2025 Allen Smith Symposium
Registration is encouraged, but not required, to help with reception planning. If you plan to attend in person, please fill out the form below. For Virtual Participation, please register on Zoom via the following links:
Simmons University School of Library and Information Science welcomes Dr. Karen E. Fisher, professor at the University of Washington Information School and an internationally renowned expert on public libraries, trauma and resilience, and everyday life information behavior, including the Arab World. As the 2025 Allen Smith Visiting Scholar, Karen will spend a week at Simmons SLIS this October sharing her research around public libraries, trauma and resilience, and everyday life information behavior. Karen's keynote and panel discussion will take place on October 20th and October 23rd in room C-220 and C-503 of the Management and Academic Building respectively. Both events will conclude with a small reception.

Countering Domicide: Preserving Indigenous Knowledge using Large-Scale Ethnography and Participatory Design

Keynote Lecture - October 20th, 2025 at 5:00pm   |  C-220

Can you imagine fleeing the Syrian War to a desert refugee camp, living without modern conveniences and relying on centuries-old knowledge to survive? On the Jordanian-Syrian border lies Za’atari, the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp. Zaatari: Culinary Traditions of the World’s Largest Syrian Refugee Camp (Goose Lane Editions, 2024) grew from six years of fieldwork with over 2,000 Syrians.


“It’s like a War Zone”: Trauma Experiences of Public Library Staff as Secondary Responders on the Front Line in America’s Communities

Panel Discussion - October 23rd, 2025 at 5:00pm  |  C-503

As one of the last free public spaces, libraries are increasingly serving as de facto social service providers amid austerity and declining welfare support. Rising patron trauma has brought disruptive incidents, abuse, and violence, straining institutions already facing low pay, understaffing, aging infrastructure, inadequate training, and political hostility.

For inquiries, please email Dr. Laura Saunders: laura.saunders@simmons.edu
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