Category Archives: Events

2016 Picturebook Symposium CFP

1ST Bi-Annual Marantz Picturebook Research Symposium

July 24-26, 2016
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

Keynote: Will Hillenbrand, Children’s Book Author and Illustrator

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

“The Picturebook as an Art Object:”
Honoring the life and work of Dr. Kenneth A. Marantz

According to Dr. Kenneth A. Marantz, professor of art education at the Ohio State University from 1971 to 1991, picturebooks (spelled as one word by Dr. Marantz) are “such rich repositories of visual art, so readily available compared with the resources housed in galleries and museums, that I believe we must take the fullest advantage of them.” For many young children, picturebooks represent their first exposure to culture—to art, and to literature — in one perfect package. For older children, picturebooks are a useful tool for addressing controversial or difficult subject matter. For all, the aesthetic relationship with picturebooks can create life-long connections.

Dr. Kenneth A. Marantz and his wife Sylvia Marantz have graciously funded a biannual scholarly picturebook research symposium to be organized and hosted by the Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Science. In this first Marantz Picturebook Research Symposium, to be held July 24-26, 2016, we honor Ken Marantz’s life work around the picturebook.

Children’s book author and illustrator Will Hillenbrand will deliver a keynote address. Hillenbrand, who studied under Ken Marantz, received the 2012 Parents’ Choice Silver Honor award for his illustrations in Bear in Love. Other accolades include a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators;  Notable Book Award from the American Library Association for the first picture book he illustrated, Traveling to Tondo; and Children’s Choice Awards from the International Reading Association for Sam Sunday and the Mystery at the Ocean Beach Hotel and The House That Drac Built.

This call for proposals seeks original, interdisciplinary research in areas related to picturebooks, especially centered around Dr. Marantz’s concept of the picturebook as an art object.

Presentation Formats:  The Committee especially encourages presentations and research in the following formats:

1.     Twenty-minute presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion

2.     Panel submissions comprised of three 20-minute presentations followed by 20 minutes of discussion (or four 15-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of discussion)

3.     Posters

Submissions must be submitted on the appropriate form (insert link) and must include the following in order to be considered:

·      Title and up to 5 keywords

·      Description of type of proposal you are submitting (poster/paper/panel)

·      Names and contact information of all contributors

·      An abstract of no more than 350 words of your proposed poster or presentation.

·      In the case of a panel submission, an abstract should accompany each of the papers that will be included.

·      Information about any special equipment requirements (beyond a laptop and projector, which will be provided)

Prospective participants should submit abstracts that report on recent research and scholarship. Contributions to this call for papers may not have been previously published, and all research methodologies from all disciplines are welcomed.

Deadlines:

January 15, 2016:  Deadline to submit abstracts

March 1, 2016:  Notification of acceptance. Once selected, presenters are responsible for their own expenses related to the conference, including but not limited to registration fees, lodging, transportation and meals. Students are encouraged to participate.

Possible topics, as related to the conference theme, include (but are not limited to):

  • Picturebooks and aesthetics
  • “Reading” picturebooks: The influence of art and text on early literacy
  • Picturebooks, aesthetics, and the imagination
  • Playing with picturebooks
  • Cultural constructions of picturebooks
  • Picturebooks and digital formats
  • Reaching diverse readers via picturebooks
  •  Historical perspectives on picturebooks

Proceedings:  There will not be proceedings for this conference; however, selected papers may be included in a special issue of a journal or an edited collection. Details will be provided as they become available.

For more information, please contact Dr. Marianne Martens (mmarten3@kent.edu) or Michelle Baldini (mbaldini@kent.edu).

2016 Multicultural literature for children conference CFP

The Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Children celebrates its 32nd year in 2016 by exploring the role of multicultural literature in celebrating diversity in poetry prose and pictures. Nearly 200 writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, students and scholars will gather for this inspiring, informative event, scheduled for April 7-8th, 2016 at Kent State University. Keynote speakers for 2016 include renowned author Nikki Grimes winner of this year’s Virginia Hamilton Literary Award; Margarita Engle, the first Latino author to receive the Newbery Honor award.

The conference board is currently accepting proposals for workshops for the 2016 conference. The deadline for proposals is Sept. 30, 2015. Please submit proposals using the form on the conference website: http://bit.ly/ProposalForm-VHC2016

Literacy Day Action

Call to Action: International Literacy Day

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right…. Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
– Kofi Annan

IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, together with the International Publishers Association (IPA), the International Authors Forum (IAF) and the Reading & Writing Foundation (RWF) has put together a joint statement on literacy and reading which calls on United Nations Member States to support the Sustainable Development Goals by implementing coherent and appropriately resourced national comprehensive literacy strategies.

Read: Joint Statement on Literacy and Reading

On International Literacy Day, 8 September 2015,we would like to ask the United Nations Member States to go further in their ambitions to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all as stated in the Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Goal 4.

In 2011, the adult illiterate population was estimated at 773.5 million. This poses a challenge for the success of all the Sustainable Development Goals, therefore is vital that libraries, authors and publishers are made central to improving literacy across the board and ensuring that no one is left behind.

For this reason we call on the United Nations Member States to:

  • Support coherent and appropriately resourced national comprehensive literacy strategies;
  • Recognize libraries as  central in supporting literacy activities for everyone at any level of education;
  • Ensure every human being has access to books and literacy programmes by 2030 by making libraries, publishers and authors central to these strategies and ensuring no one is left behind;
  • Support, defend and promote intellectual freedom as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For more information on these issues please visit IFLA, Libraries and Development.

