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We are pleased to announce that the Call for Proposals for AMICAL 2023 is now live. We are also accepting applications for the Project Incubator, a new session that will run at the conference. Staff and faculty members from all AMICAL member institutions are eligible to propose conference sessions and/or to apply to the Project Incubator. Propose a conference session The Conference aims to bring together AMICAL colleagues to share their knowledge, cultivate connections, and plan a collaborative future. The majority of the program will consist of sessions proposed by members: dynamic presentations, interactive sessions, and workshops. We invite colleagues to propose sessions on issues pertinent to libraries, technology and/or pedagogy at AMICAL member institutions, addressing in particular the goals and topics identified in the call. View the Call for Proposals & submit a proposal → Submission deadline: 23 January 2023 Work on a collaborative project We are offering a new session this year: The Project Incubator will support teams of librarians, faculty and technologists to work on collaborative projects at AMICAL 2023. The Incubator is not a traditional conference session, but rather an opportunity for teams to devote concentrated time to the development and growth of collaborative projects. Teams will clarify their goals, explore divergent ideas, strengthen collaborations, and gather feedback from peers. View Project Incubator guidelines & apply → Application deadline: 23 January 2023 Assistance with proposals & applications To help you submit strong conference proposals and/or applications to the Incubator, we’ll be holding brief online Q&A sessions to answer questions and offer advice. Sign up for one or both of the sessions: Q&A #1 – Dec 19 10:00, Paris time (see local time) Q&A #2 – Jan 17 11:00, Paris time (see local time) You can also send us questions by email – just reply to this message. We look forward to reading your submissions!

AMICAL recently gathered a team to work on a cross-consortium project idea for supporting the development of Open Educational Resources and Open Access scholarship related to environmental issues, in particular environmental justice, with the intercultural lens inherent to AMICAL’s member institutions. I’m proud to share the news that AMICAL’s team is one of 5 that were accepted for participation in next week’s Triangle Scholarly Communications Institute, a week-long project-incubation workshop funded by the Mellon Foundation and hosted at Duke University. According to the TriangleSCI website, the Institute is “not a traditional conference, but rather a forum for teams of individuals from diverse backgrounds to devote concentrated time to defining shared challenges, exploring creative strategies, and forging new collaborations, in a spirit of bold and open experimentation….” AMICAL’s project idea, tentatively called “Intercultural Open Resources for Environmental Justice”, is described in detail here. The team members currently helping to develop the idea include: Antonio Lopez (Associate Professor of Communications and Media Studies, John Cabot University) Elena Berg (Associate Professor of Environmental Science, American University of Paris) Dalal Rahme (Data Services Librarian, American University of Beirut) Nadine Aboulmagd (Senior Instructional Designer, Center for Learning and Teaching, American University in Cairo) Fiona Glasgow (Scholarly Communications Librarian, American University of Sharjah) Alex Armstrong (Program & Technology Officer, AMICAL Consortium) Jeff Gima (AMICAL Consortium Director, American University of Paris) Aside from the obvious climate change circumstances, requiring urgent efforts by all sectors of society, the project has been motivated in part by: Antonio Lopez’s project, ecomedialiteracy.org, a growing collection of OER for teaching about intersections of media literacy and environment-related communications. This has been supported by several AMICAL Small Grants, and it’s been both an inspiration and an exemplar of projects that could be supported by an AMICAL initiative for “Intercultural Open Resources for Environmental Justice”. Earlier AMICAL strategic planning work that indicated consortial interest in Open Access scholarship, Open Educational Resources, and sustainability. AMICAL’s balance of member institutions and colleagues from the global north and south, giving us a strong basis for working on intercultural & interdisciplinary open resources supporting global environmental justice The project is in an early planning phase, but we expect to make much progress at TriangleSCI next week and have more news about the project soon. We’ll be reaching out to AMICAL members soon as we gather information about interest and existing resources across the consortium, but if you or colleagues at your member institution are interested in contributing to the project or hearing more about it, you can let us know at contact@amicalnet.org. Jeff Gima AMICAL Consortium Director

