Heterodox Libraries Symposium
Current Symposium: HUMAN AUTHORSHIP | Spring 2026
HxLibraries Spring 2026 Symposium: HUMAN AUTHORSHIP
Heterodox Libraries (HxLibraries) invites you to join us for an afternoon of HUMAN AUTHORSHIP at our Spring 2026 Symposium on Friday, April 10th, 2026 from 11am - 3pm U.S. CT (convert time zone) via Zoom.
Registration is now open (via Google Forms) for this FREE virtual event.
The call for proposals for lightning talks or short papers (via Google Forms) is also open now through Friday, February 20th.
Abstract
Creativity and co-intelligence. Self-authoring and self-tracking. Human meaning and synthetic media. Artistry and slop. Audiences and AI ghosts. Embodiment and bioprinted humanoids. At a time when machines are becoming more human, how do we resist becoming more like machines?
The Heterodox Libraries Community (HxLibraries) presents a rollicking exploration of HUMAN AUTHORSHIP. We invite thinkers and creators who are engaging deeply with the question of what it means to be human — in the present moment, in the wisdom of the past, and in the face of an ever-uncertain future. Join us to celebrate creativity and the human experience.
Registration
Registration is open via Google Forms. Please contact Sarah Hartman-Caverly (smh767@psu.edu) with any technical issues or other inquiries.
HUMAN AUTHORSHIP is presented by the HxLibraries community of Heterodox Academy and is open to all HxA members and to the public. Please share widely!
Speakers
We are in the process of inviting speakers for HUMAN AUTHORSHIP.
If you bring a unique and compelling perspective to this topic, please reach out to Sarah (smh767@psu.edu) or consider proposing a lightning talk.
Confirmed speakers
Mark Lenker, Teaching and Learning Librarian and Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Libraries and author of The Human Relationship with Information (Routledge, 2026),
in conversation with
Troy Swanson, Library Department Chair and Teaching and Learning Librarian at Moraine Valley Community College and author of Knowledge as a Feeling: How Neuroscience and Psychology Impact Human Information Behavior (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023).
Heather Shayne Blakeslee, creative, social entrepreneur, and founder of Root Quarterly literary and art magazine.
Schedule
HUMAN AUTHORSHIP will be held on Friday, April 10th, 2026 from 11am - 3pm U.S. CT (convert time zone) via Zoom.
The program for HUMAN AUTHORSHIP is still taking shape!
This free, half-day, virtual event will feature
Fireside chats (keynotes)
Spark (lightning) talks (call for proposals due Fri., Feb. 20th)
Speakeasy afterglow discussion
If you have an idea for an engaging virtual session, please reach out to Sarah (smh767@psu.edu) or consider proposing a spark talk.
Full Description
HxLibraries Spring 2026: HUMAN AUTHORSHIP
Heterodox Libraries (HxLibraries) invites you to join us for an afternoon of HUMAN AUTHORSHIP at our Spring 2026 Symposium on Friday, April 10th, 2026 from 11am - 3pm U.S. CT (convert time zone) via Zoom.
Registration is now open (via Google Forms) for this FREE virtual event.
The call for proposals for lightning talks or short papers (via Google Forms) is also open now through Friday, February 20th.
Libraries’ contribution is to collect, organize, and provide access to the human knowledge record. We curate works of HUMAN AUTHORSHIP—material produced through human creativity, or human effort and originality applied to the expression of ideas. How does our understanding of human authorship change in relationship to the development of new tools and media of expression? What does it mean to be human? Are humans strictly born—or can we be made?
AI now generates content to be indexed, searched, summarized, reviewed, and commented upon by other AI. Will the automation of content production “provide more leisure for more people”? Or will it relegate people to tending AI agents while suffering review fatigue, manipulation, and collateral data poisoning? Is self-tracking a pathway to deeper insight and greater agency, or is big data the worst way to know ourselves while we optimize for algorithmic approval?
When ‘everything is online’ and you can just ‘ask Chat,’ what does it mean to know—and to know well?
HxLibraries hosts a “dance of open minds” to explore HUMAN AUTHORSHIP, human experience, and “the reading/writing world we live in.” We invite thinkers and creators who are engaging deeply with the question of what it means to be human—in the present moment, in the wisdom of the past, and in the face of an ever-uncertain future. Join us for fireside chats, ‘spark’ talks, and open discussion.
