Hiatus Update

Photo by Joel Holland on Unsplash

Dear readers,

Happy 2022. As the new year begins, our editorial team here at up//root is making a collective effort to slow down and take stock. Do a bit of early Spring cleaning, if you will. up//root had a stellar and fast-paced 2021, working with 9 contributors and 8 peer reviewers to publish 5 total features over the course of the year. Alongside those beautiful knowledge-making efforts, up//root took part in three national speaking engagements.  

To start 2022, the editors have paused on accepting new submissions in order to take care of some internal organization and processes. To this end, we held a 4-hour editors’ retreat in early January for us to share in reflective and generative (virtual) space and revisit up//root’s ethos to imagine the future of this publication. up//root was founded as a publication for the visions, voices, knowledge and experiences of racialized people in LIS and that’s a charge which we take not lightly. As we consider the future of up//root, we envision its life beyond our own.

up//root’s ethos is to move with self-reflection and intentionality and to be uncompromising in the pursuit of justice. We aim to foster new, liberatory practices in publishing that uplift marginalized voices. We aim to forge new pathways. For that, it’s critical that we slow down to consider sustainability and relationships. As the current stewards of up//root, we’ve discussed succession planning and how the arrival of new editors later this year will shift and further the publication. 

In preparation for these transitions, the editorial board conferred with up//root’s advisory committee to outline several objectives for our hiatus. These objectives include codifying our project charter, re-organizing our internal documentation, writing workflows, assessing our budget, and more. We’re laying the groundwork for incoming editors to carry on the mission of up//root, and continue our traditions of disrupting white supremacy and capitalism in LIS. 

We’re anticipating a return from hiatus within the next several weeks, at which point we’ll be getting back to the business of reviewing proposals and working on features. We’ll make an announcement when we re-open submissions. Until then, we thank you for your readership and support!

Sincerely,

The Editorial Team