AMICAL 2023 will take place 24–26 May 2023 at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. This will mark the consortium’s 20th annual conference! The AMICAL Conference brings together staff and faculty from the consortium’s 29 international liberal arts institutions. AMICAL members and invited experts share their challenges, solutions and inspiration for improving libraries, technology and pedagogy in our uniquely international and intercultural environments. The Call for Proposals will be announced later in the fall, and registration will open early in 2023. We’ll be posting additional details about the program, financial support opportunities, accommodation, and the venue over the coming months. Target audience This year’s conference will give particular focus to AMICAL members in positions of leadership on their campuses, and especially those interested in collaborating with their peers across AMICAL. These might include: Leaders (formal or informal) in areas relevant to AMICAL’s mission and strategic priorities, such as libraries, faculty development, instructional design, academic and instructional technology, writing centers and First Year Experience programs. Leaders of AMICAL committees, projects, and initiatives. Other members whose contributions can inform the collaborative work of the above groups. Program Several invited international speakers, combined with a majority of sessions led by AMICAL members themselves, will create an event mixing global perspectives with local relevance. Sessions will include interactive presentations, workshops and discussions to address collaborative approaches to topics such as: Leadership Digital pedagogy and scholarship Information, digital & other literacies Open education & scholarship Cost reduction for library and information resources Other other topics that AMICAL’s committees, interest groups and members have identified as being of importance Drawing on feedback from key stakeholders across the consortium, the program will include a strong component of networking, helping to cultivate collaborative relationships among the target audience. AMICAL members may share their own “Suggestions for the AMICAL 2023 program” via AMICAL Connect for consideration by the Program Committee. Exhibition & sponsorship opportunities Our sponsorship program will invite vendors of products related to libraries, learning and technology. Vendors interested in connecting with Conference attendees can let us know by sending an email to contact@amicalnet.org and we’ll follow up with you once we finalize the details of the sponsorship program. What to expect If you’ve never attended an AMICAL Conference, have a look at the websites of our previous conferences to get a feel for what our events are about.

The Small Grant Review committee received and reviewed 10 applications in the spring and summer of 2022. The following 8 applications were granted either full or partial funding: Title Applicant Institution Category Library Instruction Certificate Joyce Draiby Lebanese American University Professional development British Library International Leaders Programme Jyldyz Bekbalaeva American University of Central Asia Professional development Incorporating Interactive Fiction in the Humanities and Liberal Arts Classroom through Digital “Choose Your Own Path” Gamebooks Kaitlin Lucas Central European University Project Panel and Poster Presentation at IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2022 Meredith Saba American University in Cairo Professional development Participating in the Leading Change Institute 2022 Anguelina Popova American University of Central Asia Professional development Panel and poster presentation at IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2022 Michael Stoepel American University of Paris Professional development Attendance at Digital Humanities Summer School at Oxford University, UK David Tresilian American University of Paris Professional development AMICAL Panel and Poster Co-Presenter at IFLA WLIC Conference (July 25-29, 2022) Christine Furno American University of Sharjah Professional development Responses have already been sent out to all the applicants. How to apply in the next cycle During the summer period (June – August), only applications up to €500 (micro-grants) will be reviewed. Micro-grants will be reviewed on a rolling basis but, due to summer holidays, responses may be delayed. Applications for regular grants will re-open in the fall. The Small Grant guidelines provide information about how to apply, including the scope of the program and the criteria used in reviewing applications.

The Small Grant Review committee received and reviewed 3 applications in the most recent cycle (February 2022). 2 applications were accepted with either full or partial funding: Title Applicant Institution Category Introduction to Design Thinking Online Course (January 2022) Radina Damyanova American University in Bulgaria Professional development Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School Mai Zaki American University of Sharjah Professional development Responses have already been sent out to all the applicants. How to apply in the next cycle The deadline for the next round of applications is midnight on 30 May. The Small Grant guidelines provide information about how to apply, including the scope of the program and the criteria used in reviewing applications. To help folks better understand the program, and how to apply successfully, we’ll be holding informal, half-hour Q&A sessions. AMICAL administration will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice. The next Q&A session is on 12 April at 11:00 (see local time).

