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Call for Papers: “History of Reading and Readers in Libraries” Library History Round Table

Posted January 15, 2016

“History of Reading and Readers in Libraries “

Library History Round Table (LHRT)

Research Forum, June 2016

 The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) seeks papers for its Research Forum at the 2016 ALA Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida June 23-28, 2016. The theme of the Forum will be the history of reading in libraries (public, academic, and school). Subjects may include–but are not limited to–historical studies of:

  • Reading, readers, and gender in libraries
  • Meanings of reading in libraries
  • Reading so-called ‘good’ books (nonfiction and serious literature) vs. reading for pleasure
  • Appropriate and inappropriate books; censoring reading and readers
  • Role of the library in developing a reading canon
  • What did reading in libraries look like for children, women, men, immigrants?
  • What type of material did libraries actually provide, and was it what readers wanted?
  • Developing readers through genre fiction, literacy programs, children’s story hours, books for immigrants (English or foreign language).  

LHRT welcomes submissions from researchers of all backgrounds, including students, faculty, and practitioners. Proposals are due by midnight (PST) on Jan. 31, 2016.  Each proposal must give the paper title, an abstract (up to 500 words), and the scholar’s one-page vita. Also, please indicate whether the research is in-progress or completed. It is desirable that the abstract include a problem or thesis, as well as a statement of significance, objectives, methods/primary sources used for the research, and conclusions (or tentative conclusions for works in progress).

From the submissions, the LHRT Research Committee will select several authors to present their completed work at the Forum.  So that the Forum’s facilitator may introduce and react to each author, completed papers are due June 12, 2016. The Research Forum will likely occur on Sunday, June 26, 2016. All presenters must register to attend the conference. For registration options, see ALA’s events and conferences page at http://www.ala.org/. 

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: January 31, 2016

DEADLINE FOR COMPLETED PAPERS: June 12, 2016

Please submit proposals and direct inquiries to:

Ellen Pozzi

LHRT Vice-Chair/Research Committee Chair

William Paterson University

1600 Valley Road

Wayne, NJ 07470

Telephone: 973-720-3784

E-mail: [email protected]