Threading Community Resources into an Encyclopedic View on Our 125-Year Collective Milestone

The Archival / Preservation Education SIG session offers pedagogical insights on master’s-level information science and archival education. Four fifteen-minute individual presentations and audience discussion examine how the educators engage with agency, identity, and practices in their pedagogy; presenters bring perspectives from multiple states. “Creative Interdisciplinary Archival Content Delivery” by Sarah Buchanan reflects on graduate archival classwork navigating through interdisciplinary source content in archival collections. In teaching with both holistic identity expression and community care at the foreground of student guidance, this work examines pedagogical strategies to empower local and global change. “Promoting Representation in the Audiovisual Archives Field: The AMIA Salary and Demographics Survey and Pathways Fellowship Program” by Brian Real reviews data from the recently concluded 2025 cycle of the ongoing Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Salary and Demographics Survey of the Field, which builds on prior cycles of 2021 and 2020 (published with Teague Schneiter in The Moving Image) and collects information that the association uses in its advocacy efforts. This work analyzes recent challenges that have had a disproportionate impact on the profession. In addition to the survey and resulting data, it will also briefly discuss other related initiatives from AMIA that can serve as meaningful models for substantive improvements, such as the IMLS-funded Pathways Fellowship program which is currently supporting its fourth cohort. “Attributes Mapping to Generate Pathways of Archival Studies and Social Justice Intersections: The SJ4A Community-Embedded Experience” by Bharat Mehra and Robert Riter explores attributes mapping, based on the IMLS-funded “Archival Studies Social Justice Master’s Scholarship Program (SJ4A).” The grant program recruited and trained 17 community-embedded paraprofessional archivists to begin their MLIS program in January 2023, who graduated in December 2024. This work highlights intersecting attributes related to professional motivations and demographic characteristics, workplace dynamics and patron communities, and career growth values, competences, and vision; providing an exploration into appropriate solutions, and insights into operationalizing the how-to’s of social justice in archival practice and agency in LIS education. “Empowering Rural Voices: Teaching Archival Practices in Community Contexts” by Vanessa Reyes and ALISE President Vanessa Irvin reflects the development of a new concentration in archives and cultural heritage, aimed at preserving the local heritage of rural communities through a place-based education (PBE) approach. Based on recent research, this presentation will showcase a curriculum focused on relationship-building, critical thinking and partnerships with rural communities and archive and heritage professionals, and its dual impact on student development and community empowerment. The moderator will facilitate Q&A within and across the presentations

Малоросійські “Табелі про ранги” XVIII ст.: форми й практики

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the military and political elite (“starshyna”) of the Cossack Hetmanate confronted a new series of threats from Imperial Russia, which sought to redefine the nature of its relations with the autonomous “Little Russian” polity. Cossack officials attempted to maintain their status, political influence, and wealth in the face of Peter I’s efforts to prohibit the election of the hetman and to control appointments and distribution of lands, in the process transforming themselves into landlords ("new nobility"). After Peter’s death, the starshyna demanded that the Russian government equalize their status with that of the other imperial officers and officials. To that end, Cossack officials drafted and tried to approve three Ukrainian counterparts (1742, 1756, 1762) to Peter I’s "Table of Ranks" (1722). These projects reflected the actual practices of career promotion and seniority in the Cossack corporation. In the future, they became one of the arguments in the Cossack elite’s struggle to obtain the rights of the Imperial Russian nobility.At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the military and political elite (“starshyna”) of the Cossack Hetmanate confronted a new series of threats from Imperial Russia, which sought to redefine the nature of its relations with the autonomous “Little Russian” polity. Cossack officials attempted to maintain their status, political influence, and wealth in the face of Peter I’s efforts to prohibit the election of the hetman and to control appointments and distribution of lands, in the process transforming themselves into landlords ("new nobility"). After Peter’s death, the starshyna demanded that the Russian government equalize their status with that of the other imperial officers and officials. To that end, Cossack officials drafted and tried to approve three Ukrainian counterparts (1742, 1756, 1762) to Peter I’s "Table of Ranks" (1722). These projects reflected the actual practices of career promotion and seniority in the Cossack corporation. In the future, they became one of the arguments in the Cossack elite’s struggle to obtain the rights of the Imperial Russian nobility

