Call for Proposals : ACRL/NY 2026 Symposium

"Staying Present In Times of Crisis and Possibility: Showing Up For Our Communities"

Submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/cS4EskgLzqPfHdP19

Submissions deadline Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 9am.

Dec. 4, 2026, 8:30 AM-4:00 PM

Fordham University

Academic libraries face deep uncertainty about the future of our institutions and our communities. Censorship, budget cuts, privatization, extraction of public resources, immigration policies, racist, sexist, and anti-LGBTQ+ and working class policies are just some of what we have to continually face. As bell hooks reminds us in Teaching to Transgress, “the classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.” The same can be said about libraries and why they continually have a target on them.

This year's symposium theme centers on the word "present" and its multiple meanings. We invite participants to examine the present moment; the immediate circumstances and context shaping our work. What does it mean to stay present in a time of rapid and alarming change? How do we remain grounded and intentional rather than overwhelmed by chaos? 

We encourage proposals for presentations and poster sessions that honestly grapple with tension, celebrate resilience and resistance, and use our imaginations to create more equitable futures for the academic library communities we serve. In the spirit of hooks' vision of education as the practice of freedom, we believe that how we show up (with our whole selves) matters.

Questions to Consider: 

• How do you foster community with patrons and/or colleagues within the library? 
• With unlimited budget and resources, what are your imaginings for how the library could facilitate justice in the current moment? And what things can be translated to present resource levels and community skills?
• Have you had to navigate censorship or threats to intellectual freedom in your role, in solidarity with colleagues, students, faculty? What practices ground you in core LIS professional (or additional) values during direct challenge?
• What does it look or feel like to be grounded and present? 
• How does rest and rejuvenation incorporate into daily librarianship and archival practice? Who is/isn’t allowed flexibility for rest? 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Intellectual freedom, censorship, and the defense of open inquiry
• Equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism in library collections, services, and staffing
• Supporting communities under stress: students, faculty, and staff facing mental health challenges, food insecurity, or political displacement
• Data privacy, surveillance, and patron confidentiality in a digital age
• Navigating institutional pressure, budget cuts, and resource constraints without compromising mission
• Evolving roles of academic librarians: instruction, research support, and community engagement
• Artificial intelligence, algorithmic bias, and ethical information practices
• Open access, scholarly communication, and the future of the research library
• Preserving at-risk collections and vulnerable knowledge
• Interdisciplinary and cross-institutional partnerships for resilience
• Reflective practice: lessons learned from crises, failures, and adaptive change.

Proposals might take the form of reflecting on a work project or a more theoretical approach, potentially conversant with LIS literature, restorative and transformative justice studies, gender studies, ethnic and race studies, immigration studies, disabilities studies, critical pedagogy, data science, or other disciplines. 

To be considered, proposals will address the theme of presence and showing up, have a title, and clearly relate to at least one of the above listed topics. We encourage presentations that are engaging, interactive, and conversational. 

Optional early submissions for feedback deadline: 5/14/2026 at 9am Eastern time

• Early review will respond to the proposal's thematic relevance; submissions will not be accepted from the early feedback deadline.

Final submissions deadline: 6/2/2026 at 9am Eastern time

Submission options (presenters may be grouped by topic with other presenters) 

• Poster
• Lightning Talk - 5-10 minutes
• Individual Presentation - 15-20 minutes
• Panel (3-5 people) - 30-50 minutes