Call for Digital Posters: Scotland’s Community Heritage Conversations 2026

The Scottish Council on Archives is delighted to share that submissions for the digital poster session at this year’s Scotland’s Community Heritage Conversations hybrid event are now open! The  event will take place Thursday 26 November 2026 at the Engine Shed, Stirling and Microsoft Teams.

Digital Poster/Video Session (2026) 

This year’s event will feature a digital poster/video session, designed to let community heritage groups and organisations show off their projects, work and initiatives. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your organisation or project to a diverse group of delegates. We will be displaying posters/video clips based on the conference theme Sharing our Strengths, in a constant loop throughout the day on large screens situated in the Open Hall at the Engine Shed. This is the space where delegates will be networking and enjoying refreshments and lunch. You could also use your poster/video as a background slide for your one-minute mayhem talk, a 60-second ‘soap-box’ opportunity to share your news and views on any aspect of Scotland’s community heritage. It’s a great way for people to know about your work and it’s easy to submit a poster by following these simple instructions: 

 To submit a poster:  

  • Create a bold and informative poster that tells the story of your organisation using our Poster-Template-2026. Get inspiration from from last year’s posters. 
  • Include your group’s name and any other important details, such as a website or social media page – where you want people to reach out to you.  
  • Make sure the submission is on a single widescreen PowerPoint slide and is accessible (see below). 
  • Send it as an email attachment to Marissa Trimble, m.trimble@scottisharchives.org.uk with the subject line POSTER SCHC CONFERENCE 2026 by Monday 9 November. Text within the email must include: 1. Group name; 2. Name of contact person in the group; 3. Email address of contact person.  

Make your poster accessible:   

  • Font size minimum of 24pt   
  • Use contrasting colours, e.g. Black text on a light background. Avoid light fonts on light backgrounds, or dark on dark which are hard to read.   
  • Make images or graphics large and clear    
  • Use a sans serif font which is readable  

To submit a video: 

  • Videos must be no longer than 20 seconds 
  • We cannot play sound when showing these videos so if someone is speaking you will need to have captions 

We’d love to see you at the conference in person, but if you can’t attend, please still send your poster/video so attendees can learn more about your group!  

If you have any questions or want your poster checked for accessibility, feel free to contact m.trimble@scottisharchives.org.uk  

Deadline for submissions: 9 November 2026 

CFP: Critical Digital Archives. Travel, Translation, Transformation.  A Hybrid Symposium on Archives in and from the SWANA Region

British Institute for Libyan and Northern African Studies (BILNAS) 
School of Advanced Studies, University of London (ILCS-ICS) 
21–22 January 2027 

Call for papers: Critical Digital Archives. Travel, Translation, Transformation.  

A Hybrid Symposium on Archives in and from the SWANA Region. 

This symposium aims to provide a forum for scholars, archivists, community and cultural organizations interested in critical approaches to digital archives containing materials from and about the SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) region, understood as a geographic, historical, and cultural space. In this space, archives have been historically imposed, looted, extracted, dispersed, destroyed, but also rescued, rebuilt and reinvented, pioneering practices of resistance, reparation and return that raise compelling ethical, theoretical and practical questions for scholars and stakeholders (Ghaddar, 2025). Building on Itza Carbajal and Michelle Caswell’s framework (2021), our approach seeks to advance a language-sensitive understanding of reparative archival practices that are attentive to and accountable for the technological, social, and environmental impacts of digital archives.  

We are interested in digitisation as a transformative process that reshapes archival practices, knowledge production, and power relations. 

Conceived as a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and horizontal forum, the symposium invites participants, both in person and online, to engage in discussion and exchange around three interconnected themes and interpretative lenses. Two keynote speakers – Sara Salem (LSE) and Amanda Egbe (UWE) – will act as discussants, facilitating collective reflection and dialogue around participants’ contributions. The three themes of the symposium are Travel, Translation and Transformation: 

Travel: Archives in Movement 

This strand explores journeys and movement both as subjects represented in archival collections and as conditions shaping the archive itself, opening up questions of archival looting, dispersal and dispossession as well as care, stewardship, and reparation. Discussions may engage with spatial humanities approaches, including digital mapping and gazetteers; the displacement and mobility of archives; practices and ethics of archival solidarity and return; and questions of heritage, ownership, and identity from indigenous and diasporic perspectives. 