Cossacks, Empire, and the Enlightenment: From Orientalization to Republican Reappropriation

This article seeks to explore how Enlightenment narratives and categories framed the perception and image of the Zaporozhian Cossacks both in the imperial center and in the south-western periphery of the Russian Empire in the late eighteenth century. It demonstrates that Catherine II deployed the discourse of civilizational mission to justify the disbandment of the Zaporozhian Cossack Host and the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich. The historical works of Voltaire became an important source of inspiration for Catherine\u27s orientalist image of the Ukrainian Cossacks, which gained wide currency in the Russian Empire and was accepted by some representatives of the Ukrainian Cossack elite. On the other hand, the Enlightenment allowed some Ukrainians to challenge imperial hegemony by going beyond traditional estate and regional particularism and by rethinking the Cossack tradition as a democratic republican one and setting it against the supposed despotism of Imperial Russia

Crimean Tableaux of Catherine II’s Court as the Visual Record of the Russian Empire’s Southern Expansion

This article analyzes celebrations of Russian military victories over the Ottoman Turks during Catherine II’s reign on the examples of pictures (tableaux) featured in fireworks, illuminations, triumphal arches, processions, and instances of live theater. Performing the Crimean conquest via these artistic displays, from the early 1770s—the time when Crimea first begins to appear in them—and until Catherine’s final years, served as a way of incorporating the peninsula as a part of the imperial design and of announcing the Crimean Tatar as the latest member of the Russian Empire’s supporting cast. This paper argues that Crimea’s changing status in the ceremonial culture of Catherine’s court is reflected in these tableaux with their focus on the territory (Crimea) as opposed to its people (Crimean Tatars). &nbsp

The Bruce-Mengden and Cornelis Cruys Maps of the Lower Don (1696-1705): An Inflection Point in the Practice of Russian Cartography?

Maps of the lower Don and Azov region produced by James Bruce and Cornelis Cruys in connection with Peter I’s 1696 Azov campaign appear to mark the point at which cartographic work undertaken on Russian territory by specialists in Russian service began moving beyond the traditional chertezh mapping model and embraced the principles of the new Western European geodesic cartography. This was becoming possible through greater familiarization with Copernican cosmography and higher mathematics, the importation of new instruments of observation, and the establishment of new centers of calculation on Russian soil. The adoption of the new geodesic cartography served the Petrine imperial project—not only in supporting communications and logistics on the empire’s frontiers, but in winning European acknowledgment of Russian Imperial sovereignty. The process of adoption also illustrates the manner in which a network of collaborating scholars in Russia and abroad was quickly assembled.

Political Climates: Proxy, Population, and Global Heating

As climates cannot be perceived, they demand mediation. This article reviews recent media historiographical writing about the epistemological problems of mediating climate change. Knowledge about global heating is tethered to computer history. Cultural pathways define how the global climate’s numerical abstractions become a set of images, which can be arbitrary and politically motivated. To account for how certain images come to stand in for the global climate, this article proposes a media historiographical method that moves between the history of ecological ideas and corresponding practices of mediation. To illustrate the method, this study compiles a media history of the U.S. political context in which population growth became a proxy for global heating. This proxy relationship shaped environmentalist media, including nontheatrical film, Hollywood fiction productions, right-wing advertising campaigns, and popular documentaries. Such representations utilize predictions of the future of the earth’s population as a stand-in for carbon dioxide, interpreted in terms of per person emissions. At stake are questions regarding the media historiographical narration of climate change: Why do specific images persist as descriptions of global heating? This article argues in favor of a politically conscious historical methodology that accounts for the media history of the warming present. Confronting this specific xenophobic genealogy is critical to identifying obstinate, pervasive, and strangely axiomatic equations between population and global heating persistent in recent climate change media

Barriers and Collaborations in Decolonization and Indigenization of Library and Information Studies (LIS) Programs in Canada

