The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) will hold the 47th Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California June 17-20, 2012. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship and related topics. AJL is soliciting proposals for papers and presentations on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions. Past topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special and rare collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic resources, technology and local Jewish history.

Submissions should include the following:

Presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email contacts.
Brief biography
Title of proposed presentation
Summary of proposal
Specific technology or equipment requirements, if any

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2011.

Please submit proposals by email to:

benamou@library.ucla.edu

or by mail to:

Sharon Benamou
UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center
11020 Kinross Ave. Box 957230
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7230

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January, 2012.

Did you present at the 2011 AJLConvention in Montreal? Would you like your work to be included in the published proceedings that are available on AJL's website?

Please consider sharing your paper with those who were unable to attend your session. For submission guidelines and examples from previous years go to http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Events/PastConventions/ConventionProceedings.aspx.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

Jasmin Nof
Proceedings Chair

The Israel branch of AJL, formally called Judaica Librarians' Group (Israel), issues a publication entitled Alon from time to time. The publication gives librarians an opportunity to describe briefly some interesting item they have come across in the course of their work. Articles are accepted in all languages and should be directed to the publication's editor, Rabbi Avishai Elboim, Director of the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv (rambaml1 at gmail dot com).

All the issues of the Alon are available at http://safranim.wordpress.com. So far only articles in Hebrew have been submitted but articles in any other language are welcome. A notice that a new issue has been posted to the Internet is sent to a couple of hundred Israeli librarians who are registered with the Judaica Librarians' Group. The audience is librarians working in the field of Judaica. Anyone can subscribe, just like anyone can subscribe to AJL's listserv, haSafran.  On the left hand side of the webpage, toward the bottom, is a link to the signup form.

We look forward to receiving your articles!

Association of Jewish Libraries

Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division

Call for Papers, 2011 Annual Convention

The Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division (RAS) of the Association of Jewish Libraries is soliciting paper proposals for AJL's 46th Annual Convention, to be held at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal, Quebec, June 19-22, 2011. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, and authors will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship, Jewish literacy and related topics.

We solicit paper proposals on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it is practiced in research libraries, archives, museums, and special collections and as it pertains to higher education. Examples of suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

§  Technological developments and tools in higher education institutions: cloud computing, academic social networks, e-book platforms, mobile devices and virtual reference;

§  Resource sharing: database access, union catalogs, reference sources, cataloging services;

§  Cataloging in RDA (Resource Description and Access).

§  The future of print book collections in academic institutions, seminaries and Hebrew colleges, as revealed in collection development practices and policies, or other library operations;

§  Changes in Jewish Studies methodology as they are portrayed in libraries.

A special focus this year will be the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Montreal Jewish community. Appropriate topics may include archives or special collections in the area, history of the Canadian Yiddish theater, programs about Jewish Canadian notables such as Mordechai Richler or Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg, as well as Canadian women writers, history of local synagogues and other community landmarks, or unique Jewish communities in Montreal (Moroccan, Iraqi, Spanish-Portuguese).

Proposals should be emailed to ajlconvention@gmail.com, with the following: presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email address; brief biography; title of proposed presentation; paper abstract (up to 250 words); and specific technology or equipment requirements, if any.

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2010. Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January 2011.