Call for Proposals: New Librarians Symposium 4.0

March 12, 2019

The organizing committee for the New Librarians Symposium (NLS) invite you to submit a lightning talk proposal for our event, happening on Friday, May 24th, 2019 at Ryerson University.

Lightning talks are 7 minute presentations followed by 3 minutes of questions. Last year we asked NLS presenters and attendees to engage in difficult conversations to challenge cultural norms of librarianship. The theme of this year’s New Librarian Symposium is The Act of Doing Librarianship. What does it look like to “do librarianship” currently and what will it look like in the future? How exactly does one perform librarianship within different contexts (such as public libraries, archives, academic libraries, or special libraries)? What does librarianship look like when one works outside of a library? How do personal politics and perspectives shape and define our work and the ways that we do it? What does it mean to resist, subvert, or adhere to the latent and manifest expectations and conventions of the profession? What does librarianship mean?

Submissions should take a critical approach to this topic and address issues not discussed at other conferences in the field. Proposals from people of colour, LGBTQ folks, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged. We would like to see as many diverse voices and perspectives as possible.

Ideas for lightning talks may include, but are not limited to:

• Navigating systems and relationships of privilege, power, and politics
• Working in a profession dominated by whiteness when you are a person of colour
• Pushing back against or dealing with racism, microaggressions, and bias
• Participating in professional opportunities or scholarly conversations while working in a public or special library
• Being involved in professional opportunities or scholarly conversations while working in a non-librarian role
• Exploring the limitations and/or benefits of working in a non-librarian role
• Enacting work/life balance while working in precarious positions
• Interrogating and responding to vocational awe
• Challenging the narrative of risk and reward for new professionals and exploring the impact and implications of risk-taking
• Challenging narratives of “doing more with less”
• Understanding and working through imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and the demands of the profession
• Participating in mentoring programs and relationships from the perspective of a mentee
• Building and maintaining our communities of practice and support

Interested? Complete this Google submission form by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 5th, 2019.

It is anticipated there will be 10 lightning talk spots on the program. It’s our hope that these presenters will be a varied cross-section of participants with diverse perspectives, positions, and experiences. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday, April 19th, 2019.

If you have any questions about format or the suitability of a topic, please contact a member of the organizing committee (Ali Versluis at versluis@uoguelph.ca, Melanie Cassidy at cmelanie@uoguelph.ca, or Hana Storova at hstorova@uoguelph.ca). You can find out more information about the NLS by visiting the event website.

(Via New Librarians Symposium)