Libraries have long been at the work of gathering—gathering the written word, gathering questions, ideas, and answers, gathering resources and opportunities, gathering people, and yes, even gathering dust. But far from obsolete, libraries answer the evergreen need for common access to an ethically curated knowledge collection. In a world where ‘everything is online’—hyper, linked, adulterated, surveilled, actuated—libraries are a third place offering the experience of contemplative privacy, civic solitude, free access to information, and for people to come together and confirm their collective grip on reality. We also sit at the frontier of innovation in information technology and domesticate the weapons of information warfare to peacetime civilian use. How do we situate new tools and media in this work? How do we shape them? Where do we integrate them? How do we educate about them? Where do we provide refuge from them?
Creativity and co-intelligence. Self-authoring and self-tracking. Human meaning and synthetic media. Artistry and slop. Audiences and AI ghosts. Embodiment and bioprinted humanoids. At a time when machines are becoming more human, how do we resist becoming more like machines?
The Heterodox Libraries Community (HxLibraries) presents a rollicking exploration of HUMAN AUTHORSHIP. Join us to celebrate creativity and the human experience on Friday, April 10th, 2026 from 11am - 3pm U.S. CT (convert time zone) via Zoom. Register now (via Google Forms).
Call for Proposals: Lightning Talks / Papers
Heterodox Libraries (HxLibraries) seeks proposals for ‘spark’ (lightning) talks / papers for our FREE virtual spring 2026 symposium, HUMAN AUTHORSHIP. Proposals are accepted via Google Forms now through Friday, February 20th.
Submissions should demonstrate how the proposed spark talk / paper will address the symposium theme of human authorship — broadly, creatively, and courageously construed. Presenters may share creative works, research (or research-in-progress), pedagogy and teaching examples, perspective pieces, or other practical applications related to the theme. Topics of interest include:
Human creativity and creative works
Human authorship and intellectual property
Augmented creativity and co-intelligence
Audiences (real, artificial, and imagined)
Ethics and human authorship
Biotech and the ‘authoring’ of humanoids
Speculative fiction exploring related themes
Submissions including proposal abstracts of up to 250* words are due Friday, February 20th, 2026. All proposals will be refereed through double-anonymized peer review using a rubric. Notifications will be sent in early March 2026. The symposium is Friday, April 10th.
Spark talks will be delivered via Zoom. Completed lightning talks / papers should not exceed 1200 words or 10 spoken minutes.
Copyright / recording / open license note: If accepted, presenters will be asked to sign releases to record their talks and to include written or transcribed versions in the open-licensed symposium proceedings.
*Proposal field is limited to 1500 characters.
Acknowledgements
The opinions expressed at this event (or through such activities) are those of the individual Grantees, organizers, speakers, presenters, and attendees of such events / activities and do not necessarily reflect the views of Heterodox Academy.
Proceedings
Proceedings from HUMAN AUTHORSHIP: HxLibraries Symposium, Spring 2026 will be published under an open access license following the event.
Access proceedings from past symposia.
Past Symposia
Fall 2024: Heterodox Libraries Mini-Symposium: AI and Learning Design with Simon Cullen, Michael Flierl, and Sarah Hartman-Caverly.
Spring 2024: Curiosity, Controversy, and Intellectual Courage with Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, Samantha Harris, Esq., Dr. Tabia Lee, Dr. Beatriz Villarroel, and lightning talk presenters [repository link]
Fall 2023: Intellectual Virtues and the Contemporary Information Landscape with Dr. Jason Baehr
Spring 2023: You Can’t Have Social Justice Without Intellectual Freedom with Dr. Emily Knox
Fall 2022: Democratic Virtues with Dr. Christopher Beem
Summer 2022: Scout Mindset book club with Julia Galef
Spring 2022: Library Neutrality as Public Service in Liberal Democratic Governance with Michael Q. Dudley and John Wright
Winter 2022: 4IR Technologies and Libraries with Susan Anderson
Spring 2021: Intellectual Freedom and Alternative Priorities in Library & Information Science Research with Gabriel J. Gardner
About the HxLibraries Symposium
Modeled on the Heterodox Canada Symposium, the HxLibraries Symposium is an opportunity for participants to explore ideas related to library theory and practice, information science, and information culture.
Most symposia are one hour long beginning with remarks from a keynote speaker (25-30 mins.) followed by small group discussion (15-20 mins.) and concluding with Q&A (15 mins.).
Beginning in spring 2024, HxLibraries began offering an expanded symposium format including a keynote lecture, invited panelists, lightning talks, and a common read book discussion.
To propose a symposium or for more information, please contact Sarah Hartman-Caverly at smh767@psu.edu.