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@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@nd.edu) <jschneid@nd.edu)>** and Anna Siebach-Larsen (**annasiebachlarsen@rochester.edu) <annasiebachlarsen@rochester.edu)>** by September 15.*