There is a lot of talk about the major disciplinary conferences like MLA and AHA having substantial increases in sessions devoted to digital humanities. I am worried/wondering why library associations like ALA (American Library Association) don't seem to be invested in this. Is this true or is it just my perception? Is ALA too big and maybe it is better recognized in the smaller divisions like ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries)? If librarians are to be active partners in DH work, which professional organizations are supporting and investing in this area?
Are library associations ignoring digital humanities?
(8 posts) (7 voices)-
Posted 4 years ago Permalink
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ALA is the wrong level to look at, as you suspected. Watch ACRL. Also keep an eye on the Coalition for Networked Information and the Association for Research Libraries. Another possibility is the academic section of the Special Libraries Association.
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
Well... here's a further question - where are current DHbrarians investing their professional development at the association level? I'm struggling to reconcile this with the grand idea of the Big Tent (librarianship and DH), and how I want to support it, but my interests in the field are starting out so specialized. I want to invest my time in exciting, new, developing areas.
Will look in to your recommendations, thanks!
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
harrigreen@gmail.com
MemberYes, ACRL is the place to look: An ACRL Digital Humanities Interest Group was just launched this fall, and we'll be having our first meeting at ALA Annual 2012. Also, we are organizing a Digital Humanities and Librarians pre-conference that will be held at ALA Annual 2012, and more details about that will be coming out this spring.
Other library-related organizations that are good places to look at are DLF (www.diglib.org), Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR, http://www.clir.org), and the Assocation of Research Libraries, which just published a report on digital humanities centers in libraries at http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec326-6dec11.shtml.
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
There was a great deal of emphasis on the digital humanities at DLF's most recent forum, and the Digital Library Federation has also launched a partnership with centerNet, an international alliance of digital humanities labs and centers, around a set of shared interests:
http://www.diglib.org/community/collaborations/centernet/
DLF also sponsored conference registration discounts for a number of first-time librarian attendees at the annual DH conference last summer at Stanford, which I thought was terrific.
In general, many librarians are members of the ADHO organizations, including the ACH (your friendly hosts of DH Answers!).
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
Replying to @Micah Vandegrift's post:
RBMS is calling for some pre-conference papers on DH (and I'm submitting with the director of our special collections):
RBMS 2012 Preconference Call for Short Papers
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: December 15, 2011FUTURES!
53rd Annual RBMS Preconference
San Diego, California
June 19 - 22, 2012Planning for the 2012 RBMS Preconference is entering the final stages.
This year's theme is FUTURES! The 2012 RBMS Preconference will explore
a multiplicity of futures for the rare book, manuscript, and special
collections community. How are special collections materials being
discovered and used today? How will they be discovered and used
tomorrow? Who will our users be, and what will they need? What forms
will special collections materials take? Join us to learn, discuss,
share, and contemplate. Now is the time to shape and prepare, because
the future is now.The Preconference will feature engaging plenaries, educational
seminars, lively discussion groups, and dynamic short paper
presentations. Plenary sessions will address three facets of our
theme:Use: Digital Humanities
Discovery: Linked Open Data
Object: BookClearly there are many, many more aspects of this theme to explore, so
we invite short paper submissions that address our theme in creative
and thought-provoking ways. Short papers can be broadly theoretical or
solidly practical; they can be the result of intense personal research
or the fruit of a productive collaboration.A subcommittee of the 2012 RBMS Preconference Program Planning
Committee will review all submissions and select and organize the
papers into intellectually coherent clusters of three or four 15 to 20
minute presentations. There will be one time slot during which four
short paper sessions will run concurrently.Proposals of 500 words or less should be sent to Mike Kelly
(mkelly@amherst.edu) no later than December 15, 2011. Final selections
by the Short Papers Subcommittee will be announced early in the New
Year.Short Papers Subcommittee:
Mike Kelly, Amherst College
Melissa Nykanen, Pepperdine University
Katie L.B. Henningsen, University of Kentucky
Karla Nielsen, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignA Note on Preconference Program Planning: The process of Preconference
Programming is not always clear to newcomers to the section, and even
some who have been around for a while. The Preconference Program
Planning Committee is responsible for the overall theme and schedule
of the conference, including selecting plenary speakers and organizing
discussion sessions. Their work began at the 2011 Midwinter meeting in
San Diego. The Seminars Committee is responsible for development of
seminars that may, or may not, be directly tied to the Preconference
theme. The 2012 Preconference will feature ten seminars, some of which
have been in development for over a year. Short papers are a way to
open the Preconference to participation from a wider range of voices
than may be represented in the other sessions on a shorter timeline.
Those interested in helping to shape the 2013 Preconference, should
attend the first meeting of the 2013 Preconference Program Planning
Committee during ALA Midwinter in Dallas.Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
A little birdie told me that ALA Midwinter in Dallas will have a panel called "Online and Above the Radar: Ensuring the Use and Discoverability of Digital Collections", which hopefully will have some Omeka representation, so that's something?
Posted 4 years ago Permalink -
John Fink
MemberCanadian (well, American-in-Canada) perspective here. DH-in-libraries is still a relatively nascent item, so I for one am focusing regional -- going to THATcamps, doing local evangelism. Our own library based DH centre is still in development, so perhaps when it spins up and things even out a bit there might be a call to think a little more broadly.
Posted 4 years ago Permalink
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