LHRT encourages research and publication on library history and promotes awareness and discussion of historical issues in librarianship.
Call for Submissions to 2022 ALA LHRT Research Forum: Unpacking Access
The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) seeks proposals for its annual Research Forum, to be held in advance of the 2023 ALA Annual Meeting.
To accommodate as many LHRT members as possible, the 2023 LHRT Research Forum will be held virtually on a date to be determined in mid-to-late June 2023.
The theme of the Forum is “Unpacking Access.” The Forum will examine the histories of library practices and policies around user access to facilities and collections. Each speaker will be asked to present for approximately 20 minutes, with a 10-minute Q&A to follow.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, histories of:
- Interlibrary loan and resource sharing;
- Public domain and open access materials;
- Circulation policies;
- Use of library facilities by community members;
- Library responses to book challenges from patrons and censorship by the state;
- Patron use of special collections and rare books;
- Relations between public services and technical services staff regarding issues of acquisitions, cataloging, and processing of materials;
- Subscriptions to and use of vendor-owned licensed databases in libraries;
- The question of “access vs. ownership” in collection development;
- Other explorations of access
LHRT welcomes submissions from researchers of all backgrounds, including library students, practitioners, faculty, independent researchers, and those retired from the field. LHRT especially encourages submissions from early-career researchers.
Each proposal must give the paper title, an abstract (up to 500 words), and the presenter’s one-page vita. Please indicate in the abstract whether the research is in-progress or completed.
The LHRT Research Committee will select up to three authors to present their completed work at the Forum. Proposals are due January 31; successful proposals will be notified shortly thereafter. Completed papers are due May 31.
Please submit proposals and direct inquiries to Steve Knowlton, LHRT Vice Chair/Research Committee Chair, at steven.knowlton@princeton.edu.
Research Committee Members:
Alea Henle
Jennifer Bartlett
Catherine Minter
Stacy Hisle
Call for Award Submissions
Submissions for the Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award will be due January 18, 2023.
Libraries: Culture, History, and Society
Libraries: Culture, History, and Society (LCHS) is peer-reviewed publication of the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association and the Penn State University Press, LCHS is available in print and online via JSTOR and Project Muse.
The only journal in the United States devoted to library history, LCHS positions library history as its own field of scholarship, while bringing together scholars from many disciplines to examine the history of libraries as institutions, collections, and services, as well as the experiences of library employees and users. There are no limits of time period or geography, and libraries of every type are included (private, public, corporate, academic, and school libraries, and special collections). In addition to Library Science, the journal welcomes contributors from History, English, Literary Studies, Education, Sociology, Gender/Women’s Studies, Race/Ethnic Studies, Political Science, Architecture, and other disciplines.
Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through LCHS’s Editorial Manager system at https://www.editorialmanager.com/LCHS . They must also conform to the instructions for authors at https://www.editorialmanager.com/LCHS/account/LCHS%20Author%20Submission%20Guidelines.pdf. New scholars, and authors whose work is in the "idea" stage, are welcomed to contact the editors if they would like guidance prior to submission.
For further questions, please contact the editors:
Bernadette Lear, BAL19@psu.edu
Eric Novotny, ECN1@psu.edu
LHRT New and Notes: https://lhrtnews.wordpress.com
LHRT on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibHistRoundTable/