CEAL 2022 Annual Meeting Announcement – CEAL: Council on East Asian Libraries

Dear CEAL colleagues:

Happy Autumn! I hope that you are having a safe and productive fall. Today, I would like to share updates on the CEAL 2022 Annual Meeting program.

Annual Meeting Format

On behalf of the CEAL Executive Board (EB), I am announcing that our CEAL 2022 Annual Meeting is going virtual. It was a very difficult decision to make. The EB had a lengthy discussion about the 2022 meeting format, considering and measuring various aspects such as health risks, travel restrictions (domestic & international), running in-person meeting logistics in accordance with the AAS COVID-19 Mitigation Plan, CEAL members’ professional development fund availability, etc. Due to many complications that we could foresee, we have decided to go with a virtual format (Zoom). We believe that this format will ensure broad CEAL community participation during these pandemic conditions.

As you may have already been informed, the AAS 2022 program will consist of both in-person and virtual sessions. AAS meeting will include sessions and content that will take place in two environments, meaning if the session is in-person, all speakers must be in-person.

The EB recognizes that this news will come as a disappointment to some members, as once again we cannot meet each other in person. We sincerely hope that this will be the last year that we will have to do things virtually, and we will be able to resume our face-to-face gatherings and meetings in 2023.

If any of our CEAL colleagues plan to attend the AAS Annual Conference in person, they will have the option of viewing the virtual sessions of the CEAL Annual Meeting program.

Annual Meeting Schedule

As the Annual Meeting will be virtual, the EB has decided to go with the following schedule in order to reduce Zoom fatigue as much as possible and be more considerate of colleagues who may have family responsibilities. Also, to accommodate the different time zones of our members, we aim to organize our sessions between 2-6 pm EST as much as we can.

CEAL Pre-conference: Thursday-Friday, March 17-18, 2022
Annual Meeting program: Monday-Wednesday, March 21-23, 2022

Annual Meeting Theme

Over the summer, the CEAL EB has discussed and approved the following CEAL 2022 plenary theme that I put forth in my role as CEAL President. As a reminder, this 2022 theme is within the overarching theme for the 2020-2022 theme that was shared with you in 2020.

2022 Theme – The Path Forward: the New Post-Pandemic Normal

During the period of 2020-2021, institutions in higher education, including academic and research libraries have gone through tremendous transitions and have continually adjusted library services to cope with the COVID-19 global pandemic. Academic and research libraries have created a range of new ways (resources, services, programming, etc.) to fulfill their mission of supporting the teaching, research and learning of faculty and students. While area studies libraries, including East Asian Studies libraries, have experienced many difficulties in collection development, access, and equity during the pandemic, many initiatives have been generated by East Asian libraries and their community. What legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic will we want to continue with as we shape the post-pandemic library? What lessons have we learned through the pandemic that can be retained to better serve the East Asian Studies community? What is the new “normal” going forward for us? What challenges have become even more evident as a result of the pandemic that will need to be continually addressed? What new possibilities/pragmatic approaches are there for East Asian libraries? This session will allow the CEAL community to explore and foster new ways of working among libraries and their professional associations, organizations, and institutions.

CEAL Presidential Plenary – Keynote Speakers

We will feature some truly visionary and inspiring keynote speakers. Stay tuned for our keynote speaker announcement.

2020-2022 Theme: Beyond the Traditional

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief how library area studies are unevenly prepared to deal with the problems of the future. The new operational and budgetary landscape has promoted concerns in every area of the profession. “Beyond the Traditional” refers to how conventional practices and print materials are useful tools that now require innovative approaches. How are hiring freezes and budget cuts affecting collection development and maintenance? How can institutions circulate knowledge via non-traditional outposts? How have the role and responsibilities of library professionals shifted during the pandemic, and how will they continue to evolve? And how are institutions sharing their expertise in order to cope with this new normal? These are among the questions that the CEAL community is responsible for exploring. We believe that further exploration should be primed by two principles: 1) that collaboration among libraries and their professional associations, organizations, and institutions is paramount to the continued circulation, access, and development of knowledge; and 2) that collections remain diverse so as to cater to the unique needs of the East Asian Studies community.

Annual Meeting Programs

The CEAL EB and committees/task forces are busy developing the annual program for our community. CEAL committees/task forces will announce their programs and send out calls for papers/presentations soon. Here is a sneak peek at the program so far:

Pre-Conference

Electronic Resources Metadata Standards Best Practices (ERMB) in collaboration with CTP and CPS: Open Access Resources and Metadata
Committee on Technical Processing (CTP): Workshop on RDA, Linked-Data, BIBFRAME, NACO, BIBCO, CONSER and SACO
Committee on Chinese Materials (CCM): New Publishing Trends and the Impacts on Collection Development and Library Services

CEAL Annual Meeting Program

Committee on Chinese Materials (CCM): “Print vs. Digital: Towards Balanced Inclusive Collections”
Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM): “Path Forward”
Committee on Korean Materials (CKM): “Korean ebooks in the Post-pandemic Era”
Committee on Public Services (CPS): “Embracing the New Normal: Public Services of East Asian Libraries/Collections in the Post-Pandemic Environment”
CEAL Poster Session by CPS: “Beyond the Traditional” and “The Path Forward: the New Post-Pandemic Normal”
Committee on Technical Processing (CTP):
“Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) and Cataloging/Metadata Creation”
Committee on Library Technology (CLT): “Zoom and Beyond: Socializing with Emerging Applications and Platforms”

CEAL Leadership Development Learning Resource Video