Not many scholarly writing guides have been published recently for academic librarians, so ALA hits the target here. Unfortunately, the author’s aim isn’t as successful.

On first perusal, this book looks good. Written by an academic librarian and for academic librarians, it is a step-by-step guide to writing and publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals. The coverage is appropriate for a reference work on this topic, covering topics such as how to write well, how to structure an academic paper, and how to select an appropriate journal, among others. Each section contains helpful and sometimes crucial information. But overall, this work suffers from a lack of editorial development and a problematic tone.

Many of the errors are not the author’s fault but instead point to a lackadaisical editorial effort on the part of the publisher. For example, the author explains that some style manuals allow for “first person narration (e.g., he, she, we),” but first person narration employs “I” and “we,” not “he” and “she,” which are third person (29). In a paragraph warning librarians to avoid the passive voice, three of the four sentences employ passive voice. The work is, in fact, dominated by passive voice. Finally, the author warns against explaining the obvious and then goes on to do just that (e.g., he defines peer-reviewed journals). All of these errors suggest sloppy copy-editing.

The book’s tone can be quite condescending. This may come from the author’s decision to write the work in the journalese he is teaching. This means third person instead of first person, avoidance of contractions, elevated diction, and so forth: language appropriate for professional journal articles but not advisable for teaching colleagues. The conversational voice of a friendly guide would be more appropriate here and might provide a point of contrast to illustrate what must be done when presenting one’s literature review. Sentences like this are also difficult to endure: “Readers of this text are reminded that clarity and precision are essential for effective academic writing” (46). Really? Maybe this reviewer is not giving the author the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps this reviewer focuses too much on the writing sections of this book. But he would politely suggest that clarity and precision are essential in such works, and unfortunately they are not always present here.

Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook by Carol Smallwood may serve librarians better, but a subsequent edition of Handbook of Academic Writing for Librarians—with some tender loving editorial care and a friendlier voice—would definitely warrant a spot on my bookshelf.