Call for Submission

2021-12-03

World Libraries -- a peer-reviewed, open access LIS journal published by the Dominican University School of Information Studies in River Forest, Illinois -- invites submissions on library and information science topics of interest to an international audience.

If libraries, museums, and archives are windows to the world, it follows that those working in them must also be internationally engaged, sharing ideas across borders, profiting from the successes and discoveries of far-flung colleagues, and strengthening alliances built upon shared philosophies.

Indexed by EBSCO and other leading services, World Libraries is a cooperative, collaborative project devoted to the free and unfettered sharing of knowledge. Working from the premise that librarianship has always had and should always have an international scope -- and that we ignore ideas and neglect allies at our own peril -- we invite LIS professionals and fellow travelers to engage in an ongoing conversation.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Libraries (public, academic, special, school, etc.) and information centers
  • Information needs, seeking behavior, and use
  • Information retrieval
  • Knowledge management
  • Cultural heritage informatics
  • Archives and preservation
  • Information literacy
  • Misinformation
  • Big data, data mining, data science, text mining, data analytics
  • Social media, computer-mediated communication, web 2.0
  • Human-computer interaction, information architecture, user experience, usability
  • Library and information trends, including the maker movement, sharing economy, gamification, resilience, connected learning, haptic technology, linked data, and elder services
  • Disaster preparation and recovery, including crisis informatics
  • Preservation and conservation, including the impact of global climate change
  • Scholarly communication, including libraries as publishers and information creators
  • International dialogue on LIS topics, including organizations such as IFLA and the International Librarians Network
  • The impact of library and information services on political discourse and activity, socio-economic trends, and quality of life
  • Marketing and advocacy, including case studies of approaches and campaigns
  • Library design and innovative use
  • The for-profit library sector and economic globalization
  • Comparative librarianship, including postcolonial studies
  • Information services and minority groups, including immigrant communities, indigenous people, and LGBTQ+ people
  • Literacy, including information and artifactual literacy
  • Demonstrating the value of library and information services
  • Access to information and intellectual freedom
  • The future of library and information services
  • Leaders or influential figures in the library and information sector
  • And library and information topics in any country or region, particularly emerging countries and regions

Submissions may take the form of research papers, interviews, reportage and correspondence, opinion pieces, talks and lectures, roundtables, multimedia storytelling, and product and media reviews (including books, audio-visual works, and electronic resources). Other types of submissions are welcome and will be given due consideration by our editorial team. Accepted research papers are evaluated by at least two peer reviewers.

World Libraries is published in English, but non-English content is welcome and translation assistance may be available.

Authors whose works are published in World Libraries are given the option of retaining the rights to their works. They may retain copyright or select a Creative Commons license that best suits their needs. More information will be provided upon acceptance of a submission.

For more information about World Libraries and to make a submission, visit http://worldlibraries.dom.edu/index.php/worldlib/about/submissions.

Questions? Please contact World Libraries editor Hassan Zamir at mzamir@dom.edu.

More about World Libraries

World Libraries is a project of the faculty, staff, and students of Dominican University School of Information Studies; an advisory board of library and information professionals from around the world; and an ever-changing cast of contributors and readers. It was established in 1990 under the title Third World Libraries.

Past contributors and editors include Marta Terry Gonzalez, Loriene Roy, Ken Haycock, Sara Paretsky, Roderick Cave, D. J. Foskett, Norman Horrocks, Carlos Victor Penna, Josefa Emilia Sabor, Peter Havard-Williams, Herbert S. White, Jeanne Drewes, Lars-Anders Baer, Peggy Sullivan, Robert P. Doyle, Michael E. D. Koenig, and John W. Berry.

Themed issues have focused on indigenous library services, Latin American librarianship, the Center for Research Libraries, and information services in Cuba, Nigeria, and Poland. The entire run of the journal is available at http://worldlibraries.dom.edu.