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Are you an academic librarian or library worker, comics scholar, or interested in critical librarianship? Consider submitting a proposal for the forthcoming publication “Comics and Critical Librarianship for Academic Libraries”! Our deadline is now extended through Friday, December 29.

We are particularly interested in proposals that examine critical issues with comics cataloging and access, comics in library instruction, and comics special collections or archives, and welcome both practical and theoretical considerations of the topic. Read on for the full CFP and details!

Working Title: Comics and Critical Librarianship for Academic Libraries
Editors: Olivia Miller & Stephanie Grimm
Submission Deadline: December 29, 2017 (EXTENDED)
Publisher: Library Juice Press

Book description

This book will be a collection of chapters on ways comics have been used in the practice of critical librarianship. The intended audiences  for this book are librarians and library workers that currently or hope  to work with comics in academic libraries, people interested in critical librarianship, and comics scholars. The purpose of this book is to add to the conversation of critical librarianship within academic libraries by highlighting the use and focus of an already radical medium (comics) by librarians and library workers who practice critical librarianship.

For the purposes of this book, we use the term “comics” to mean any  work in the medium of comics/sequential art. This can mean comic book  issues, graphic novels, comic strips, webcomics, minicomics, etc.

We want both critical librarianship and comics to be approachable and accessible topics to our readers. One way we aim to do this is through approachable language much in the way that Maria T. Accardi did in Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction.

Possible topics

We are especially interested in hearing proposals related to the following:

• Critical considerations of:

 o cataloging and shelving practices in relation to comics

 o comics in library instruction in higher education contexts

 o comics or comics ephemera in special collections, archives, or manuscript collections

 o Theoretical or research-based considerations of comics as a tool and site for critical librarianship

Other possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Critical considerations of comics in academic library exhibitions or programming
• Critical considerations of acquisition or collection management/organization practices for comics and comics collections

• Case studies on the critical use of comics in academic libraries and special collections

Timeline

Abstract submission deadline: December 29, 2017
Notification/Feedback regarding submission: January 31, 2018
First drafts due: June 15, 2018
Final drafts due: October 15, 2018

Final manuscript due to publisher: December 2018

Submissions

Please email abstracts of up to 500 words to critlibcomics (at) gmail (dot) com.

Abstracts should briefly describe your topic and how your chapter discusses using comics in critical librarianship. You are welcome to submit multiple abstracts about different possible topics. If your submission is tentatively accepted, the editors may request modifications. Material cannot be previously published.

Final chapters will be in the 2000-5000 word range. Abstracts that discuss comics being used in critical librarianship practices in tribal college libraries, HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, community colleges, archives, special libraries, and libraries outside the United States are especially welcome.

Please direct any questions to Olivia Miller and Stephanie Grimm, editors, at critlibcomics (at) gmail (dot) com.

About the Editors

Olivia Miller (she/her) is the Arts & Humanities Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her BA is in Art History and English from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and she attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill for her MSLS. She built a strong graphic novel collection in her last position at Greensboro College and taught a for-credit course for two semesters on how to read and find comics with a feminist pedagogy.

Stephanie Grimm (she/her) is the Art and Art History Librarian at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She holds a BFA in Illustration and earned her MSI from the University of Michigan, where she developed a dedicated minicomics collection within the university libraries. She has worked with comics and illustration students at both art & design schools and research universities, and is a proponent of critical librarianship and literacy for artists and design students.