of as part of a global story? And how far did periodicals serve as a space for enforcing and reinforcing standards, through the use of standardised fonts, alphabets, languages, or editorial and visual conventions?

This conference is interested in exploring the varied and developing anatomy of locally produced colonial periodicals, and the relation of this communicative form to governmentality. Through an assemblage of research papers from colonial regions around the world, the conference aims to build up a comparative picture of print media in the colonial world, asking how print media as a space of knowledge construction facilitated new and existing spheres of rule. The conference seeks to build on recent scholarship and bring together scholars in history, literary studies, visual studies, anthropology and other associated disciplines working on periodicals in societies across the colonial world in order to explore common themes and reflect on the place of the newspaper in colonial societies. In particular we invite paper proposals which explore the following themes in either locally-based colonial periodicals or newspapers:

- Print media as a didactic space or ‘encyclopaedia’

- Authorship, editorial policy, financing and the legal framework in which print media in the colonial world operated, particularly relating to censorship, sedition, defamation and libel laws.

- The relationship of print media to the colonial state and their role in shaping modes of political engagement and mobilisation, and understandings of the public.

- Language and the role of newspapers in standardising and popularising vernacular language and new lingua franca.

- The visual in colonial print media (illustration, caricature, photography, typography, lay-out).

A comparative perspective, engaging with the methodological questions at hand in several settings, is encouraged.  Papers for the conference will be pre-circulated to allow for maximum discussion, and participants will be asked to have their papers ready by 1 February 2015. The conference will be held on 16 and 17 April at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH) in Cambridge, UK.

 The organisers, Andrew Arsan, Emma Hunter and Leslie James, welcome abstracts of no more than 250 words in .doc or PDF format to the following email address:

newspapersinthecolonialworld@gmail.com

Please include a position, institutional affiliation, and email address in your abstract.

 The deadline for submission of abstracts is: 15 June 2014.

Call for speaker at Mid-Level Managers Discussion Group meeting @ ALA

The Mid-Level Managers Discussion Group topic for the Annual meeting on Sunday, June 29 from 1:00-2:30 is Strategic Planning.   The group is seeking a speaker from the ULS community who has past or current experience in strategic planning from a middle management perspective.    If interested, please contact me at brenna@gsu.edu by Tuesday, May 20.    In your response, please discuss your experience in strategic planning and interest in participating.    

Thank you!

Brenna

Brenna Helmstutler, Convener, ACRL/ULS Mid-Level Managers Discussion Group

Coordinator of Library Services, Health & Sciences

Georgia State University Library

Call for papers for special issue on Financial Literacy - Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship

Call for papers for special issue on Financial Literacy - Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship

The *Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship* (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WBFL), a Routledge peer-reviewed publication, invites articles to be published ina special issue on financial literacy.

Article submissions should focus on financial literacy -the ability to use knowledge and skills to make responsible financial decisions- in academic, public, school and special libraries, other information organizations, and everyday life contexts. Proposals should be research oriented, and could include empirical research, historical or philosophical analysis, or rigorous case-study research.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Financial literacy programs, workshops, presentations, and other initiatives related to budgeting, saving, loans, credit cards, mortgages, retirement, investing and other personal finance topics
• Financial literacy in the work place, such as education for employees on retirement and investing
• Evaluation of personal finance and consumer education websites, databases, and other financial literacy resources
• Financial literacy and information literacy
• Financial information seeking behavior
• Assessment of financial literacy

Completed manuscripts should be submitted to the editor, Lisa G. O'Connor, at loconnor@uky.edu, no later than July 16, 2014. They should be between 5,000-9,000 words and will also go through a double-blind peer review process. Authors will be notified of accepted proposals by August 6th, with revised, final manuscripts due no later than September 5th.

Call for Papers for Special Issue of Virginia Libraries on Exploring Openness

Reminder:  manuscripts for this special, peer reviewed issue are due June 1.  Details below; please don't hesitate to ask questions or send inquiries!

The Virginia Library Association (VLA) and the Virginia Chapter of the Association of College & Research Libraries (VLACRL) invite you to contribute manuscripts for a special, peer-reviewed issue of Virginia Libraries dedicated to exploring openness in libraries. 

The October/November/December (v. 4) 2014 issue of Virginia Libraries will focus on the idea of “openness” and how twenty-first century libraries can engage with and promote this idea.  Submissions should be around 3,000 words in length and may represent original research, case studies, essays, or literature reviews on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

·  Open access resources

·  Open educational resources (OERs)

·  Massive open online courses (MOOCs)

·  Open education initiatives

·  Open source software

·  Linked data

·  Institutional repositories

·  Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs)

·  Copyright

·  Instruction and information literacy efforts including open resources

·  Programming and outreach promoting open resources and discussions

·  Changing roles of information professionals in an “open” environment

Articles will be peer reviewed and accepted articles will be edited before publication.

