The theme of the IDEAL Conference is Sustainable Resistance and Restoration in Global Communities, and is connected to ARL’s values.

The conference is also scaffolded by four pillars: knowledge, skills, awareness, and attitudes. 

• Knowledge: Facts, theories, concepts or information
• Skills: Ability to do something well or with an intended result
• Awareness: Consciousness of self, others, and relationships or interactions
• Attitudes: Beliefs informed by one’s values and reflected in one’s behaviors, motivations, or dispositions 

We encourage anyone who is passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the libraries and archives space to submit a proposal for the IDEAL Conference. 

Proposals should be submitted by September 15, 2023, no later than 11:59 p.m. Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone (UTC–10:00).

Although there may be components of the IDEAL conference that are broadcasted, all presenters are required to be in person. 

Decisions will be communicated in early November 2023.

• Title of session
• Abstract (up to 1,500 characters)
• Learning outcomes
• Outline (*not required for poster session submissions)
• Keywords

Additionally, you’ll be asked for the presenter(s) information, the audience for the presentation, the pillars the presentation connects to, level of audience participation, and there are two optional questions about positionality and self-reporting social identity information. 

There can be up to five presenters per submission. 

Positionality is the way that one’s position in the social hierarchy potentially shapes his/her/their identity and mediates access to power, opportunities, and understandings of others. Beliefs, values, and interests are shaped by our personal experiences, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, (dis)ability statuses, political allegiances, social class, geographic location, and history. Positionality statements are also important because our identities and lived realities create biases in how we interpret and view the world.

These positionalities influence what submitters may include in submissions, the research and information used to guide the presentation, how one facilitates, and/or the audience for the presentation. 

How is that different from submitting my social identity information?

Self-reporting one’s Social Identity Information will help ARL understand, from an administrative standpoint, who is engaged with the conference. Positionality statements require reflection on one’s self-reported identities. 

Will these items be considered in the selection process?

If the proposal includes more than one presenter, please work together to provide collective and/or individualized responses  to the positionality statement. The coordinating presenter will fill out the Social Identity Information. Reviewers do not have access to positionality statements, self-reported Social Identity Information, or personally identifiable information. Proposals are masked or anonymized before being reviewed. The collection of these optional items is for internal ARL administrative processes.  

On a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high), choose how much engagement is expected from participants in your session. There is no expectation for level of engagement. This is intended to help participants understand what is expected from them when attending a session.

While presentations should be applicable to a variety of audiences in a variety of contexts, it is beneficial to participants to understand if the session material is applicable to their specific contexts (for example, roles, responsibilities, institutions, and goals) when choosing sessions. This also encourages presenters to focus their efforts in developing session content.

Submitters can choose from five session formats: lightning, general, workshop, preconference, and poster. 

Lightning sessions are 20 minutes each and are meant to quickly teach a concept or skill. Two Lightning sessions will be paired together during 60 minute blocks, with the last 20 minutes reserved for Q&A. 

General sessions are 60 minutes each and are meant to provide participants with a balance of learning and application opportunities. 

Workshop sessions are 135 minutes each and provide presenter(s) with a longer time to present on complex concepts and skills, provide time for shared meaning-making, and create opportunities for more intensive application of new concepts and skills. 

Pre-Conference sessions are 180 minutes each and occur on Monday, July 15, 2024, before the full conference begins. Pre-Conference sessions provide the opportunity for presenters and participants to explore identified topics for an extended time in advance of the conference.

Poster sessions are an opportunity for submitters to present academic research to a wide audience. 

Outlines should be submitted in a line-by-line format including the timing of each activity, discussion, or facilitation moment. Example outlines can be found here.

Outlines are not required for poster session submissions.

Submissions are scored based on three criteria categories: Content, Engagement, and Design. Each submission will also receive an overall score from each reviewer. Selection criteria can be found on the IDEAL Conference Requirements and Criteria page.

Submitters can expect to receive feedback on submissions by November 1, 2023. This feedback will be shared with all submitters, and for accepted presentations, must be incorporated into the final draft.

ARL staff will work with presenters to schedule a presenter orientation once all presenters are confirmed.