Dear all, It is our pleasure in the MELA Conference Committee to share the call for papers for the conference. Please read below for more details about the theme, the topics, and the submission guidelines. The information below has been posted on the conference page https://www.mela.us/annual-conference/information/. Middle East Librarians Association Annual Conference 2022: Call for Papers The Conference: The MELA conference will be held in-person (in Denver) and online between November 29 and December 1st, between 9AM and 5PM EST. The full program will be available closer to the conference date. Information about the location for the in-person conference and the registration will be shared soon. Conference Theme: MELA 50th Anniversary: Learning from the Past and Looking Towards the Future Since 1972, when MELA was officially formed, the Middle East Librarians community has been working systematically to build its community, develop collections, preserve and enhance access to resources, and provide research and teaching support to users in the field. Through these 50 years, and even before, a lot of distinguished librarians paved the road through many ideas for projects and made achievements in MELA's history, which greatly impacted the present and will continue to shape MELA's future. In 1974, MELA members discussed the main top ideas for cooperative acquisitions and bibliographic control, then in 1979 and later, members looked at using new technologies for related projects and resources such as cataloging computerization and the Middle East Microform Project. In the second millennium, the MELA community utilized the new tools and technologies to preserve and enhance access to the Middle East resources through numerous web archiving, digital humanities, and open access projects. With social and political changes in the world and in the Middle East in particular, the MELA community worked together to secure access to resources in the area such as the Committee on Iraq, Endangered Archives, Archiving Arab Spring, and lately significant work done on the issues of social and racial justice and the impact of the pandemic. Through the last 50 years, MELA as an association has grown in various directions including a bigger and stronger community in all subfields of the Middle East librarianship, numerous projects, and affiliations and collaborations with other organizations and associations. The conference this year will reflect on MELA's accomplishments in the last 50 years, and look forward to ways to invest for the future. The Conference will be a chance for the MELA community to celebrate the history of the association, but also to discuss topics which should shape MELA's future. Presentations about the following topics or related to the general theme of the conference will be considered: - The Middle East Librarianship Profession: History and Future in the Contexts of Area Studies Librarianship - The Profession and World Issues: Wars and Conflicts, the Pandemic, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and More - The Digital Transformation in the Middle East: Planning for the Future - National and International Collaboration for Middle Eastern Collections and Services - Cataloging and Technical Services: Developments and Projects for a Better Discovery - Publishing in the Middle East: New Trends, Issues, Solutions, and the Role of Vendors - Analytics and Telling Compelling Stories for the Value of Middle Eastern Materials Submission guidelines: - Proposals should be submitted electronically through this online form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHhBh8X88RMTEdRM2O9ro1oqOI6AW0y7FJ... until *August 26*. - Successful participants will be notified by *September 9*. - Abstracts should be limited to 250-300 words. For any questions or more information, please contact the Conference Committee at mhamed@berkeley.edu. Thank you, and best wishes from the Conference Committee, Heather Hughes, Leili Seifi, Mohamed Hamed, and William Kopycki -- Regards, Leili Seifi, PhD Associate Professor Department of Knowledge & Information Science Faculty of Behavioral Science University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran Tel(Office): +98 56 31026855 https://cv.birjand.ac.ir/seifi/en -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.