ARLIS/NA 53rd Annual Conference

This session will not be recorded.
This session will be limited to the first 100 participants due to the interactive format.

Comics, graphic novels, and zines challenge several library conventions such as classification, material format, and bias towards textual presentation of knowledge. In their own disruptive manner, these materials can "queer" the library, complicating established paradigms and carving out their own unique spaces and user groups. Not coincidentally, many of these materials are created by LGBTQ2S+ artists and authors and queer and trans themes are often central to their content. The collection, preservation, and promotion of these materials are essential to supporting LGBTQ2S+ activism.

In order to explore these concepts more fully, the Graphic Novels, Comics, and Zines SIG and the LGBTQ+ SIG collaborated to propose a round table discussion at the 2025 ARLIS/NA Conference. With help from the co-editors of the ARLIS/NA Notable Graphic Novels Review, we plan to anchor discussion around a recently reviewed queer and trans fantasy-romance graphic novel: The Chromatic Fantasy. We have invited H.A., the author/illustrator, a representative from the publisher Silver Sprocket), and Liza Hazlewood, the ARLIS/NA member who reviewed The Chromatic Fantasy in NGNR. This session also celebrates the nine years of Notable Graphic Novels Review by highlighting the collaboration between authors, publishers, and library and information workers needed to support this art form.

This session will not be recorded.
This session will be limited to the first 100 participants due to the interactive format.

Building on the ARLIS/NA Best Practices for Library Exhibitions guide published by the Exhibitions SIG in 2021, this roundtable will consider the role and importance of exhibitions in libraries and archives for engagement, outreach, and pedagogy. By drawing on the insights of a diverse group of librarians, emerging curators, artists, and practitioners, the session will explore opportunities and challenges of curating and presenting exhibitions in libraries. As libraries strive to connect to diverse communities equitably, how can library exhibitions engage viewers with different disciplines, experiences, and backgrounds? While the academic library is often viewed as separate from visual art, what are the alternate and potentially collaborative curatorial strategies when introducing new audiences to the spaces? The roundtable will include a discussion of the following questions:
- How do the physical spaces of libraries and archives shape the viewing experience or expectations of the audience?
- How can programming, outreach, and other inclusion initiatives bridge gaps between the audiences, the intentions of the curators, and artists or content creators?
- What collaborative strategies can be used in exhibitions design between artists or content creators, gallery or library and archive administrators, students, curators?
- How can exhibit curation, design, and engagement prioritize supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion?
- Are library and archive exhibits experiencing censorship, self-censorship, or challenges of their content?

The facilitators include librarians and a graduate student with a range of experiences in academic libraries and archives, including art and architecture collections. The facilitators also have experience in exhibitions and contributing to conversations about exhibitions in libraries.