Monthly Archives: November 2008

June 18-19, 2009

Syracuse University School of Information Studies

Syracuse, NY

We invite proposals for papers and posters for the 2009 North American Symposium on Knowledge Organization, sponsored by the Canadian and U.S. chapter of the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO). This will be our first official meeting as a chapter. Accordingly, it serves as a fitting occasion for us to take stock of our past in light of the present and with an eye to how this living heritage might be leveraged for the future. We hope that it will serve as a springboard for future symposia and lay the groundwork for possible research agendas in the years to come.  In the spirit of these objectives, the theme of NASKO 2009 will be “Pioneering North American Contributions to Knowledge Organization.”

The theme “Pioneering North American Contributions” borrows from the approach adopted by W. Boyd Rayward for the special Library Trends issue (Vol. 52, No. 4, Spring 2004), a collection of essays on people, events, theories, movements, policies, and publications that were “pioneering” in the field of Library and Information Science.  In his introduction, Rayward explained the overarching goal of the collection–to present evidence-based narratives that are not primarily celebratory, but that offer an opportunity for “detailed critical assessments of matters of importance” (p. 676). Following Rayward’s lead, we have intentionally left the notions of “contribution” and “pioneering” negotiable (p. 676): Each paper or poster may follow its own approach and use its own methodology for marshalling evidence in its own voice. Proposals taking an historical approach should not only provide an interesting narrative, but should also “function as an heuristic for detailed analysis of aspects of the past in the light of present trends of development and vice versa”(p. 679). Thus, we hope that historical submissions will not be purely celebratory of past accomplishments, but will provide reflective and substantive evaluations of these accomplishments that do justice both to their historical context and to current perspectives.

Proposals for papers and posters may address any of the following aspects of North American contributions to knowledge organization, broadly understood:

•       Individuals and organizations that are/were influential in knowledge organization, not only as representatives of their times, but also in terms of their influence on future developments;

•       Individuals and organizations that are either being reconsidered or should be reconsidered in light of new thinking and advances in technology;

•       The role of policies, standards, consortia, movements, technologies, etc., in developments relevant to knowledge organization;

•       Evaluation (or re-evaluation) of long-held beliefs and theories in light of their influence on the field of knowledge organization;

•       Important services, institutional developments, or educational trends that serve or have served as contributions to knowledge organization;

•       The influence of North American initiatives on the field of knowledge organization around the world; and

•       Any other North American contribution or pioneering effort deemed relevant to knowledge organization.

Proposals for papers and posters are due by January 1, 2008. The proposal should be no more than 600 words and should include a title but no other identifying information to ensure anonymity in reviewing. The proposal should be accompanied by a cover page that includes the name(s) of the author(s), the title, and a full mailing address and telephone and fax numbers for the corresponding author as well as e-mail addresses for all other authors. All proposals must be in Word or RTF format and should be submitted electronically to Nicolas George <nasko2009@gmail.com>.

Proposals will be refereed by the members of the Program Committee. Authors of papers will be notified of the committee’s decision no later than January 30, 2009; authors of posters will be notified no later than February 15, 2009. All accepted papers will be published online. Final papers to appear in the electronic proceedings must be submitted no later than May 15, 2009. With permission of the authors, the most highly ranked papers will be submitted for publication in Knowledge Organization.

We extend special encouragement to students to contribute proposals for papers and posters, so please distribute this call to doctoral and masters-level students.

Important dates for papers:

January 1, 2009         Submission of proposal (600 words maximum)

January 30, 2009        Notification of authors

March 15, 2009          Final paper due (3000 words maximum)

May 1, 2009             Reviewed papers returned to authors for editing

May 15, 2009            Revised final papers due

Important dates for posters:

January 1, 2009         Submission of proposal (600 words maximum)

February 15, 2009       Authors notified of acceptance

Program Committee:

Clement Arsenault, Université de Montréal

Thomas Dousa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Nicolas L. George, Indiana University Bloomington

Michele Hudon, Université de Montréal

Elin K. Jacob, Indiana University Bloomington, Co-Chair

Barbara Kwasnik, Syracuse University, Co-Chair

Kathryn La Barre, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Shawne Miksa, University of North Texas, Denton

David M. Pimentel, Syracuse University

Richard Smiraglia, Long Island University

Joseph T. Tennis, University of Washington

Questions regarding this call should be directed to Elin Jacob at <nasko2009@gmail.com>.