The Small Grant Review committee received and reviewed 7 applications in the most recent cycle (November 2021). 4 applications were accepted with either full or partial funding: Title Applicant Institution Category Activity dates Micro-grant Digital Micro-Documentaries for Digital Literacy: An AUP Pilot Project David Tresilian American University of Paris Project 3-month project: Oct - Dec 2021 Yes Complete revision of AUP Library Homepage Sarah Murray American University of Paris Project 1.5-hour online webinar, 9 Dec 2021 Yes Michigan State University GIS Certificate Program (January-June 2022) Amadeus DeKastle American University of Central Asia Professional development 4 online courses (Jan-June 2022) No Attending the DHSI 2022 Dalal Hakim Rahme American University of Beirut Professional development 2 weeklong in-person workshpos (6-17 June) No Responses have already been sent out to all the applicants. How to apply in the next cycle The deadline for the next round of applications is midnight on 28 February. The Small Grant guidelines provide information about how to apply, including the scope of the program and the criteria used in reviewing applications. We’ll be holding informal, half-hour Q&A sessions in January and February, but they haven’t been scheduled yet. When they are, we will announce dates on AMICAL Connect.

The Small Grant Review committee received and reviewed 5 applications in the most recent cycle (September 2021). All the applications (some after revisions) were accepted with either full or partial funding: Title Applicant Institution Category Activity dates Micro-grant ECIL 2021 Livia Piotto John Cabot University Professional development 4 day online conference: 20-23 Sep 2021 Yes Capturing a digital history of local Hausa narratives in a multilingual translation project across borders Kate Roy Franklin University Switzerland Project 9-month project: Nov 2021 - July 2022 No Responses have already been sent out to all the applicants. How to apply in the next cycle The deadline for the next round of applications is midnight on 29 November. The Small Grant guidelines provide information about how to apply, including the scope of the program and the criteria used in reviewing applications. To help folks better understand the program, and how to apply successfully, we’re holding informal, half-hour Q&A sessions. AMICAL administration will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice. If we end up with lots of participants (or questions), we’re happy to extend the sessions a bit longer. To attend any of the Q&As, sign up here: 18 October 2021, 15:00–15:30 (Paris time, local time) 17 November 2021, 15:00–15:30 (Paris time, local time)

The election is underway for the officers of the next Coordinating Committee. Their term will start on 18 October 2021 and conclude on 30 September 2023. The current Vice-Chair/Chair Elect – Maha Bali (American University in Cairo) – will be taking over as Chair. The three remaining officers (Vice-Chair, Secretary, Member-at-Large) will be elected by members of the consortium. More details about these roles and the overall work of the committee were provided in the call for nominations. AMICAL Representatives of Full Member institutions may cast a vote in the elections. They have already received detailed instructions by email, including a link that allows them to cast one ballot on behalf of their institution. As the consortium’s Operational Guidelines state: “The Local AMICAL Representative plays a pivotal role in advancing AMICAL’s mission, and promoting the consortium and its spirit of collaboration as a group, by representing the member institution’s stakeholders, be they librarians, technologists, faculty, or administrators.” Before casting their votes for up to three candidates, the representatives will discuss the merits of all candidates with local colleagues, especially those that have a stake in AMICAL’s activities. If you’re involved in AMICAL’s activities and belong to a Full Member institution, we encourage you to review the list of candidates and discuss them with your Representative. That list includes a link to each candidate’s AMICAL profile, as well as a statement by each candidate addressing their qualifications for joining the committee and potential contributions to its work. In considering the candidates, keep in mind that Coordinating Committee members should be capable of fulfilling the role, and match the desired characteristics, for officers described in the Call for nominations. In particular, they should: Have experience relevant to AMICAL’s mission and current grant goals Be able to evaluate and discuss issues from a consortial perspective, representing interests that go beyond their own institution and beyond their own professional roles and interests. As a group (including Maha Bali, a faculty developer from AUC, who will be taking over as committee chair) offer broad representation across the following areas, to the extent possible: professional roles (librarian, faculty, technologist, administrator) institution size geographic region Thanks to the Election Committee (Jeff Gima, Maha Bali and Evi Tramantza) for overseeing this process, and to all of the candidates for agreeing to stand. Representatives of Full Member institutions: start reaching out to your colleagues and make sure to submit your votes before the deadline of 13 October!

