Proposals for papers, sessions, and workshops are now being accepted for the 42nd annual conference of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) to be held May 1-6, 2014 in Washington, DC.

We aim to devise a program that will challenge current thinking about a wide range of professional issues, enhance lines of communications among our members, forge new channels with individuals and other organizations that share our goals and values, and offer innovative solutions to address real-world exigencies. “Unconference” settings will allow attendees to engage in lively interactive discussion. We welcome submissions from librarians, visual and media resource specialists, archivists, curators, museum professionals, educators, artists, designers, architects, historians, researchers, practitioners, students, and from fields outside of the traditional library and visual resource collection boundaries.

THEMES AND TOPICS
The conference theme, “Art + Politics,” acknowledges the critical role of policy-making
at the local, regional, national, and international levels in identifying, documenting, and preserving cultural heritage resources, and will highlight ways in which art information professionals shape the direction and tenor of their collaborative efforts.
The thematic framework is centered on art and politics in the broadest senses and
should act simply as a stepping stone for ideas. The following are suggestions in four
categories for participants to share ideas, knowledge, and experience:

Fostering Creativity: Innovative public/private partnerships, Government support of the arts and collection building, Civic art projects, Grant application and management

Of, By, and For the People: Advocacy and the arts, Collecting political art, Copyright, censorship, open access and scholarly publishing, Art and architecture as diplomacy,
Provenance and repatriation of cultural resources

Preserve and Protect: Preservation and access: new technologies, organizational models, collaborative projects, Social media as history, Format migration

Power and Agency: User empowerment for research in the visual arts, Intra-institutional collaboration, Intellectual and physical stewardship of collections, Successful development strategies.

Please note: Calls for poster sessions, moderators, user group meetings, and
special interest group meetings will be issued in Fall 2013.

We eagerly await your ideas and proposals.

Megan Halsband / mhals@loc.gov and
Roger Lawson / r-lawson@nga.gov / Program Co-Chairs