Translation: Languages in the Archive 

This strand will examine issues relating to languages and translation, both in the records and in the archival metadata that make them searchable by and accessible to stakeholders. We will especially welcome contributions reflecting on the role of metadata as descriptive as well as interpretative text, exploring the potential for linguistic, semantic and epistemological translations.  We will also welcome contributions that explore the multilinguality of archival records as enduring representations of human activity and consider the practices and ethics of reparative translation in digital archives. 

Transformation: Digital Futures and Ethics of Dematerialization 

The third strand will look at digitisation as a transformative process for the archive that involves new materialities and highlights new absences. We aim to discuss the impact of digital projects on key stakeholders (users, subjects of records, source communities). We invite contributions on the fragility of digitised and born-digital heritage, as well as the specific biases and risks that digitalisation processes may introduce, particularly through the reproduction, by digital tools, of historical and ongoing harms to people and the environment.  

We also aim to assess the potential of digital technology, especially non-corporate and low-threshold, to act as vectors of resistance and tools against erasure. 

Keynote speakers:   

Sara Salem is an Associate Professor in Sociology at the London School of Economics. Her first book, published with Cambridge University Press, is entitled Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony (2020). Her second book, co-authored with Mai Taha, is entitled Anticolonial Radios: On the Sonic Lives of Internationalism, forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. Along with Mai Taha, she curates Archive Stories, a platform exploring radical and creative archives. 

Amanda Egbe is a Senior Lecturer in Media Production at the University of the West of England and leads Heritage Futures, a practice-led research programme building infrastructure for heritage at risk through archives, film, and digital systems. Her research focuses on how cultural memory is documented, governed, protected, transformed, or lost in contexts shaped by social change, technological transformation, environmental stress, and historical inequity.  

Convenors:  

Barbara Spadaro, University of Liverpool 

Valeria Vitale, University of Sheffield 

The event is jointly hosted by the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS) and the Institute of Classical Studies (ICS) at the School of Advanced Studies, University of London, and funded by the British Institute for Libyan and North African Studies (BILNAS).  

Please send via email a 300words abstract and short bio to b.spadaro@liverpool.ac.uk and v.vitale@sheffield.ac.uk  

Deadline: 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 

A limited number of travel bursaries will be offered to participants travelling to the symposium in London. 

URL: https://ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/critical-digital-archives-travel-translation-transformation

Contact Email

b.spadaro@liverpool.ac.uk

URL: https://ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/critical-digital-archives-travel-translation-transformation

New Issue: Arbido

Theme: Archives and Durability, 2026
(open access)

Ackermann Nadja
Editorial

Lorenz Natalie
The Liechtenstein National Archives: Experiences with a sustainable archive building

Pfister Magdalen
Where sustainability is practiced. For people, culture, and the mountain region

Nicolet Aurèle
Pour des archives durables: small panorama of solutions and existing initiatives

Nina Hens
Preventive conservation and sustainability in the PTT archive

Makhlouf Shabou Basma
Nicolet Aurèle
Evaluating the durability of the artificial intelligence: défis et enjeux

Casula Philipp
Amsler Eri
Sievi Olivier
Sustainability remains an important issue in academic libraries

Akgül Vedat
“Lessons learned” and “Best Practices” – Digital sustainability in the St.Gallen State Archives

Research Study – Share Your Perspective on AI and Archival Description of Intangible Cultural Heritage

My name is Madelaine Davis, and I am a graduate student in the School of Information Studies (SIS) at Louisiana State University, conducting a research study under the supervision of Dr. Kristina Shiroma, Assistant Professor (SIS).

We are inviting archivists, heritage professionals, faculty, graduate students, researchers, and community members/stakeholders with lived experience in intangible cultural heritage (ICH) to take part in a brief online survey. The survey asks you to review a small set of archival description samples and share your perspective on their accuracy, cultural sensitivity, and the ethical considerations of using AI to write these kinds of descriptions.