The journal issue will be published in Fall 2014.   Full manuscript drafts will be accepted until June 1, 2014.  Authors will be notified about their submissions by July 1, 2014, and final drafts of accepted articles will be due to issue editors by August 15, 2014. 

Additional information about Virginia Libraries and author guidelines are available:  http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/.  Virginia Libraries is an open access journal, and is indexed in Library, Information Science, & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Library Literature & Information Science Full Text, and Library & Information Science Source. 

Manuscript submissions, questions, and other comments should be sent directly to the issue editors, VLACRL Co-Chair Rebecca K. Miller (millerrk@vt.edu) and VLACRL Chair Candice Benjes-Small (cbsmall@radford.edu).  

CFP: Catholic Library World

Submissions are being accepted on an ongoing basis for upcoming issues of Catholic Library World. 

Catholic Library World is the official journal of the Catholic Library Association.  Established in 1929, CLW is an international refereed quarterly journal. CLW publishes articles that focus on all aspects of librarianship,with articles are intended for an audience that is interested in the broad role and impact of various types of libraries, including, but not limited to academic, public, theological, parish and church libraries, and school libraries.     

The preferred method for submitting manuscripts is as a word-processed attachment in e-mail.  Author’s full name, affiliation, and e-mail address must accompany any manuscript submission.  

Articles should provide something new to the existing literature.  The word count should be 3500- 5000 words and should adhere to The Chicago Manual of Style (humanities is preferred).  The style should be accessible and well-documented.    

Catholic Library World also publishes about 100 reviews per issue. Each review is up to 300 words long. Prospective book reviewers should email the editor with their qualifications and interests for review books. CLW reviews theology, spirituality, children's books, young adult books, library science, and selected books from across the disciplines.

Submission deadline: Submissions are ongoing. 

For more information, please visit this website: http://www.cathla.org/catholic-library-world-clw

Send submissions and queries to: Sigrid Kelsey, General Editor, sigridkelsey@gmail.com

Call for Posters (Pennsylvania Library Association Meeting - September 2014 Lancaster, PA)

Call for Posters (Pennsylvania Library Association Meeting - September 2014 Lancaster, PA)

The Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) is accepting proposals for Poster Sessions to take place at this year’s conference in Lancaster.  The poster sessions will take place on Monday & Tuesday, September 29 & 30 at the Lancaster County Convention Center. 

Poster sessions provide a forum for library professionals from across the state to share their successful ideas or innovations with colleagues. The tone is casual and the mode is highly interactive.  The object is to gather feedback and to make connections with others interested in the same subject.

Submit a proposal

Submission deadline is Monday, June 2.

-- 

Dolores Fidishun, Ed.D.
Head Librarian
Penn State Abington College and Penn State Great Valley Libraries
dxf19@psu.edu

CFP: Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) 40th Annual Conference (November 13-14, 2014 - Sandusky, Ohio)

The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) Conference Planning Committee invites you to submit proposals for the 40^thAnnual Conference, which will take place on November 13-14, 2014 at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Sandusky, OH.  The submission deadline for full-length sessions is June 9, 2014. Applicants are encouraged to develop sessions that show thoughtful consideration of this year’s conference theme, “Engagement, advocacy and outreach: Empowering our communities,” which seeks to explore how academic libraries and librarians empower our communities in all the ways that we do. We would love to learn about your ideas, experiences, solutions, and best practices – even those that yielded results that were different than expected!

Presentations may take the form of contributed papers, demonstrations, workshops, research results, panel discussions, etc. Submit your proposals to: http://bit.ly/1rxFVff 

Questions about the conference can be directed to:
Eboni Johnson, ALAO Vice President
ejohnson@oberlin.edu

Call for proposals - ebrowsing (Association of College & Research Libraries Conference is in Portland, OR, March 25-28, 2015)

We are seeking scholars and specialists inside and outside the traditional boundaries of library scholarship to join our proposed panel discussion on the challenges and failures of browsing in today's electronic environment at The Association of College & Research Libraries Conference is in Portland, OR, March 25-28, 2015.

Procedure -  Please email Kate Joranson, k.joranson@gmail.com briefly describing your interest in the topic as well as your professional background. Upon acceptance, we will work with you to develop questions to shape the panel's discussion.

