Call for Papers — Open Sessions
Rare Books and Special Collections Section
- 31 March 2023, 16:46
Theme: "21st-century description for heritage collections: changing perspectives, changing language, changing cultures."
The IFLA Rare Books and Special Collections Section are seeking proposals for papers to be presented at their Open Session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Cataloguers and curators of heritage collections have to deal with catalogues of their collections that include language now considered unacceptable or inadequate, partial perspectives, or significant gaps in their information. Not only collections themselves but also descriptions created by the institutions that preserve them can show bias and deficiency in questions of genre, culture or history, and eventually offensive terminology.
The RBSC open session will focus on these catalogues and descriptions and how cataloguers and curators are addressing these challenges; we are looking for short presentations in English (10-15 minutes) of projects or lines of work aimed at problematic language, controversial heritage or a broader and more inclusive change in approach and terminology.
We would like to invite papers on the following themes:
- Transforming vocabulary, enriching information: identifying and changing offensive terms; addressing and describing previously invisible or underrepresented aspects, groups or collections
- Describing and presenting problematic heritage
- Decolonizing descriptions of collections
Proposals must be submitted in an electronic format and must include the following information:
- Title of proposed presentation
- Abstract of the proposed paper (no more than 500 words)
- Name(s) of presenters and positions and or titles
- Employer or affiliated institution
- Contact information including email address and telephone number
- Short biographical statement of no more than 100 words
- Note a willingness to comply with IFLA’s Authors’ Permission: papers / PPTs will be published in IFLA’s online Repository following the conference
- Confirmation that you can attend the IFLA congress and present in person if selected
Send proposal abstracts (500 words or less) by April 30th 2023 to:
Isabel Garcia-Monge [email protected]
Iris O’Brien [email protected]