ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

C&RL News guidelines for submission of articles or columns

A statement of purpose and content for College & Research Libraries News.

Purpose of C&RL News

College & Research Libraries Newsis the official news magazine of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. Its purpose is to record significant activities of ACRL and to report news about academic and research libraries. As the official ACRL news magazine, C&RL News maintains a record of selected actions and policy statements of the Association and publishes timely reports on the activities of ACRL and its sections, committees, discussion groups, councils, task forces, and chapters.

As a vehicle for communication among college and research libraries, C&RL News reports news items pertinent to academic and research librarianship, including information on bibliographic instruction, continuing education, appointments, acquisition of special collections, grants to libraries, new technology, and publications (brief notices).

The editor bears responsibility for the contents of each issue of C&RL News. Materials selected by the editor must be newsworthy, timely, and of practical value to people in the field. The editor has authority to decide what material is appropriate for publication, based on the following guidelines. The editor also reserves the right to make appropriate revisions in material selected for publication in order to standardize style or improve clarity (except official ACRL documents, president’s letters, and similar material).

Formal, theoretical, or research-oriented articles inappropriate for C&RL News will be forwarded to the editor of College & Research Libraries for review.

I. Length

Articles and columns should be no more than 3,000 words and no less than 500 words.

II. Style

C&RL Newsstyle is informal, but informative and accurate.

III. Content

Materials selected should fall into one of the following categories:

a. Reports on a project, program, or research underway or recently completed dealing with a topic relevant to academic librarianship. Footnotes should be minimal and charts or tables avoided. These reports may be preliminary descriptions of programs or research to be published formally at a later date in library literature (e.g., “Document Delivery Service,” December 1986).

b. Reports on a recent conference or workshop of interest to academic or research librarians (e.g., “The Off-Campus Library Services Conference,” January 1987).

c. Reasoned and informed speculation or comment on a relevant topic, especially if solicited by the editor or an official ACRL group (e.g., “Ignorance Was Our Excuse,” October 1986).

d. State-of-the-art reports on a relevant topic (e.g., “Mass Deacidification: The Wei T’o Understanding,” January 1987).

e. Standards, guidelines, or recommendations of an ACRL committee or other official ACRL group (e.g., “Strategic Plans for ALA and ACRL: A Comparison,” December 1986).

IV. Manuscript

Authors should submit two copies, doublespaced, following either the Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian.

The preferred typewriter elements are: Courier 10, Prestige Elite 12, or Letter Gothic 12.

Hyphenated word breaks should be avoided.

V. Requests for Donations

C&RL Newsmay occasionally print requests for the donation of books or materials to libraries, especially foreign libraries, which have suffered extensive loss through fire, hurricane, or other natural disaster. Other libraries soliciting contributions for other reasons will be referred to the rates for classified advertising in C&RL News.

Editor’s Note: These guidelines were adopted by theC&RL News Editorial Board at the Denver Midwinter Meeting on January 25, 1982. ■ ■

Oberlin Conference for College Librarians

Fifty-three head librarians from independent liberal arts colleges met in Oberlin, Ohio, on November 7-8 to discuss a wide variety of common concerns ranging from automation, preservation, and building renovation to collection development and collaborating on fundraising with college development offices. The retreat, which was held in the Oberlin College Library, was built around person-to-person exchanges and small group discussions.

Stanley Paulson, vice-president of the Association of American Colleges, outlined some consultation services that his Association could support to benefit small institutions beginning search efforts. JoAn Segal, ACRL executive director, noted that many of those present had been active in ACRL over the past few years, and she encouraged them all to have a stronger presence within ACRL. Linda Smith, a faculty member at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Information Studies, won the group’s approval for a study of the problems college librarians face in supporting the science curriculum.

The steering committee for the conference included William A. Moffett (Oberlin, shown above speaking to conferees), Willis Rridegam (Amherst), John Sheridan (Colorado College), Kathy Spencer (Franklin & Marshall), Christopher McKee (Grinnell), Eleanor Pinkham (Kalamazoo), Becky Pollock (Reed), and Richard Werking (Trinity). The group resolved to reconvene next year at Grinnell College, Iowa. ■ ■