Deadline - Monday May 5

Summary of Proposed Panel -

Browsing is an essential component to discovery, yet these terms have become conflated. From library databases to online shopping, our ability to effectively browse for content has become hampered by an excessive focus on searchability. This panel will cultivate a discussion of the potential for browsing in the electronic environment, cultivated serendipity, and curiosity.

This panel will bring together experts from inside and outside of libraries to discuss why electronic browsing is broken and how, or if, it can be fixed. The panelists will briefly present their perspective on the problems of electronic browsing and then will participate in a conversation facilitated by the moderator. Questions to be addressed by all panelists include:

    Where do we place the burden for facilitating discovery?
    Why/how are our databases failing us/our users and what do they need to do differently?
    What do you wish were possible in an ebrowsing and discovery environment? Why is this not possible?
    What is preventing a more creative approach to electronic browsing and discovery?

Through these questions and discussions we hope to drive at the heart of the problems of electronic browsing in our current digital library environment, and to understand how our discovery systems arrived where they are today (search-focused) and how we might reset the balance between search and browse in the discovery experience.

Nina Clements, Steve VanTuyl, and Kate Joranson are project collaborators at ebrowsing.org. 

Call for Editorial Board Members: Library Collections, Acquisitions and Technical Services

Call for Editorial Board Members and Reviewers: Library Collections, Acquisitions, 

& Technical Services

The Editor of Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services is currently accepting applications for new editorial board members and article reviewers to join the journal's editorial team. Interested applicants should send a letter of interest and CV to the Editor-in-Chief Wendy Shelburne at shelburn@illinois.edu. 

Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Servicesprovides a forum for the international exchange of ideas and experiences among members of the library collection management, technical services, vendor and publishing communities throughout the world. It is a comprehensive publication designed to bring together many of the specializations within the broad areas of library collection management and technical services including, but by no means limited to:

• Acquisition of materials in academic, public, school and special libraries
• Cataloging and authority control
• Outsourcing of technical services operations
• Electronic publications
• Gifts and exchanges. 

For more information about the journal, please visit:www.tandfonline.com/ULCA

CFP: Informed Librarian Online

The Informed Librarian Online seeks article writers --
        
        The Informed Librarian Online is a monthly compilation of the most recent tables of contents from over 320 titles - valuable domestic and foreign library and information-related journals, e-journals, magazines, e-magazines, newsletters and e-newsletters. This current awareness service helps keep you informed and abreast of all library trends. It is an easy, timesaving way to tame your professional reading tiger, and is very popular among all types of library and information professionals.
        The Informed Librarian Online ( http://www.informedlibrarian.com) is seeking librarians with something to say to author a one-time "Guest Forum" article for our service. We are looking for practical, helpful articles on an issue of interest to YOU (and our readers). Would you like to write a short article (about 1,000 words) for us?  Librarians from all around the world read the articles in The Informed Librarian Online. Writers will receive a complimentary one-year subscription to the service.
        
        If you are interested in writing for The Informed Librarian Online, email aeis@optonline.net a brief description of your proposed subject matter.

CFP: People & Things on the Move: Migration and Material Culture (Chicago, Illinois - May 2015)

CFP: People & Things on the Move: Migration and Material Culture (Chicago, Illinois - May 2015)

We seek papers for a workshop to be held May 13-15, 2015 dedicated to exploring the relationship between migration and material culture in the modern world (the 18^th century to the present), sponsored by the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. We welcome paper proposals from both academics (including advanced graduate students) and practitioners—historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, public historians, librarians, archivists, and museum curators—who are working on the intersection between migration and material culture in any region of the world. We hope that selected papers will be published as a special issue or forum for the American Historical Review.

Both migration and material culture have profoundly shaped societies and cultures across the globe in the modern era.  This workshop will define migration broadly, to include intra-state, international and intra-imperial migration, as well as "forced" and "voluntary” migrations.  Our use of material culture is also inclusive, embracing the objects that furnish domestic interiors, architecture, tools, books, toys, clothing, modes of transportation, musical instruments, dance, and even food. The precise relationships between migration and material culture have varied dramatically across time, space, and political and social context.  Our goal is to analyze and thereby be able to explain the diversity of these relationships and experiences.

Possible questions that papers might address include:

 -     What objects have migrants carried with them, and what can these objects tell us about processes and experiences of migration?

-     How has migration been linked to cultural transfer in the realm of material culture?

-     How have gender and generation been implicated in this dynamic?

-     How has migration shaped the production as well as the consumption of particular objects?

-     How has migration and return migration been linked to the transformation of material culture in sending countries?

-     How has the circulation of material objects and consumer goods shaped imperial projects in the 19^th and 20^th centuries?

-     How has material culture been linked to the imagination & consolidation of diasporic communities and minority cultures?

