Reading Spaces

CFP: OCULA Student Award

The purpose of this award is "To promote OCULA to LIS students and provide an opportunity to participate in the OLA Super Conference." Deadline is November 15 -- see the website for more information on format and evaluation criteria:

http://www.accessola.org/OLA_Prod/OLAWEB/About/Awards/OCULA_Student_Award.aspx

Patrick Ness wins Carnegie Medal for Monsters of Men

The Chaos Walking series by expat American YA author, Patrick Ness, is among my favourites. I don't have time right now to give all the reasons why I highly recommend it, and I'm still mulling over the conclusion, but I'm happy to see the books receive this kind of recognition. The writing is at times, truly, breath-taking. He can certainly turn a very nice phrase. The Carnegie medal is awarded by a committee of librarians, and Ness gives a quote-worthy defense of libraries in his acceptance speech. To read more about the Carnegie, library cuts and Patrick Ness see this article in the Bookseller, this BBC article, or this Guardian article.

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel wins CLA Children's and YA Book Awards

The author reports on his double award on his blog. Half Brother is an excellent book -- challenging, interesting, timely, beautifully written and suitable for all ages. I loved it. But, I can't decide how I feel about the same title being granted both awards. The cons for me: 1) it makes it seem as though the field of production is so small, that we need to double up awards, 2) it takes away the uniqueness of the young adult field if books that are suitable for all ages can be nominated and win the YA award. For what it's worth, Half Brother for me, is solidly in the YA camp, but that wouldn't stop me from recommending it to strong younger readers. The pros: 1) really good books float to the top, regardless of age category, 2) the resistance of age categories suggests the kind of wiliness that is such a big part of reading -- you just can't pin readers down.

CFP: CAIS/ACSI 2011: Deadline changed back to Jan 15

Canadian Association for Information Science/Association canadienne des sciences de l’information 39th Annual Conference.  University of New Brunswick/St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick.  June 2 – 4th, 2011

Exploring interactions of people, places and information

In parallel with the Congress theme of Coasts and Continents: Exploring Peoples and Places, CAIS 2011 will focus on research exploring the interactions of people and places with information.  The conference committee encourages submissions from both practitioners and academics.  The conference will provide information scientists and practitioners with a forum for the presentation of innovative research on all aspects of the evolving field of information science.

Submissions will address two general themes:
•       The physical, virtual, social, intellectual, organizational, and documentary spaces and places in which informing is enacted and documents are created and used.
•       The people who inhabit these places and spaces and the work they do.

Call for proposals.
We welcome proposals for CAIS/ACSI 2011. Proposals may be submitted in English or French. Practitioners and doctoral candidates are especially invited to submit proposals for the conference. Guidelines are temporarily posted to http://publish.uwo.ca/~pmckenzi/CAIS2011_guidelines_instructions.pdf and this call is available at http://publish.uwo.ca/~pmckenzi/Call for papers - CAIS 2011.pdf.  Both, along with the French-language call for submissions, will ultimately live at www.cais-acsi.ca.  Appel en français à venir.

Types of submissions.

Papers: 20-minute oral presentations of completed or well-developed projects on topics suitable for publication in scholarly and professional journals. Proposals that report on completed or ongoing research will be given preference. Diverse perspectives (theoretical and applied) and methodologies are welcomed.  Proposals should be in the form of a short paper (approximately 1000-1500 words excluding references), reporting on research projects, theoretical developments or innovative practical applications are invited.

Panels:  Panels presenting topics for discussion such as successful practitioner/academic collaborations, research challenges, emerging trends, and contrasting viewpoints from experts in complementary professional areas are welcome.  Proposals should be in the form of extended abstracts (approximately 1000-1500 words excluding references), providing an overview of the issues, projects, or viewpoints to be discussed by the panel. Submissions must also include title, sponsor(s), and names and affiliations of all participants (max. 3 including moderator, speakers, reactors, etc.).

Posters: Visual presentations of completed or well-developed projects on topics suitable for publication in scholarly and professional journals. Proposals that report on completed or ongoing research will be given preference. Diverse perspectives (theoretical and applied) and methodologies are welcomed.  Proposals should be in the form of a short abstract (approximately than 750 words excluding references), reporting on research projects, theoretical developments or innovative practical applications are invited.

Research round table: In recognition to the number of people embarking on new research projects, including faculty, graduate students, and practitioners with scholarly research requirements, we will offer a “roundtable” session to workshop emerging research ideas, works in progress, and drafts that are in development for publication in peer-reviewed venues.  Please submit a short proposal (approximately 750 words excluding references), describing the area of research, reporting on progress to date, and indicating the kind of feedback desired.  Authors whose proposals are not accepted for research paper or poster presentations may be invited to present their work at a round table session.

Student- and Practitioner-to-CAIS/ACSI Awards
Papers submitted by graduate students and by practitioners will be considered for these awards. The awards include a monetary prize as well as publication of the full manuscript in the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science / La revue canadienne des sciences de l’information et de bibliothéconomie. Students and practitioners should submit the full paper by April 16th to be considered for this award. Details of the award, including previous winners, can be found at the CAIS/ASCI website.

Please note: Deadline for all proposals has been changed back to January 15th, 2010.

Proposals including the name(s) of the author(s), mailing and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, should be sent electronically (.docx, .doc, .wpd, or .rtf format) to conf2011@cais-acsi.ca.

Conference proposals will be refereed by the Programme Committee. Authors will be notified of the Committee’s decision no later than February 28th, 2011.  All presenters must register for the conference. Abstracts and short papers will be published on the CAIS Website once registration has taken place. Final versions must be submitted no later than April 15th, 2011.

