Editorial: New Year, New Possibilities
As 2015 progresses, there have been additional changes to LRTS. In addition to the new e-only format, the journal has transitioned from a commercial hosting service to the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. There are several advantages of moving to OJS. First is cost savings, which are important for a member organization. OJS offers the ability to customize the platform to provide services and information that will improve access and irretrievability. OJS will also enable us to consider new functionalities. The new website is available at http://journals.ala.org/lrts and I encourage you to try it. The new website is part of an open house that ALA is promoting for three months (April-June 2015) for some of its journals. Your feedback regarding the new website is welcome.
Editing LRTS and working with the editorial board is both rewarding and challenging. Reviewing papers, returning papers to authors for revision, and soliciting content are important aspects of my position as editor. Conference presentations, poster sessions, and research analysis are ideal candidates for papers. The LRTS website offers resources for authors, including how to turn a presentation into a paper. Visit http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/lrts and scroll down to the “For Authors” section for more information.
ALCTS has embarked on a media and publicity blast to announce its publishing program and the venues available to authors. The ALCTS Publications Committee’s Publicity Subcommittee has produced flyers and has done a monthly email and social media blast that highlights a specific ALCTS publication. The ALCTS New Members Interest Group has held two chats on publishing, and I participated in part three of an ALCTS Virtual Preconference “Turn Your Idea into a Publication” in January. The speakers covered a wide range of experience and provided a wealth of information. The goal of all this activity is to attract authors. This includes experienced authors and new potential authors. ALCTS offers guidance and advice to all potential authors and welcomes ideas for new topics or types of publications.
I am confident that LRTS will change to meet new publication models and reader expectations. How that happens, when it will happen, or what will be implemented are yet to be determined. I do know that ALCTS membership is innovative and creative and will find a way to provide the best resources to serve technical services professionals.
In conclusion, I would like to highlight this issue’s contents:
- “What Cost and Usage Data Reveals About E-Book Acquisitions: Ramifications for Collection Development, by Steven B. Carrico, Tara Cataldo, Cecilia Botero, and Trey Shelton. The authors launched a project to access cost and usage of e-book purchased using three different acquisition methods to determine how e-book acquisitions might impact future collection development decisions.
- In “FRBR Aggregates: Their Characteristics and Frequency in Library Collections,” Edward O’Neill, Maja Žumer, and Jeffrey Mixter discuss how to better understand aggregates through the analysis of a sample of bibliographic records and a review of the cataloging treatment applied to aggregates.
- “Value Added: Book Covers Provide Additional Impetus for Academic Library Patrons to Check Out Books,” by Steven A. Knowlton and Lauren N. Hackert consider how the presence of dust jackets may influence book circulation. Their study involved a physical inventory of 1,319 recently published books in an academic library, and compares circulation statistics for different cover types.
- Book Reviews courtesy of LRTS Book Review Editor Elyssa Sanner. I enjoy reading the book reviews to see what new professional literature is available, and what might benefit my staff or me in our work.