6 October, 2017

Sites/Cites, Texts, and Voices in Critical Librarianship: Decolonizing Libraries and Archives

The Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials is pleased to announce its 63rd annual conference, to be held in Mexico City, July 1-4, 2018. SALALM LXIII will be hosted by Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, El Colegio de México. The conference will address the impact of libraries and archives on sites and sources — physical, virtual, and metaphorical. The theme, S/Cites, Texts, and Voices in Critical Librarianship: Decolonizing Libraries and Archives, brings together librarians, archivists, book vendors, curators, scholars, and artists to think critically about how the processes of selection, commodification, organization, and description — the tools of our profession — give shape to research and teaching on Latin America, Iberia and the Caribbean. With all manner of physical and virtual s/cites in mind, SALALM LXIII will be a laboratory for creativity, dialogue, and reflection.

Presentations and workshops might explore such questions as: How do our descriptions of resources reinforce or challenge meanings? What roles do standardized professional benchmarks play in collection building, cataloging, and curricular development? How does our work promote or hinder information empowerment and global information equality? How might alternative library and archival practices or tools foster equitable access? How do current funding structures affect our successes and failures? How can we foster critical reflection in our profession? How might we address the inequalities of access to electronic platforms and misperceptions about their provision of global resources?

The serendipitous intersection between Mexico City and SALALM in 2018 presents the Plaza de las Tres Culturas/Tlatelolco as an emblematic example for our discussions. In addition to being visible from our hotel, this site will attract increased attention in 2018 on the 50th anniversary of the Massacre of Tlatelolco. More importantly, its symbolism as a cultural and historical crossroads enables its repeated appearance in indexes, tables of contents, bibliographies and texts across the spectrum of academic, creative and popular works. As a source within a source – a s/cite if you will – the Plaza de Tres Culturas/Tlatelolco offers an historical and symbolic backdrop for exploring how our professions influence significance, perspective, and critical reflection. What responses might emerge if we ask, for example, how this s/cite and others address the inequities of global access to information and the areas we research?

Building on the successes of previous conferences, SALALM LXIII will feature hands-on workshops and roundtables alongside panels and designated space for more “Rodas Vivas.” Meetings, roundtables and workshops will emphasize collaborative labor, with individuals and groups working across purposes and boundaries. All examples and exercises are welcome at SALALM LXIII from July 1st to 4th, 2018. Please submit presentation or panel proposals by 1 February 2018. Proposal questions should be directed to SALALM President Suzanne Schadl (schadl@unm.edu).

For questions about local arrangements and book exhibits, please contact the Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee, Micaela Chávez Villa (mch@colmex.mx). Conference registration will begin in early Spring 2018. Please consult the conference website for dates.

Registration & Attendance
Registration for the conference with rates pre-registration begins on March 1 and ends on April 30 2018.