Dear colleagues,
Please find below a CFP for K’zoo 2019 which may be of interest, and don’t
hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Best wishes,
Anna Siebach-Larsen, Ph.D.
Director, Rossell Hope Robbins Library & Koller-Collins Center for English
Studies
River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
annasiebachlarsen(a)rochester.edu
*CFP for Kalamazoo ICMS 2019*
*Bibliothecarii ex machina**: Medievalist Librarians at the Nexus of
Production of and Access to Medieval Studies Scholarship *
*Sponsored by the International Society for Medievalist Librarians*
In the Middle Ages, the *bibliothecarius* was responsible for a local book
repository (monastic, cathedral, chapter, college, etc.). The librarian
ensured the accuracy of record-keeping concerning the library’s holdings
and made those books appropriately accessible to community members (or for
the purposes of inter-community lending). In mastering the contents of
their libraries, these early information professionals often were masters
of the subject matter contained in those books, serving in a variety of
other capacities within their communities (e.g., as masters, cantors,
sacristans/porters). Although the types of media held by libraries have
altered drastically in the intervening centuries ( and especially in recent
decades), modern *bibliothecarii*, or “scholar librarians,” still must be
masters of subject-specific knowledge as well as information professionals
since their positions place them at the intersection of the production and
publication of scholarly communication: as scholars and as information
professionals, they collect and analyze information, facilitating others’
access to that data; they are thus involved in all aspects of and every
point in the scholarly communications process. Whether the information that
they produce, analyze, and store is in digital or analog format, librarians
are responsible for facilitating access to that information on the part of
other scholars (faculty, staff, students) within and without (visiting
faculty, independent researchers, the public) their institutions,
accomplishing all of this in a way that allows for self-reflection in order
to engender continuous improvement in each process. This roundtable
provides a space for medievalist librarians and archivists to discuss the
unique issues facing them as scholars of the Global Middle Ages and as
information professionals working in 21st century libraries and
repositories. Subjects of interest for our roundtable include: the
segregation of access to data-by-subscription (databases, e-books, images,
video, audio, and other digital content) and the barriers to access that
are faced by contingent and independent scholars; dealing with the
lifecycle of digital content—longevity, discovery, and accessibility;
information professionals integrating Medieval Studies scholarship into
their professional lives in the face of 12-month appointments and lower
status within the academic hierarchy; challenges to effective instruction
and collection building unique to Medieval Studies programs; and,
addressing the invisibility of librarians’ work within an academic
ecosystem. We welcome submissions from library science students who are
medievalists (or adjacent) as well as established professionals.
Presentations should be no more than 10-15 minutes in length, leaving ample
time for group discussion.
The International Society for Medievalist Librarians is a recently
established group intended to promote and support scholarly, academic, and
informational outreach activities by medievalists who are employed in,
studying to enter, or interested in library or information
professions. Membership
is open and there are currently no dues associated with membership.
*Please send abstracts and participant forms to Julia Schneider
(**jschneid(a)nd.edu)
<jschneid(a)nd.edu)>** and Anna Siebach-Larsen
(**annasiebachlarsen(a)rochester.edu)
<annasiebachlarsen(a)rochester.edu)>** by September 15.*