ARLIS/NA 53rd Annual Conference

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. We have invited the author/illustrator, a representative from the publisher of the title (a radical indie publisher of comics and graphic novels), and an ARLIS/NA member reviewer from 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.

Guiding questions: What kinds of queer and trans possibilities are afforded by the medium of comics/graphic novels? What are ways that libraries, publishers, and artists can collaborate to support queer and trans comics? How are efforts to censor LGBTQ2S+ books in libraries affecting your work?

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.

This roundtable discussion will provide a collaborative space for librarians and archivists to exchange strategies for incorporating DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) into teaching and learning with special collections and archives. Participants will be invited to share personal experiences and approaches in the classroom that address topics such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), multi-sensorial and neurodivergent learning styles, accessibility for students with disabilities, and strategies to support English-language learners, to name a few examples. The discussion will also invite examples of Feminist and Critical Information Literacy pedagogical approaches to foster inclusive and equitable engagement in special collections and archives instruction. To guide the conversation, the following main questions will be posed:

- Share an example of using a DEIA-approach in your special collections or archives teaching? What worked well and what would you have done differently?
- What are some helpful strategies or tools that you have used to make special collections and archives instruction more accessible and engaging?
- How have you applied Feminist pedagogy or Critical Information Literacy in your special collections and archives instruction?
- What excites you most about using DEIA-informed teaching in special collections and archives? Inversely, what challenges have you encountered when implementing DEIA strategies in special collections instruction, and how have you addressed them?
- Are there any other ideas or approaches to DEIA-informed teaching in special collections and archives instruction that you would like to try but haven't had the opportunity yet?

Additional Questions:
- How do collaboration and community partnerships contribute to advancing DEIA initiatives in teaching with special collections and archives?
- How can we elevate traditionally underrepresented voices within special collections to make them more central in our teaching practices?

This roundtable discussion seeks to explore the future of art and design schools, with a specific focus on the vital role that libraries play in demonstrating the value of an art education. Participants will engage in conversations around several key themes: showcasing the intrinsic value of art and design programs, strategies for leading library teams during challenging times, and how to support and maintain staff morale and engagement. In addition, the focus will include building strong connections between library services and efforts in admissions and retention.  Additionally, we will examine the evolving landscape of art and design education and its implications for job security within the field. Through collaborative dialogue, attendees will develop narratives that articulate the library's contributions to student success and institutional value, ultimately reinforcing the significance of library services in the broader context of art and design education. Moderators hope to establish an environment where community and support are emphasized and attendees can openly and effectively share struggles and successes.

The Expanding the Study of Performance in Women Artists' Archives project interrogates the historiography of feminist performance art in the collections of our large research institution. Our project team, composed of members from various departments, brings diverse perspectives and expertise to the initiative, currently working toward the organization of an exhibition highlighting the work by a feminist activist art collective, whose archive resides in our institution.

The exhibition is structured around the art collective's aesthetic and conceptual strategies: the use of anonymity in institutional critique; data collection and research; the rhetoric and participatory utility of letter writing; mass media distribution; and performative actions. By focusing on these thematic throughlines in the collectives' work, the exhibition showcases their collaboration, sheds light on the research embedded in their activism and artmaking, and examines their ongoing commitment to public participation. The art collective central to our current investigative activities acted as an institutional entity, with strategies that reflect our own professional practices within a large cultural framework.

Our research team's collaborative model echoes the ethics of the collective we are studying. This proposed roundtable seeks to cultivate a generative dialogue around collective activities within participants' institutions, and to explore how research material and subjects can inform ethical approaches to institutional engagement.

We aspire to foster a conversation where shared collaborative practices lead to creative endeavors and common goals, particularly within feminist methodologies. The discussion will engage participants by addressing the following overarching question: How can the content of feminist collections material or radical artistic practices more broadly be allowed to impact upon our institutional working practices?

Themes that have guided our team's research and exhibition strategies may also be explored in the context of professional practice among discussion participants:
To what extent do feminist methodologies inform your own projects?
How does your personal identity shape your approach to institutional initiatives?
Are there collections in your institution that reflect your own or aspirational collaborative practices?
How do you measure the impact of feminist methodologies on your work?
How can you address and critique inequities within your institution's collection models?