Participants are also encouraged to submit full papers to the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science / La revue canadienne des sciences de l’information et de bibliothéconomie.

We are excited about holding the conference in Fredericton (since the organizers are all native New Brunswickers!) and plan to provide many opportunities to meet and mingle with other attendees and experience the rich culture and physical beauty of New Brunswick’s capital city.

For further information, please contact one of the CAIS/ACSI 2011 Conference Co-chairs.

Pam McKenzie
pmckenzi@uwo.ca
Faculty of Information and Media Studies
University of Western Ontario
North Campus Building
London, Ontario
N6A 5B7
Tel: 1-519-661-2111
ext. 88514

Catherine Johnson
cjohn24@uwo.ca
Faculty of Information and Media Studies
University of Western Ontario
North Campus Building
London, Ontario
N6A 5B7
Tel: 1-519-661-2111
ext. 81479

Sarah Stevenson
Sarah.stevenson@dal.ca
Killam Library
Reference & Research Services
Dalhousie University
1459 Oxford St.
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
Tel: 902-494-3611

an LIS concept for young adults: new work from Anthony Bernier

Anthony Bernier presented a paper at the recent Library Research Seminar on the emergence of dominant discourses on youth used in LIS: the "storm and stress" model, the youth-in-crisis or youth-at-risk conception and the more recent youth in development (i.e. The Search Institute stuff). He makes a call for giving the extra-disciplinary discourses on youth a rest, in favour of allowing an LIS-derived conceptualization to emerge. Here's a link to the abstract: Download Bernier.

CLA and CLASY event in Ottawa: Libraries and Teens: January 14, 2011

A new date (January 14) with a schedule of events is posted at the CLASY site. Online registration available.

There is a new event sponsored by the Canadian Library Association and Canadian Libraries Are Serving Youth (a new advocacy group started by MLIS students at the University of Western Ontario). Libraries and Teens. There's a hefty price tag but should be well-worth the $$. For more information see the notice on the CLA site and the CLASY blog.

 

Interdisciplinary conference on "dark novels" for YA

Noted critic of children's literature, Maria Nikolajeva pulled together a conference of neuroscientists, education, media and literary specialists to discuss whether books such as Twilight and Hunger Games are "affecting children's brains in a worrying way" -- see the report by Lucy Tobin in guardian.co.uk. Much of the rhetoric here sounds familiar re: the dangers of gothic, escapist fiction...Here's more information from the Cambridge/Homerton Research and Teaching Centre for Children's Literature at Cambridge about the conference: The Emergent Adult: Adolescent Literature and Culture.

Burt Award for African Literature

Here's an interesting article on the announcement of a new prize for YA fiction in Africa along with World Litereacy Day celebrations; from the article, "

"The Burt Award for African Literature is a new literary prize that recognizes excellence in young adult fiction from Africa. It is sponsored by CODE through the generous contributions of Canadian patron Bill Burt, the award addresses an on-going absence of relevant, quality books for young people while fostering a love of reading and learning. The 1st Burt Award winners were obtained in

This is the second year the award has been given out. This year's winners are:

• Mr William Mkufya (Manuscript: Face under the Sea);
• Ms Nahida Esmail (Manuscript: Living in the Shade);
• Ms Elieshi Lema (Manuscript: In the Belly of Dar es Salaam)

CFP: The Intersection of Broadcasting and Print

Call for Papers:
The Intersection of Broadcasting and Print
May 31, 2011
 
A Special Joint Session at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Sponsored by The Canadian Historical Association’s Media and Communications History Committee, The Bibliographical Society of Canada and The Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture
 
The Media History Group of the Canadian Historical Association, the Bibliographical Society of Canada and the Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture seek paper proposals for a special joint session to be held at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in spring 2011.
 
The theme of this special joint session is “The Intersection of Broadcasting and Print.”

While broadcasting and print have been positioned at times as oppositional and competing forms of communication, those of us who study either field are apt to encounter instances of complementary or cooperative interplay between the two. Who among us has not encountered a book transformed into a made-for-TV movie or documentary? Or seen a popular television drama spun off into a series of novels? In English Canada, popular CBC radio shows such as Morningside and Writers and Company have inspired printed collections of material originally produced for radio transmission. In Quebec, Claude-Henri Grignon’s popular Un homme et son péché crossed over from print to radio to film, then television, then film again. From other angles, what is the relationship between newspaper and broadcast journalism?
What is the significance of the rise of media conglomerates, organizations that often encompass broadcasting and print (books, newspapers, magazines) under their umbrellas and advocate the value of “synergy.”

For this joint session, we invite proposals for papers that reflect on “The Intersection of
Broadcasting and Print” from any part of the world, and in any time period since the introduction of broadcasting. Papers might focus on a specific piece or genre of “content” made manifest in both realms, or examine the phenomenon at the level of policy and practice, whether in relation to a company/conglomerate or to the broadcasting and print industries as a whole. More generally, we seek papers that explore how broadcasting and print have understood and responded to each other, and have thereby defined themselves.
 
Please submit a 250-word proposal, a one-page curriculum vitae, and your contact information to: proposals@bsc-sbc.ca or vipond@alcor.concordia.ca
 
Deadline for Paper Proposals: Wednesday, September 22, 2010.

SHARP 2010

In a few weeks, I'll be giving a paper presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Reading, Authorship and Publishing. My paper is called: "Enough Books to Make Reading for Fun Possible: The inconspicuous emergence of the Canadian young adult novel and the rise of the teenage reader."  A copy of the abstract along with abstract from the other presenters in the session Reading Through Life is available here or from the SHARP Conference Website.

Reading through Life Sessions: Abstracts