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Reminder: CFP for Library Trends Special Issue on Arts and Humanities Everyday Documentation

Call for Papers: Library Trends

Special Issue on "Everyday Documentation"

Guest Editors: Tim Gorichanaz and Ann Graf

Since the 1990s, scholars have recognized the importance of studying information phenomena outside of work and institutional contexts. Still, most of this research has only explored information seeking. This special issue seeks to highlight the everyday in another component of the information–communication chain: the description, organization and communication of artifacts-that is, documentation outside of formal institutions.

Formal institutions can only collect, document and provide access to limited numbers and types of materials in limited ways. This is due to budgetary restrictions, the limits of space and time, and the resultant need to employ standard technologies and knowledge organization systems to afford efficient and quick access to information. By default, institutions miss out on collections or modes of description that may nonetheless be culturally important (to underserved groups, small subcultures, countercultural groups, etc.).

Thus, this special issue invites consideration of the "everyday documentation" that is done outside formal libraries, archives, and museums, and in turn of how such documentation practices can and should inform mainstream institutional practice and technological developments. Moreover, everyday collections, objects, audiences, and knowledge organization systems are infused with ethical concerns, not least because of the exercise of freedom and discernment involved in processing the collections and the involvement of indigenous, insider, or otherwise non-institutional or non-privileged communities or sub-cultures.

We invite submissions from scholars and reflective practitioners regarding the circulation of knowledge in everyday contexts, particularly those reflecting on how to mitigate differences between institutional practice and cultural practice. This may involve differences in how a particular community views a collection of objects, practices, or audiences, the differences in terminology used for description, the privacy and ownership of sometimes sensitive materials, and the representation of voices native to collections.

Research on this theme has begun to appear in the literature-examining phenomena such as graffiti, zines, artist-run centers, and dark-web urban exploration photos-and this special issue will serve as a rallying point for further work.

If you would like to contribute an article, please see the timeline below. Extended abstracts and any inquiries should be sent to the guest editors, Tim Gorichanaz and Ann Graf, via email (gorichanaz@drexel.edu and ann.graf@simmons.edu).

Final articles should be between 4,000 and 10,000 words. For more information, see the Library Trends author instructions at https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/library-trends/author-instructions.

Timeline

  • Submission deadline for proposals, in the form of an extended abstract (1,000 words): Friday, June 28, 2019
  • Notification of acceptance decisions: by July 19, 2019
  • Full papers due: November 15, 2019
  • Reviews sent to authors: by March 20, 2020
  • Final manuscripts due: July 17, 2020
  • Publication: February 2021, Volume 69 Issue 3 (Winter) of Library Trends