Call for Papers

Rare Books and Special Collections Section

Theme:
Managing and Promoting Special Collections in Africa: The Bleek-Lloyd Collection and Beyond

Date

14 August 2015

Venue

University of Cape Town

Organizer

Rare Books and Special Collections Section

This one-day satellite meeting will highlight the management and promotion of African special collections using the Bleek and Lloyd Collection* as an introduction and conceptual framework for further discussion. The Section welcomes proposals about the Bleek-Lloyd collection itself or papers relating to the management and promotion of African collections.

Examples of possible themes include

  • challenges and opportunities of managing split collections and diverse locations;
  • managing mixed-format collections;
  • collaboration with a curatorial center;
  • digitization, crowd-sourcing;
  • challenges associated with language, dialect, and notation;
  • public outreach;
  • and ways to stimulate new research. 

We would also welcome proposals about how to become a Memory of the World collection (especially African collections) or proposals about the issues surrounding the management of collections from indigenous African cultures.

Please provide

  • name and institution of presenter(s)
  • an abstract of the paper or presentation up to 350 words, preferably in English
  • relevant biographical information of presenter(s)

Please send your proposals by 15 December 2014 the extended deadline 15 February 2015 via email to both:

David Farneth,  Chair, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section
Email: dfarneth@getty.edu
and to
Edwin C. Schroeder, Information Coordinator, Rare Books and Manuscripts Section
Email: edwin.schroeder@yale.edu

The abstracts will be reviewed by a Review Committee and the papers selected will be announced early March 2015.

The paper can be given at the congress in any of IFLA’s official languages.

If a paper is selected authors must commit to presenting it in Cape Town.

All presenters must forward the full text of their papers by 30 April 2015 to allow time for review and for preparation of translations (if applicable). Presentations should not take longer than 25 minutes to deliver and papers should be no longer than 20 pages.

In accordance with IFLA's Open Access Statement all papers presented at the Satellite Meeting will be available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. Authors of submitted papers will need to sign IFLA’s Author form. The papers and presentations will be made available through the IFLA Library or RBMS website.

Important Dates

15 February 2014 Submission of abstract
early March 2015 Notification to authors
30 April 2015 Submission of full text

* About the Bleek and Lloyd Collection: The University of Cape Town Libraries is the repository for a unique collection of material about the /Xam Bushmen, compiled by philologist, Dr. Wilhelm Bleek, and his sister-in-law, Lucy Lloyd, between 1870 and 1881. They worked with a series of Bushmen informants to record the language, stories, life-histories and way of life of the /Xam. An important part of the collection is the series of notebooks in which Bleek and Lloyd recorded this information, in the original language, most of which they then translated into English. There are also drawings made by the informants as well as other material including photographs, maps and ephemera. A large portion of the notebooks and material from this collection has been digitised and is available online through the Libraries digital collections site. The University also has a number of academic researchers and units that have engaged in various ways with the material. The National Library of South Africa in Cape Town and Iziko South African Museum also have collections of Bleek and Lloyd material. These collections are listed in Unesco's Memory of the World Register as documentary heritage of international importance.

Submissions

All proposals must be in before 15 February 2015.

Please note

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation can be issued to authors.

Last update: 19 December 2014