CFP: Library Trends: Exploring Metaphors of Expertise in LIS

Library Trends has released a call for publications for its 71.6 issue, to be published in August 2027. The issue’s theme is “Exploring Metaphors of Expertise in LIS.” From the call:

In 2000, information scholar Marcia Bates shared a metaphor wherein the field of library and information science (LIS) was described as an iceberg, with aspects of the discipline visible (“above the water line”) and invisible (“below the water line”). As with icebergs, this “invisible substrate” of our discipline is both sizable and significant. Part of the LIS “iceberg” that exists below the waterline, or hidden to the naked eye, is its positioning as a meta-science or a meta-discipline, like journalism and education. LIS “cuts across” seas and engages with the storage and retrieval of human knowledge in recorded form in connection with all other disciplines. But can this metaphor thrive, in a climate where boundaries between disciplines have become more fluid and where notions of expertise have been muddied and eroded? Perhaps, then, it’s time to launch an intellectual expedition, to voyage beyond Bates’ metaphor and to consider anew the concept of LIS expertise through new metaphors.

Digitally-focused librarians may find this theme as an opportunity or inspiration for exploring their sometimes vague job descriptions and differing departmental homes, particularly those who may be project managers, teachers, and systems specialists. What are the metaphors for engaging across these spaces?

Abstracts should be 300-500 words and are due April 15, 2026. Abstracts can be submitted here. Decisions will be made and sent out by May 15, 2026.