AMICAL’s current grant from the Mellon Foundation aims to build capacity for digital pedagogy and scholarship anchored in our members’ cultures and locations, reflecting and enhancing the international forms of liberal arts practiced at our institutions. At the center of these grant-funded initiatives is the Mellon Digital Liberal Arts (DLA) Fellow, who will provide training and consultation to AMICAL members while helping to further develop and implement our various DLA programs. Introducing AMICAL’s Digital Liberal Arts Fellow: Najla Jarkas We would be hard pressed to find someone better suited to this role, and more deeply familiar with the nature and potential of the digital liberal arts at AMICAL institutions, than Dr. Najla Jarkas. Previously a faculty member in the Department of English at the American University of Beirut, Najla has extensive experience in integrating digital methods and tools in academic writing and literature courses in addition to integrating digital humanities projects into course design. Najla played a leading role in DH initiatives with regional and global reach at AUB, including the Digital Humanities Institute - Beirut, and she continues to serve on the International Advisory Board of the University of Victoria’s Digital Humanities Summer Institute. Najla has been involved with AMICAL’s consortial DH and DLA activities for over 5 years — most recently as chair of AMICAL’s Digital Liberal Arts Programs Committee, a role she’ll continue in going forward. See Najla’s profile for more information about her rich experience with digital humanities scholarship and pedagogy. DLA Consultations: get expert help on issues of digital pedagogy and scholarship Najla’s consulting role as DLA Fellow will cover the full range of possible questions related to the digital liberal arts: For questions within her own areas of expertise, she’ll offer direct consulting, on an extended basis if needed. For questions outside her expertise, she will facilitate consulting with another AMICAL colleague or external expert with relevant expertise. She’ll draw on her personal networks, on AMICAL’s connections with external experts, and on AMICAL’s own growing network of expertise in digital pedagogy and scholarship within the consortium. Any DLA-related questions are welcome, but some examples of projects you might ask for help with include: course-integrated projects or assignments library-based instructional initiatives and resources for scholarship campus-wide initiatives involving staff, faculty, or students Set up a consultation — or just drop in during office hours All colleagues from AMICAL member institutions are welcome to consult with the DLA Fellow. You can set up an appointment with the DLA Fellow, or simply drop in during her online office hours any weekday via Zoom. Find the request form, office hour links, and more information about the DLA Consultation program here: Jeff Gima, AMICAL Consortium DirectorandThe AMICAL Digital Liberal Arts Programs Committee

