ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

C&RL News submission guidelines

Editorial purpose

College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News')publishes articles written by practitioners addressing philosophy and techniques of day-to- day management of academic library services and collections. C&RL News provides current information relating to issues, activities, and personalities of the higher education and research library field. User education, technology, professional education, preservation, government actions that affect libraries, public relations, preservation, acquisitions of special collections, grants to libraries, reports on meetings, products, and the business of ACRL are covered in C&RL News.

Established in 1966, C&RL News is the official news magazine and publication of record of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). It maintains a record of selected actions and policy statements of the association and publishes timely reports on the activities of ACRL and its units. It is published 11 times per year.

The editor bears full responsibility for the content of each issue of C&RL News and selects material for publication based on the following criteria. 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).

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

Instructions to authors

1. Style.Articles should be practical and written in an informal, accurate, and informative manner. Manuscripts should be original and usually not published elsewhere (although an item published in an institutional newsletter may be considered). Footnotes, charts, and tables should be kept to a minimum.

2. Length.News notes may be 150–350 words; reports of meetings for the “Conference Circuit” should be 750–1,000 words; essays for “The Way I See It” should be 750 words; articles should be no more than 2,000 words.

3. Content.Material selected should fall into one of the following categories:

a. Reports on a project, program, or service dealing with a topic relevant to academic librarianship (e.g., “Historical ecology: LSU’s electronic imaging laboratory,” September 1993).

b. Reports for “Conference Circuit” that summarize the highlights of a recent conference, workshop, or meeting of interest to academic or research librarians (e.g., “Rethinking reference: Smashing icons at Berkeley,” May 1993).

c. Essays for “The Way I See It” that offer reasoned and informed speculation or comment on a relevant topic (e.g., “The myths surrounding faculty status for librarians,” November 1993).

d. Standards, guidelines, or recommendations of an ACRL committee or other official ACRL group (e.g., “Standards for ethical conduct for Rare Book April 1993)

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

4. Submitting manuscripts.Authors should submit two copies, double-spaced, following The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. to C&RL News Editor, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron, Chicago, IL 60611. (Note: A letter of inquiry may precede submission of the article.) If the manuscript is prepared on a word processor, please supply an electronic version of the manuscript—as a text file in an IBM compatible format, preferably in WordPerfect 5.1 or ASCII. Note: Please label 3 1/2” disks with your name, phone number, e-mail, and filename. Manuscripts and inquiries may also be submitted via the Internet: mary.ellen.davis@ala.org.

Submit camera-ready artwork for all illustrations. Accompany each with a number and a brief, meaningful caption. On the back of each photograph include: a brief caption, credits (if appropriate), and your name, address, phone number, and e-mail.

Ed. note:These guidelines were reviewed by the C&RL News Editorial Board at the 1992 Annual Conference in San Francisco and adopted by it in the fall of 1992.