Decolonization and Indigenization of Library and Information Studies (LIS) curriculum is a crucial undertaking in the Canadian context, especially in light of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the adoption of UNDRIP, and national discussions around reconciliation. While there have been varied initiatives at Canadian LIS schools, structural barriers including accreditation requirements and institutional siloing among others inhibit the development of pan-Canadian collaborations. After a review of the literature, this paper explores the multiple barriers to decolonization and Indigenization of LIS curriculum in a Canadian context and then examines the work National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA), and Indigenous led partnerships, in advancing work in this area. The paper concludes by discussing future work planned by NIKLA and its Indigenous Curriculum working group, while also noting future challenges

School Library SIG: Evolving Practice and Elevating Libraries

This panel explores how school librarians are transforming their roles through evolving practices while elevating libraries\u27 essential position in educational ecosystems. Burress and Li as co-conveners of the School Library SIG will facilitate the presentations and lead Q and A.  Spanning evidence-based practice, information literacy in charter schools, diverse representation in collections, culturally responsive online learning, and professional development, these studies illuminate librarians\u27 journey toward decolonizing pedagogies. School librarians prioritize student identity, challenge traditional power structures, center marginalized voices, and build professional agency through reflective practice. Together, these works demonstrate school librarianship\u27s shift toward practices that honor diverse knowledge systems while asserting school libraries\u27 indispensable role as catalysts for educational transformation and student learning. Cahill, Moore, and Kodama will present “Not a problem, a challenge, something to work with”: School Librarians’ Difficulties Collecting, Analyzing, and Sharing Evidence of Practice which discusses the idea that school librarians should be collecting, analyzing, and sharing evidence of practice both to inform decision making and to increase the visibility and value of school library programs. Prior studies suggest that school librarians struggle with these practices. To pinpoint school librarians’ difficulties with evidence, our research team engaged in focus groups and individual interviews with secondary school librarians and educational administrators at the school, district, and state levels. Analyses of those interviews reveal four areas of challenge in this realm of evidence-based practice: resources, knowledge and skills, dispositions, and alignment with stakeholder values. Pryde will present, “Preparing School Librarians: Reflection on Practical Experiences within Professional Learning Networks for Preservice Librarians”. This presentation will discuss school librarian field experience. Preservice librarians require support and training to develop their own professional learning networks and engage in reflective practice for growth and improvement. By designing practicum and student teaching coursework and expectations that require regular reflective practice and engagement with a PLN, students learn about the benefits of these practices and also develop habits that continue in their careers. Preparing school library students to successfully manage their own professional growth and continued learning upholds the ideals of the AASL School Library Standards (2018) and ensures school librarians will have the necessary tools to successfully manage the multiple roles of school librarians. Greene and Johnson will present, “Online Ready Year One: Culturally Competent and Impactful K-12 Online Learning”. The present study is the second phase of a national grant funded research project that aims to thoroughly capture and assess the institutional structures, pedagogical practices, and learner needs found in the first cycle of iterative design, development, and testing of a professional development learning product targeting that knowledge gap. Findings address the ways school librarians define and actualize their role in culturally responsive K-12 virtual learning, and how these change through professional development. Krutka will present “Looking into Mirrors and Windows: School Librarians’ Perspectives on Diverse Representation in Book Collections”. This study, based on a survey of 142 school librarians, centered Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of books as windows and mirrors and furthered a greater understanding of school librarians’ practices. Findings revealed four themes: librarians prioritize students, recognize the power of books, curate messages thoughtfully, and strive for continuous improvement. Librarians\u27 voices are essential for developing equitable library practices that affirm all student identities and experiences. School librarians are expected to develop collections reflecting diversity, yet the practices related to and significance concerning multicultural literature is understudied. Challenges related to this topic include bans and policies jeopardizing student access to literature. Klein will present, “Information Literacy in Charter School Cultures” a study of information literacy in US charter schools. In our current media and technology saturated culture, K-12 students learn a lot about navigating, evaluating, and using information at school. However, how charters with their unique cultures and approaches do this important work with their students is not understood. This study looked at how educators prepare students to be wise information consumers and creators in classrooms, schools, and across the charter sector. Institutional ethnography, an apt methodology and theory to study this aspect of charter schools, was used to learn how work around information literacy is organize