Please join us for a third annual DLF Liberal Arts Colleges Pre-Conference on October 22, immediately preceding this year’s DLF Forum. Unlike previous years, the 2017 #dlfLAC will be structured as an unconference and is being planned in partnership with a wonderful co-host around a special theme! 

This is a grassroots, practitioner-based event, being organized by our LACs/HBCUs Preconference Planning Committee members who generously responded to our call for volunteers who care about representation and the liberal arts.

The HBCU Library Alliance and Digital Library Federation invite you to a one-day unconference, to be held on Sunday, October 22, 2017, in Pittsburgh, PA. Our theme is digital libraries and digital library pedagogy as common mission, common ground between liberal arts colleges & programs and HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities).

How might our digital libraries better represent diverse communities and experiences, and better support learners from minoritized groups? How can the teaching that librarians do now inspire students to future information careers and change the problematic demographics of our profession? And what resources and environments are needed to nurture and sustain current information professionals from underrepresented groups?

Participants and planning committee volunteers do not need to be members of DLF or the HBCU Library Alliance.  

DLF and the HBCU Library Alliance are offering a number of full travel and registration fellowships, primarily designed to bring practitioners from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the pre-conference and DLF Forum. These fellowships will offset or completely cover travel and lodging expenses associated with attending, with a cap of $1200 in costs. Fellows will additionally receive complimentary full registration to the pre-conference (a $50 value) and—if desired—to the DLF Forum as well (up to a $750 value), along with an invitation to special networking events.

Click here to learn more–the deadline has been extended to September 7th!  

Following an unconference model, #dlfLAC 2017 will be loosely structured and entirely participant-driven. We will have a plenary speaker and are accepting proposals for a limited number of lightning talks, but otherwise we will build the program together on October 22nd. (You can read more about unconferences on Wikipedia and look at a few meetings from #critlib and THATcamp.) 

Attending on October 22nd? The HBCU Library Alliance and Digital Library Federation need your help! Because the DLF Liberal Arts Colleges/HBCUs Pre-Conference is an unconference — a grassroots, conversation-based event without predetermined presentations — we need your input on session topics!

Respond to the survey here!

The final program will be determined by all participants via dot-voting over breakfast on October 22.

Most sessions will be generated the day of the unconference, but we are inviting proposals for pre-vetted lightning talks! These are high-profile, high-energy 90-second presentations held in a plenary session, with the opportunity to point listeners to additional information online.

Proposals of up to 250 words should be submitted along with a max 50-word short abstract for the program, using our online system: https://conftool.pro/dlf2017/. All submissions will be peer-reviewed by our volunteer DLF/HBCU Library Alliance Planning Committee.

Presenters who meet the first deadline of August 7th will be notified of accepance by mid-August and guaranteed a registration slot for the pre-confernce. Other submissions will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis, while space remains. 

The DLF HBCU fellowship program and Liberal Arts Colleges/HBCUs Pre-Conference are made possible in part by a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services: #RE-87-17-0079-17. Thank you, IMLS!