The Charleston Conference has opened its call for proposals for the 2025 event, offering both in-person and virtual presentation options. The conference invites librarians, publishers, and vendors to submit session proposals that reflect current challenges, emerging trends, or practical solutions in the areas of collection development, acquisitions, and scholarly communication. Proposals may address a wide range of topics, including analytics, library services, technology trends, preservation, management, and introductory material for those new to the field.
All proposals must be submitted by Friday, June 27. A separate proposal process is available for preconference workshops and seminars, which are included on the registration form and therefore require an earlier submission deadline of May 16.
Submissions are expected to foster balanced dialogue among stakeholders in scholarly communications and must include at least one librarian or library worker at the time of submission. Proposals promoting specific products or services will not be considered, as sessions are intended to serve as a forum for shared issues rather than commercial promotion. Diversity of viewpoints and stakeholder representation is strongly encouraged.
The proposal review process is conducted by a subgroup of the Conference Directors, who apply a scoring rubric to evaluate each submission. Decisions are based on aggregate scores, reviewer comments, and overall fit within the conference agenda. Proposals are assessed according to three primary criteria: practical applicability, originality, and timeliness. Reviewers look for sessions that offer actionable insights, introduce novel perspectives or underexplored topics, and address timely issues within the academic library and publishing landscape.
In addition, diversity is a core value of the Charleston Conference. Reviewers consider whether proposed sessions reflect a range of perspectives, institutions, geographies, and career stages, and whether they address issues related to equity, inclusion, or accessibility in the field.
Since the acquisition of the Charleston Hub in 2023, Annual Reviews has remained independent of the proposal selection process to preserve the integrity and neutrality of conference content.
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