Call for Book Chapter Proposals:
Library and information sciences for
Arctic and Northern studies
** Please share this call among your professional networks, social media, and listservs. **
This is a call for chapter proposals for a forthcoming book to be published by Springer on the theme of library and information sciences (LIS) in, for, and about the Arctic and North. The working title of the book is Library and Information Sciences for Arctic and Northern Studies, and is a follow up to the book Library and Information Studies for Arctic Social Sciences and Humanities; that book was published in late 2020 by Routledge.
For the purposes of this book, LIS is the general academic and professional discipline of library and information theory and practice. Defined broadly, LIS involves and is interested in librarianship, archives, museology, data science, and knowledge studies. Data, information, and knowledge -- all three of interest to LIS -- underpins much professional and academic theory, research, and application, and, therefore, are worthwhile topics of study. LIS, by this broad definition, then, must be multidisciplinary, involving concepts, theories, research methodologies, and practice from and of interest to varied established disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, communication, computer science, geography, history, languages, media studies, psychology, sociology, technology studies, and more.
I am seeking proposals where library and information sciences (LIS) as both an academic discipline of study and a practical profession are explored within Arctic and Northern contexts. For this book, the geographic scope constituting the collective Arctic and North includes:
Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Scottish Highlands and Islands (including Shetland, Orkney, and Outer and Inner Hebrides), Svalbard, Sweden, and Ă…land
northern Russia, including Russian Far East and Russian Barents Region
northern Japan
Alaska, northern and Atlantic maritime Canada, and Greenland
Other northern geographies not mentioned here will be considered.
I will consider proposals relating to:
Any type of libraries, archives, museums, and information centres located in the Arctic and North, as well as those located anywhere in the world, having Arctic/Northern collections and serving Arctic/Northern interests
Any natural-physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities disciplines (including any theories, research methods, and practical applications), as long as connection to LIS and Arctic/Northern contexts is clear (interdisciplinary chapters preferred)
Any consideration of data, information, and knowledge topics within the Arctic/Northern contexts
I am especially interested in submissions from librarians, archivists, curators, information specialists, data and technology scientists, interdisciplinary scholars, and LIS researchers who are able to make multidisciplinary contributions to and about LIS as it intersects with Arctic studies; Northern studies; Indigenous studies; island, coastal, and maritime studies; media studies; social and human geography; and critical theory/thought. In addition, I am interested in submissions from Arctic Indigenous persons who can make connections between Indigenous perspectives and LIS.
Possible examples of topics might include, but are not limited to:
Emerging theory/critique, methods, and practical/applied projects and topics related to archival and heritage work such as archives; copyright and intellectual property; digital humanities; cultural, natural, tangible, intangible and sustainable heritage and heritage sites; language preservation; oral history; special collections; traditional knowledge; ethical issues; etc.
Emerging theory/critique, methods, and practical/applied projects and topics related to LIS, data, and technology such as data/dataset management, curation, and sovereignty; international data sharing; information representation, retrieval, and translation of indigenous languages; database development; language translation; information, communication, and mobile technologies; cataloging and metadata; etc.
Emerging theory/critique, methods, and practical/applied projects and topics related to establishing roles of libraries and LIS, including libraries as knowledge and resource centres; importance and use of public, school, and academic libraries by residents; Indigenous librarianship and involvement of Indigenous peoples in libraries, archives, and LIS; relevance of librarianship core services and values; formal university LIS education and training; etc.
Critical, conceptual, theoretical, exploratory, comparative, and interpretive exploration of libraries and library place and space; knowledge economy; information, knowledge, networked, and digitalised society; digital divide; rise of big data, automation, machine learning, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence; influence and use of media; repatriation and decolonialisation; co-production of knowledge with Indigenous peoples; information and knowledge sharing; effects/influences of migration, urbanisation, and globalisation; etc.
The potential and realised roles, as well as missed opportunities, of LIS organisations in interdisciplinary Arctic/Northern studies with the point of examining how LIS organisations are and/or are not paying attention to the Arctic as a region of interest; to what extent is the Arctic represented in the missions, visions, policies, and priorities of LIS organisations? Examples of LIS organisations include:
IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations)
ALA (American Library Association)
CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals)
LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries)
...and other LIS groups at local, regional, national, and international levels
All chapter proposals must clearly make connections between library and information sciences and Arctic and Northern scholarship. If you have an idea or project in mind and would like to submit a proposal for consideration, please email to the editor, in English, the following:
Names, institutional affiliations, and brief bios of all intended authors
Email address of primary author/main contact
Proposed title of chapter
Proposed abstract of chapter (i.e., tell us about your intended chapter in less than 500 words, please be as specific as possible)
Proposed keywords related to your chapter
If accepted, authors will be asked to write a high-quality chapter, in English, aimed for academic and professional audiences. Although chapters may be based on previously published research, they must be original submissions not published elsewhere. Complete details for writing a full chapter will be sent to authors whose proposals are accepted. Anticipated deadline for submission to the editor of final, ready-to-be-published chapters is 30 September 2022 for publication later the next year.
If you have any questions about this call for chapter proposals or the proposal process, please contact me. The call may also be accessed via this link: https://bit.ly/arcticbook. I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you and best regards,
Spencer Acadia, editor