Literacy Day September 8

International Literacy Day is being celebrated across the world on 8 September, with this year’s theme being Literacy and Sustainable Societies.  School libraries play an important part in the development of literacy by through their services and access to resources. Please help promote the ILD, and the role of school libraries.

See also IFLA’s Call to Action: International Literacy Day http://www.ifla.org/node/9861

 UNESCO International Literacy Day http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day#.Ve7r4v0Vh48

and the many other resources available on International Literacy Day

IASL 2017 conference site

California State University Long Beach has been chosen to host the 2017 International Association of School Librarianship conference. Tentative dates are 3-7 August 2017. The theme is “Learning without borders.” Stay tuned for details, and get ready for a future that’s so bright you need (sun)shades — and sunscreen.

Göteborg Book Fair

Several international reading promoters will visit Sweden and Göteborg Book Fair on September 24-27. This year’s laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the South African organisation PRAESA, and Daniel Goldin, publisher and Director of the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, will participate in seminars and programs at the Swedish Art Council’s Young Stage (Ung scen).

“We are excited about this year’s Book Fair,” says ALMA Director Helen Sigeland. “We hope that many visitors will be inspired by PRAESA’s amazing work, which focuses on encouraging children to read for enjoyment, building their self-esteem and helping them connect to their native language through reading and stories, which is highly topical issue today.”

PRAESA is represented by Arabella Koopman, Content Manager for the national reading promotion project Nal’ibali, a network of reading clubs that uses media campaigns to encourage children to read and inspire parents, grandparents and teachers to read with them.

“Daniel Goldin is one of the world’s foremost reading promoters, a brilliant inspirer,” says Helen Sigeland. Daniel Goldin is the publisher who discovered the 2013 ALMA Laureate Isol’s talent for illustrated children’s books.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.

Croatia Library Conference June 2016

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Biennial International Conference LIBRARIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE (LIDA) 2016

Conference Theme: Digital Library Curation and Collections

Zadar, Croatia, 13-17 June 2016 University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia

Full CFP can be found here: http://ozk.unizd.hr/lida/   Email: lida@unizd.hr

Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) addresses the changing and challenging environment for libraries and information systems and services in the digital world. This year’s theme “Digital Library Curation and Collections” is divided into two parts. The first part covers research and development, and the second part addresses advances in applications and practice. LIDA is an international biennial conference that brings together researchers, educators, practitioners, and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions, and learning, made easier by being held in memorable environs.

The LIDA conference is held at the University of Zadar (Croatia) and the conference’s Guest of Honour is Professor Tefko Saracevic, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA.

Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2016 (for all types of contributions)

Types of Contributions Invited:

1. Papers: scholarly studies and reports on practices and advances that will be presented at the conference. Both completed research and early work/preliminary results are invited. Papers will be refereed in a double-blind process. Submit 1,500 word abstract, plus references.

2. Posters: short graphic presentations on research, studies, advances, examples, practices, preliminary work and educational projects that will be presented in a special poster session. Posters will undergo a double-blind review. Awards will be given for Best Poster and Best Student Poster. Submit 750 word abstract, plus references.

3. Panels: up to 90 minute sessions that will be interactive and offer different perspectives and approaches to a specific topic. Organizers propose the format and invite up to five panelists (including the moderator). Submit 750 word abstract, plus references.

4. Demonstrations: live examples of working projects, services, interfaces, commercial products, or developments-in-progress that will be presented during the conference in specialized facilities or presented in special demonstration sessions. Submit 750 word description.

5. Workshops: two to four-hour sessions that will be tutorial and educational in nature, and are intended to foster interactive discussions for attendees who share common interest. Submit 750 word description, plus references.

6. PhD Forum: short presentations by doctoral students, particularly as related to their dissertation, in a session organized by the European Chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (http://www.asis.org/Chapters/europe/). The PhD Forum provides doctoral students the opportunity to present their work to senior faculty in relatively informal setting and to receive feedback on their dissertation by a panel of international educators. Submit 750 word description.

7. Undergraduate/Graduate Student Showcase: short presentations by undergraduate and graduate student, related to their research, practical projects, etc. The showcase will provide students with opportunity to get feedback on their work in informal setting and advice on how to develop their work further and get published. Submit 750 word description, plus references.

Deadlines for all submissions: February 1, 2016.

 All proposals should follow formal LIDA guidelines available at LIDA 2016 website (http://ozk.unizd.hr/lida/submissions/). All work should be in English, original and not previously published. Submission of proposals/extended abstracts should be made using the EasyChair submission system (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lida2016

Following the double blind review process all accepted submissions will be published in the scholarly journal Libellarium: Journal for the research of writing, books and cultural heritage institutions. Libellarium is indexed by EBSCO and Erich II and has applied for inclusion into Scopus.

Conference co-directors:

Martina Dragija Ivanović, Ph.D. Department of Library and Information Science University of Zadar, Croatia mdragija@unizd.hr ; Sanjica Faletar Tanackovic, Ph.D. Department of Information Sciences University of Osijek, Croatia sfaletar@ffos.hr  ;  Ross J. Todd, Ph.D.  rtodd@rutgers.edu ; Marie L. Radford, Ph.D. School of Communication and Information Rutgers University, USA

Program chairs: For Part I: Heather Lea Moulaison, Ph.D. The iSchool at the University of Missouri University of Missouri, USA moulaisonhe@missouri.edu For Part II: Michael Seadle, Ph.D. Institute of Library and Information Science Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany seadle@ibi.hu-berlin.de

The entire conference, including all presentations and keynotes,are in English.