Call for Proposals for Emergent Joy in Libraries

Working Title: Emergent Joy in Libraries  

Editors: Leah Morin and Hazel McClure

Submission deadline: December 15, 2026

Publisher: Library Juice Press

Have you given your attention to what is joyful (for you) about your work in libraries, and intentionally pursued it? Have you used pleasure or interest as a barometer to guide you toward meaningful and successful projects? We want to hear your stories of “what you pay attention to grows”  – specifically those joyful experiences that can be shared by and benefit members of your library community.

The philosophies of emergent strategy and pleasure activism as imagined and described by adrienne maree brown are present and alive in libraries. The relationship of the nine core principles of emergent strategy to library work are celebrated in the recently published Emergent Strategy in Library Instruction: Stories, Reflections, and Imaginings.

The forthcoming companion volume, Emergent Joy in Libraries, anticipated in 2028 from Library Juice Press, will focus on the core principle of “what you pay attention to grows” to explore the value of pursuing pleasure to find meaning in your work and advance joy and liberation in your workplace and communities.  In Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy and Facilitation, adrienne maree brown urges, “If we pay attention, we can shift the relationship we have with time from scarcity to abundance, from obligatory to desired, from a policed, colonized space to a practice ground on which to learn to live liberated lives.” In Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good: “Tune into happiness, what satisfies you, what brings you joy.”

Libraries are uniquely situated to serve the community but this can look different for every librarian based on personal passions and roles. How has attention to joy and the pursuit of pleasure in your work benefited you and your community? We welcome proposals from all sorts of libraries and archives. We are eager to hear and share your stories and are open to pieces of varying lengths, genres, and formats, such as:

Please submit your story or idea using the provided form by December 15, 2026. Submissions should include a brief abstract outlining the proposed content.

Leah Morin (she/her) is an Information Literacy Librarian at Michigan State University, focusing on first-year writing students. Her research interests include incorporating the feminist ethic of care and emergent strategy concepts into teaching.

Hazel McClure (she/her) serves as the Head of Research, Instruction & Outreach at Grand Valley State University. Her scholarship explores high-impact practices, information literacy, collaboration with faculty, and teaching information literacy in professional writing contexts.

For questions and submissions, please contact the editors via email at morinlea@msu.edu. Submissions can be made using the provided form: Submission Form Link 

Feel free to share this call for papers within your professional networks.