(via Colleen Barrett, University of Kentucky)
The call for proposals for Library Research Seminary 8: Telling Library Stories is now open. The conference will take place from Monday, September 16, to Wednesday, September 18, at the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington.
The eighth Library Research Seminar (LRS8) will highlight the theme “Telling Library Stories”, by bringing together a diverse community of scholars and students from academia and practitioners from libraries who are conducting research, or are interested in research that tells stories that center libraries and the value they provide for their communities.
These stories can center on library impacts, best practices, decision-making and creative storytelling methods or technologies in libraries and the communities they serve. Participants will share research projects, discuss potential new research agendas and have the opportunity to refine research methods and facilitate successful completion of research projects.
LRS is a research meeting that can include empirical, methodological and conceptual work with the field of library and information science. It can include, but is not limited to, the following kinds of scholarship:
- Quantitative and/or qualitative inquiry
- Research on any aspect of library services, with an emphasis on conveying library impacts and value
- Inquiry related to specific environments, such as public, academic, special or school libraries
- Research conducted by scholars, students or practitioners
- Collaborative work between professional practitioners and educators
- Practitioner research or storytelling methods are highly encouraged
The LRS8 Planning Committee invites proposals for papers, panels, posters and workshops. We anticipate that discussion will examine methods of communicating research on libraries to stakeholders in communities, academia and among practitioners, on storytelling as a research tool and on ways to center voices in the library story that are often marginalized or silenced. We welcome creative and non-traditional storytelling contributions (including visual storytelling or other methods) from individuals and groups, students, faculty and practitioners on a broad range of topics related to libraries, including but not limited to:
- Cutting edge research that crosses boundaries within and beyond the field of library and information science
- How values such as social justice ground stories in LIS research and practice
- Connecting diversity and inclusion consciousness to research and practice
- Community/campus engagement and collaboration
- Identification of research agendas and knowledge gaps
- Exploration of innovation in LIS education and storytelling
- Librarian/practitioner/faculty and other partnerships and their impact on research and the collaborative approach to storytelling
- Transformation of libraries and LIS research
- Innovation in evidence-based practice
- Public and school library stories
- Communication and sharing processes within and across institutional boundaries
The Library Research Seminar is a program of the American Library Association’s Library Research Round Table, hosted jointly this year with the UK College of Communication and Information, UK School of Information Science, and UK Libraries.
The deadline to submit a proposal is now Friday, May 17. The full call for proposals and the submission link are available here.