The survey takes about 15–20 minutes and is entirely online. Participation is voluntary, and there is no compensation. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate.

If you are interested, you can access the survey here: https://lsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7WeSh5CDeg2is2G 

Feel free to forward this message to colleagues or contacts who may also be interested in participating.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact us at kshiroma@lsu.edu or mdav415@lsu.edu. This study has been approved by the LSU Institutional Review Board (IRBAM-26-0690).

Thank you for considering participating!

Madelaine Davis
Graduate Student, LSU School of Information Studies

CFP: 2027 IIIF Online Meeting

The 2027 International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Online Meeting will be held January 26-28, 2027. This year’s meeting will again follow a Working and Learning theme, with a program built to provide attendees with a look into new and innovative IIIF projects, implementations, developments, and tools, as well as opportunities to learn new skills.

All submissions are due by November 3, 2026.

Format

The event organizers are looking for proposals in the following formats:

  • Lightning talks (7 minutes)
  • Tool Demos (5-7 minutes)
  • Online workshop/training sessions (up to 2 hours)

Note:

  • Accepted lightning talks will be pre-recorded, though presenters are asked to be present during the online meeting if possible to participate in Q&A following the presentation.
  • Demonstrations of tools should be pre-recorded. Please do not attempt to do live demonstrations.
  • Online workshops or training sessions should be interactive events with clearly stated target audiences and learning outcomes.
  • All submissions will be reviewed by a committee. This year, we will prioritize submissions from first-time presenters; likewise, while it is possible to submit multiple proposals, we will ask that any given speaker appear only once in the final program.
  • Final versions of the accepted abstracts and presentations will be made openly available after the conference.

Proposal themes

Lightning Talks

We encourage showcasing developments in IIIF and in particular would welcome presentations in the following areas:

  • IIIF implementations featuring unique or uncommon collections
  • Using IIIF material for Machine Learning and AI
  • Implementations of IIIF outside of North America/Europe
  • IIIF in the classroom
  • Annotation use cases

Tool Demos

Have a new IIIF tool? Have you built something for personal use that you want to share with the community? Looking for feedback on a project in progress? This is your opportunity to show off your work with a brief (5-7 minutes) demo.

Workshops

Workshop submissions must have an abstract, a proposed outline schedule, and desired outcomes (e.g., “at this end of this session, participants will be able to place IIIF manifests on a web map”, or “at the end of this session, participants will be able to use IIIF manifests to create guided storytelling exhibitions”). This year, we are seeking workshop proposals aimed at end users, researchers, and educators as well as workshops for experienced IIIF practitioners.

We encourage workshop organizers to set the registration cap for their sessions as high as possible without sacrificing quality.

Submissions

Please submit proposals through Google Forms: Submission Form

Questions?

Please contact staff@iiif.io.

CFP: SHARP News Features

The SHARP News Features section is currently seeking proposals for written pieces in an array of categories that take a wide and creative approach to topics in book history, book studies, print culture, authorship and publishing studies, and media studies. These pieces can include articles, interviews, and reviews of games, books, or video media relating to the above topics.

Please submit your proposal via this Google form, or by emailing the Features editor Allie Alvis at news-features@sharpweb.org.

For more information about the Features section and submitting a proposal, check out this handy dandy PDF.

CFP: Poster and Demo Submissions for IDCC27

Poster and demo submissions for IDCC27 open until 16 October

There’s still time to submit your Poster or Demonstration proposal. You have until 16 October to secure the opportunity to join other international presenters at the 21st International Digital Curation Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, from 9-12 February 2027.

  • Poster Submissions: Offer a great opportunity to showcase and promote your work through images, interact with others, gather feedback, and exchange ideas.
  • Demonstrations: Showcase a working software tool, hardware prototype, or interactive system.

Submit your proposals now!

