The 2022 National Program Committee invites submissions for immersion sessions, papers, posters, and lightning talks. There will be two abstract submission rounds for MLA ’22:
- Round 1: Contributed papers and immersion sessions – Deadline extended to October 27, 2021
- Round 2: Posters and lightning talks (December 15, 2021–January 26, 2022)
The submission site for contributed papers and immersion sessions for MLA ’22 is now open.
Contributed papers are ten- to fifteen-minute presentations that fall into two broad categories:
- Program description abstracts describe the creation, improvement, and assessment of products, programs, technologies, administrative practices, or services conducted by librarians and information professionals.
- Research abstracts report on designing, conducting, and analyzing a research project.
Immersion sessions are up to seventy-five-minute “deep dives” into a single topic. In-person immersion session proposals will be considered. The format may include interactive panel presentation, role-playing, gamification, discussions, working groups, or other audience engagement activities.
Authors will be asked to categorize their submissions into one of the seven MLA Areas of Practice: Clinical Support, Education, Global Health & Health Equity, Information Management, Information Services, Innovation & Research Practice, and Professionalism & Leadership. Authors will be able to select in-person or virtual-only preferences for papers, posters, and lightning talks at the time of submission. If selected, they will be able to provide their final preferences at that time. The 2022 National Program Committee will then use these categories to organize and schedule meeting content. Individual members, caucuses, and domain hubs are encouraged to submit.
Acceptance notices for papers and immersion sessions will be sent December 6. Abstracts that are not accepted in Round 1 can be resubmitted for poster and lightning talks in Round 2. Acceptance notices for posters and lightning talks will be sent February 21, 2022.
The two rounds for abstract submissions allow reviewers to provide feedback to authors and gives those whose submissions were not accepted in the first round the opportunity to review feedback and resubmit their proposals as posters or lightning talks.
See submission metrics from previous MLA conferences.
Round 1 submissions are due October 27, 2021, at 6:00 p.m., central time. Please enter your submission early to avoid a last-minute rush and allow time for any assistance.
Find additional information in the MLA ’22 FAQ: Papers, Posters, Lightning Talks, and Immersion Sessions.