CFP: Classrooms, Libraries, and the Academy

The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association’s Classrooms, Libraries, and the Academy area welcomes paper submissions from librarians, archivists, curators, graduate students, faculty, collectors, writers, patrons, and independent researchers of popular culture and information settings of all types.

NEPCA’s 2022 fall,virtual conference will be held Thursday October 22 – Saturday October 22, 2021. The deadline for proposals is August 1, 2022.

We encourage panel proposals, as well as, individual submissions. Papers are generally 15-20 minutes in length. We also encourage works in progress and informal presentations. The key expectations on presentations are that:

The proposal should be rooted in research. We do not automatically exclude original poetry, composed works of fiction, or musical/dance/storytelling performance, but such works must be connected to greater theoretical and research frameworks.
NEPCA generally avoids proposals whose intent is overtly commercial.
Proposals should appeal to a broad audience.

Classrooms, Libraries, and the Academy area explores the intersection of popular culture and the academy. Topics can manifest in many ways including:

The use of libraries, archives, museums, etc for popular culture scholarship
Studies and reporting on the creation or organizing of important popular culture collections
How popular culture is engaged and used in the classroom, including interesting and unique uses for teaching various courses and educational technology
The role of the academy and collections in advancing popular culture studies
The role of academic publishing within popular culture studies in traditional and new media
Intellectual freedom or cultural sensitivity issues related to popular culture resources
Depictions and virtual tours of libraries, classrooms, collections and the academy in popular culture
Public libraries and librarians supporting programming and outreach around popular culture resources (graphic novels, streaming video, book clubs etc.)

If you have questions about this area, please read out to the Classrooms, Libraries, and the Academy Area Co-Chairs: Julie A.Cicilline, Providence College, jdecesa1@providence.edu and Lance Eaton, College Unbound, lance.eaton@gmail.com