-     What role has material culture played in the politics of migration, including ideas about “assimilation” and pluralism?

-     What can material culture tell us about the emotional and social experiences of migration?

-     How is material culture linked to individual or collective memory of migration?

-     What is the role of material culture in forced migration or population transfers? What happens to the objects left behind in the aftermath of refugee movements?

These are only some of the potential topics that the workshop may address. 

The three-day workshop will be held at the University of Chicago and will include both open sessions and working-sessions limited to the participants. We will also be visiting one or more museum/gallery/installation in the Chicago area. We particularly encourage proposals that engage the public history/historical sites of the city.  

Please note that we will require participants to:

• submit their full papers one month in advance of the conference
• provide written comments on a set of related papers the week before the workshop
• be present for the entire workshop
• We ask that you both refrain from submitting proposals for work already published or committed elsewhere and that you agree to publish in the AHR forum should your paper be selected and the forum accepted by the journal. 

We will cover travel and lodging.

Interested participants should send a 500 word abstract, an article or chapter (ms. or published on a related topic) and C.V. totzahra@uchicago.edu and lausland@uchicago.edu by June 15, 2014.

Call for Webinar Proposals for ALCTS Fall 2014 Series

The ALCTS Continuing Education Committee is seeking proposals for our Fall 2014 webinar series.  We are looking for proposals for presentations in the following areas: 

• Acquisitions
• Cataloging and metadata
• Collection development and management
• Digital services
• Electronic resources in libraries
• Institutional repositories
• Licensing and rights management
• Scholarly communications
• Standards and specifications
• Supervision and management
• Preservation
• Serials

Past webinars have covered a variety of topics, including Demand Driven Acquisitions, Archival Materials, Libraries and MARC Holdings, Steps in a Digital Preservation Workflow, Effective Subscription Management and Alternatives, MOOCs, and the Principles of Classification.  For a list of past webinars, visit:   http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/past/webinar.

We also are seeking Spanish language webinars, as we continue to add to our first offering in April 2014:

http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/040414_esp.

About ALCTS:

ALCTS is the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association.  Comprised of nearly 4,000 members from across the United States and 42 countries from around the globe, ALCTS serves members in collection development, preservation, and technical services. We are a leader in the development of principles, standards, and best practices for creating, collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving information resources in all forms.

About ALCTS webinars:

ALCTS Webinars are typically one hour in length, with 45 minutes of presentation and 15 minutes of questions and answers.  Most of our webinars are on Wednesdays at 1:00 CST.  We provide support for our presenters, including training in using our webinar software (GoToMeeting).  While most attendees of ALCTS webinars are from the United States, we serve members around the world and invite presentations with an international view.

Please submit your proposal via the ALCTS Webinar Proposal Form.  Proposals must be received by May 29 for consideration in our first round of reviews.  If you have an idea for a webinar, and are still developing it, please submit a proposal and we can help you formalize it.

https://alctsprogram.wufoo.com/forms/alcts-webinar-proposal-form/

A small honorarium is given to each presenter.  For additional information for presenters, see the ALCTS FAQ on presenting a webinar:  http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/upcoming/webinar/faq

If you have questions, please contact:

2013/2014 Continuing Education Chair

Felicity Dykas

Head, Digital Services Department

University of Missouri

Email: dykasf@missouri.edu

573-882-4656

Looking for Evidence Based Practitioners for ALA Annual Discussion

The Evidence Based Practices Discussion Group is preparing a discussion for ALA Annual, and we are looking for people who have had experience using evidence based practice in their library. Each person would speak for 10 minutes (depends on the number of participants) about their experiences using evidence based practice and then a discussion would ensue amongst the attendees.

What do we mean by evidence based practice? We are looking for people who when considering implementing a change or looking for a solution to a problem in their library conducted a systematic review of the research literature to determine the best approach and adapted and implemented that approach. We are also looking for people who performed their own rigorous research to determine a best practice or improved their work through and evidence based approach.

We are interested in success stories and not so successful stories. What were the challenges? What did you learn? What advice would you have for someone attempting something similar? If you are interested, then please e-mail me directly (jmartin2@stetson.edu) with a brief explanation of your experiences using evidence based practice. The Evidence Based Practices Discussion Group will hold a discussion on Sunday 29 June from 8:30 am – 10:00 am.

Jason Martin, Ed.D.

Head of Public Services

duPont-Ball Library, Stetson University

Unit 8418

421 North Woodland Boulevard

DeLand, FL 32723

E-Mail: jmartin2@stetson.edu

Phone: 386-822-7178

Fax: 386-822-7199

http://www.stetson.edu/~jmartin2