Library Trends Call for Proposals

Guest Editors:
Nancy Kranich, nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu
Mikala Narlock, mnarlock@iu.edu

Globally, democratic decline has resulted in the rise of authoritarianism, deepening political polarization, voter disengagement, misinformation, bigotry, economic and social inequality, suppression of ideas, and a distrust of science. This upheaval across countries has threatened long-term access to information as governments cut funding, materials disappear from catalogs, banned books are pulled from shelves, and databases vanish. When democracies falter, what role should libraries play?

This special issue of Library Trends examines the role of librarians and libraries during times of democratic crisis. We aim to capture the current moment—a period marked by intensifying threats to information access and institutional autonomy—while reimagining what librarianship can become in response. Rather than simply defend existing practices, we seek to envision new frameworks, values, and modes of practice that can sustain our commitments to equitable access, intellectual freedom, and knowledge preservation even as traditional democratic structures falter. How can libraries transform to meet this moment and build more resilient futures?

Potential Topics

Examples of topic areas might include, but are not limited to:

• Censorship and intellectual freedom under authoritarian pressures (e.g., book challenges and government restrictions), current and historical
• Rapid response collecting of threatened information, including both national and international initiatives (data rescue and digital preservation, government information)
• International comparison/analysis of libraries responding to democratic threats
• Community organizing and activism librarianship in crisis
• Misinformation, pseudoscience, and AI slop with regards to media and information literacy and implications for collection development, digital curation, digital preservation, archives and records management
• Federal and other Library closures and implications thereof
• Centrality of freedom of information for democratic processes; how administrations have usurped processes and instruments to undermine access to information
• Privacy and national security concerns in tension with transparency in record-keeping
• Data collection limitations in academia and the federal government, and skewed research agendas, which can result in data manipulation and mismanagement
• Methods for acknowledging threats to free expression posed by authoritarian regimes while upholding institutional values and protecting those involved in the work
• Strategies for maintaining commitments to free and open access in contexts where "open" has become a privilege, particularly when research challenges dominant political forces
• And other relevant topics

Article length: 7,000-10,000 words (not including bibliographic references)

Submission of Proposed Articles

If you are interested in contributing a paper to this special issue, please submit a proposed title, an approximately 500-word summary of the topic, and a list of the authors and their affiliations to: Nancy Kranich, nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu and Mikala Narlock, mnarlock@iu.edu, by February 15, 2026. Proposals will be reviewed within two weeks. Articles based on accepted proposals will be due July 15, 2026.

About the Guest Editors

• Nancy Kranich, teaching professor at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Kranich served as ALA President in 2000-2001, focusing on libraries and democracy, and has led numerous initiatives to promote the civic role of libraries in the 21st century.
• Mikala Narlock, director of Research Data Services at Indiana University Bloomington. Narlock’s professional expertise and research interests center on access to research data and cultural heritage information.

Peer Review

This issue will use an open peer review system in which authors review manuscripts from other contributors in addition to editorial review by the issue editors.

Timeline

• Call for proposals
  • December 8, 2025
• Proposals due         
  • February 15, 2026
• Acceptances sent
  • March 1, 2026
• Manuscripts due
  • July 15, 2026
• Peer review period: August 1 - October 1, 2026
  • Send out manuscripts by August 1
  • Reviews due September 1
  • Reviews returned to authors by October 1
• Revised manuscripts due
  • October 31, 2026
• Issue submitted to Library Trends
  • November 30, 2026
• Publication date
  • May 2027