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.
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).
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 spark talk.
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.
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:
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Human creativity and creative works
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Human authorship and intellectual property
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Augmented creativity and co-intelligence
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Audiences (real, artificial, and imagined)
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Ethics and human authorship
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Biotech and the 'authoring' of humanoids
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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. 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.
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.
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Sarah Hartman-Caverly
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Penn State Berks Campus Thun Library
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