AMICAL is looking for colleagues from across the consortium to stand as candidates for the 3 open Coordinating Committee Officer positions. Officers play an active and critical role in representing member interests in AMICAL’s planning and decision making processes. We are calling on members to nominate themselves or others as candidates by 29 September. Nominations must be submitted through an AMICAL representative as explained below. Timeline for nominations & elections 8-29 September: Nominations open 30 September - 13 October: Candidate statements & profiles posted, and voting open 18 October: Results posted and new officers begin terms (through 30 September 2023) The Coordinating Committee’s role The Coordinating Committee works closely with AMICAL Administration (in particular the Director and Program & Technology Officer) to develop, steer and evaluate consortial programs and initiatives, ensuring progress toward objectives that align with the consortium’s mission, vision, values and strategic goals. As we are in a critical period of diversifying funding sources, developing new grant-funded goals and programs, and working with members to weather a particularly difficult period while sustaining highly valued consortial programs, the Coordinating Committee will be an essential partner in strategic planning processes over the next few years. More generally, the Coordinating Committee provides operational and financial oversight by approving policies and directions for the consortium’s activities. The Coordinating Committee plays an essential role in representing member interests, representing the variety of our institutions but also the variety of professional roles and interest areas that characterize AMICAL’s programs. Desired characteristics for candidates We’re therefore looking for nominees who are able to evaluate and discuss issues from a consortial perspective, and who can represent interests that go beyond their own institution and beyond their own professional roles and interests. Usually this means someone who has actively participated in and contributed to AMICAL events and programs over many years, and who has interacted in substantial and collaborative ways with a variety of colleagues from other AMICAL institutions and other professional roles that are active in AMICAL (from libraries, faculty development, instructional technology & design, disciplinary faculty, etc.). Though not required of candidates, substantial experience with fundraising and/or strategic planning could also be particularly useful for officers for the coming period. Since AMICAL’s programs tend to relate largely to libraries, faculty development, and instructional technology and design, we encourage nominations that will help all of these professional roles to be represented among Coordinating Committee officers. Expected time commitments for Officers Officers form the core of our Coordinating Committee and their active and reliable participation is critical for decision making as well as execution of certain programs. The amount of time required each month can vary greatly, but a typical year includes a minimum of 2-3 hours a month devoted to committee work on things such as: Participating in online meetings Planning meetings (1.5 hours once or twice a year) Regular “Strategy & Progress” meetings (30 minutes once/month) Reviewing Small Grant applications (1-3 hours of asynchronous reviewing/discussion that may require daily attention and responsiveness over the 2 week review period, 4 times a year) Periodic asynchronous discussion of consortial program planning, policy and business issues (1 hour/month, throughout the year) Officers volunteer their time for the benefit of the consortium; this is greatly appreciated and we respect the need to give priority to local work responsibilities. Officers may for example need to excuse themselves occasionally from some of the more time-consuming duties (like Small Grant reviewing) because of their local work obligations. As long as this is the exception rather than the rule, and you let other officers know about your unavailability in advance, we’ll be able to advance our committee work in spite of such limits on volunteers’ availability. Coordinating Committee composition The full Coordinating Committee is composed of five voting officers, four of which are elected and the other being the Consortium Director, complemented by non-voting advisory members: the chairs of the Standing Committees and conveners of the Interest Groups. More details about the work of the committee are available on our site. Three of the four elected officer positions are currently open: Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Secretary, and Member-at-Large. The current Vice-Chair will take over the Chair position in order to ensure continuity, as described in the Operational Guidelines that regulate the election process. In order to maintain a certain level of representation by librarians, 2 of the elected officer positions will be reserved for librarians, as the current Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect is a faculty/developer. How can I nominate myself or someone else? Any staff or faculty member from a FULL Member institution can be nominated. (The consortial status of all member institutions is available on our site.) If you would like to nominate someone, you must ask an AMICAL representative from any institution (not necessarily from your own institution) to submit a nomination for that person. Representatives have already received instructions about this. Before nominating someone, be sure to confirm with them that they are willing to stand as a candidate. The last day for representatives to submit nominations is 29 September. What candidates need to do Candidates should, in parallel with their nomination being submitted and also by 29 September: update their AMICAL profile send to contact@amicalnet.org your candidate’s statement of 100 words or less, which will be shared with all AMICAL members, addressing: why they are qualified to provide this form of leadership for AMICAL — in particular, how they fulfill the “essential characteristics” described above how they would contribute to the “Coordinating Committee’s role” described above When & how will the elections take place? We will post nominees’ profiles and statements shortly after 29 September at latest. The Election Committee will send out a voting link and instructions to all eligible representatives to begin the vote shortly thereafter. Voting will close by 13 October. In order to guarantee the representation of professional roles mentioned under “Composition” above: 2 of the officer positions will be taken by the librarian candidates with the 2 highest number of votes the remaining 3rd officer position will be taken by whichever other candidate (regardless of role) has the highest number of votes A single institution may only have one person among the Coordinating Committee officers; so while multiple nominees from one institution may run for election, only the top-voted candidate from that institution can become an officer i.e. a candidate may be passed over in order to retain this diversity of institutional representation among officers. Results will be announced, and new terms will begin, by 18 October. Questions? Any questions about nominations or elections may be sent to contact@amicalnet.org, to either of the Elections Committee members below, or to current Member-at-Large Jyldyz Bekbalaeva. The AMICAL 2021 Elections CommitteeMaha Bali (AMICAL Coordinating Committee Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, American University in Cairo)Jeff Gima (AMICAL Consortium Director, American University of Paris)Evi Tramantza (AMICAL Coordinating Committee Chair, American College of Thessaloniki)