New Issue: Archival Issues

Archival Issues 43, no. 1 (2026)
(open access)

Articles

Student Life Materials in Association of Research Libraries University Archives: Connecting Policy to Practice
Leanna Barcelona and Paula Dempsey

Accessible AI in the Archives: Tools and Methods for Small Repositories
Liz Bloodworth

Using Data to Identify Gaps and Improve Institutional Collecting in Public University Archives
Hannah Pryor

Publication Reviews

Decolonial Archival Futures. By Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey
Gianni Brassil

Family and Justice in the Archives: Historical Perspectives on Intimacy and the Law. Edited by Peter Gossage and Lisa Moore.
Ruth Cody

Alone in the Stacks: Succeeding as a Solo Archivist. By Christina Zamon.
Jayne Kelley

Teaching Primary Source Research Skills to 21st-Century Learners. By Julie Thomas.
Laura Kiely

Thriving as a Mid-Career Librarian: Identity, Advocacy, and Pathways. Edited by Brandon K. West and Elizabeth Galoozis.
Krista M. Oldham

Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies in Practice. Edited by Hannah Leah Crummé.
shady Radical

The Burpee Seed Company: Planting U.S. History since the Nineteenth Century. By Christopher M. DeMairo.
Leah Tams

New Issue: Archival Science

Archival Science Volume 26, Issue 3, September 2026
(subscription)

Two-Spirit is bugs: classification, archival translation, and the limits of description
Andrew Wiebe

Toward a Christian Hymnology Metadata Schema: the description of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom (407 A.C.)
Spyros Tzanavaris, Efthalia Xanthopoulou, …Marios Poulos

Should sensitive archival images be shown? The case for applying AI to colonial archives
Lise Jaillant, Matthew Kidd, Lingjia Zhao

Archival buildings as archives: recording through design
Zheqiong Mo, Tie Ji

Record-surface visibility and evidential accessibility in administrative disclosure
Youngsoon Yang

“You’re a little bit self-editing”: identity curation in Chinese American family archiving practices
Jiarui Sun

Looking at the back of a document: a case of repurposing swastikas into creating Polish statehood in bureaucratic practices in the formerly German lands (1945–1948)
Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, Izabela Mrzygłód

Archivists’ use of AI: practices and impacts
Jinfang Niu

Modular archive construction for conservation documentation: an archival information framework for palm-leaf manuscript conservation
Yan LiJingyu Zhang…Yanyan Huang

Mediated recordkeeping and epistemic accountability in social media archiving
Leisa Gibbons

Repressive regimes and the manipulations of archival records: an investigation into selected countries in Africa
Kofi Koranteng Adu

“It definitely got my mind whirling:” Building community partnerships for teaching with primary sources
Alexandra Chassanoff, Elliott Kuecker…Gabi Benedit

“In the end, people are people”: positionality statements in the archival enterprise
Alex H. Poole, Ashley Todd-Diaz

Beyond custodianship: public archives, democratic agency, and the limits of transformative discourse
Geerd De Ceulaerde

Locating disability in digital archives: an analysis of accessibility and inclusion in UK-based special collections
Kaitlynn Buchbaum, Paul Gooding

CFP: Material Culture Workshop: “Re-Materialising: Navigating Transience and Absence” – University of Cambridge

Deadline: Sept. 11, 2026

The Material Culture Workshop at the University of Cambridge invites submissions for 20 minute papers for our Michaelmas 2026 sessions on the theme “Re-Materialising: Navigating Transience and Absence.”

  • How do we approach object-based studies without the object?
  • How can we use extant archival material to “reconstruct” the material lives of groups and individuals traditionally underrepresented in institutional collections?
  • How does the archive present challenges and opportunities as a material object itself?

This theme invites projects which challenge disciplinary divisions and embrace material culture studies of non-extant objects and understudied groups. Papers may engage with themes of fragmentation, archival absence, loss, transient objects/experiences, unconventional archival practice, and related topics.

The Material Culture Workshop is convened by postgraduate students Cecelia Eure and Robert Hewis and aims to highlight the work of early career researchers and practitioners in history, art history, archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies, and related disciplines. It is hosted in-person at the University of Cambridge and online at 5:30 pm every other Monday.

Submissions must include a title, abstract (250 words), and a brief bio, sent as a Word document to Cecelia Eure (cre48@cam.ac.uk) by 11 September 2026.

Contact Information

Faculty of History, University of Cambridge

Contact Email

cre48@cam.ac.uk