Two Projects and Some Reflection

In the September guest-edited issue, some may have noticed that while some authors cited in accordance with the C&RL’s Author Guidelines’ Chicago citation style, 16th edition, others cited using the American Psychological Association’s (APA) citation style. Last spring in an Editorial Board meeting, the Board voted to change C&RL’s citation style to APA. After the nearly unanimous vote of a resounding “yes,” guest editor and Board member Nicole Pagowsky volunteered her guest issue to be an instance where authors had a choice between the two citation styles. A few months have elapsed since this decision and like many projects, this one will take time and planning. In the coming months, there will be a subgroup formed from the Editorial Board to plan and organize the sequence of steps needed to communicate about and implement APA as C&RL’s citation style. This may lead to other conversation concerning the Author Guidelines, if there are other needed changes or updates. In future issues, more information will be shared.

Another project in process is the C&RL data sharing draft policy work, in which Minglu Wang, Adrian Ho and I drafted a survey open to anyone interested in C&RL to consider responding with their feedback. While encouraging current and prospective authors to share their data with readers and other researchers, we recognize that some authors may not have the ability to share their data. The data from this survey will help with making decisions that are appropriate for the Journal and for its prospective authors. To illustrate, the survey shows examples of four publications1 in which the data is shared in open repositories. It was our intention to show a variety of data examples, to show a diverse array of what could be considered data. Over the summer the three of us met with Health Sciences Librarian Kevin Read, who with others, planned and implemented data policies for the Journal of the Medical Library Association and The Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association. One of the many aspects I learned when meeting with him was that one of the most challenging parts of this work is to define data in terms of what C&RL considers as data. Defining what C&RL considers as data may be a next step after analyzing the data policy’s survey data at the end of the year.

Beyond these projects, the day-to-day processes of receiving submissions, sending them out for double-anonymous review, giving constructive feedback, making decisions about submissions and other steps, along with my job experiences as a liaison librarian, I read authors’ writing and reviewers’ comments and wonder what each of them individually wants to see in C&RL. With a scope that includes anything that relates to academic or research libraries, there are so many possibilities, for future directions, experimentation and with regards to topics, space for growth or evolution in the profession.

As an editor, I am recognizing that part of my reality in this first year is that I always feel behind on the work, it is inevitable that I will make mistakes and that I have to keep moving forward. In addition to projects and day to day C&RL work, one of the prospects I am most excited about is continuing conversations with the Editorial Board, readers and others to increase engagement with C&RL’s authors and readers with further interactions and conversations, beyond the publication that bring authors’ research into discussion. It adds another dimension to learning about others’ research and to connect with other researchers, practitioners and students.

Kristen Totleben

University of Rochester

Note

1. Klassen, T. (2020). Science A&I Database Holdings at ARL and Oberlin Group Libraries, 2011–2016: A Longitudinal Study. College & Research Libraries, 81(2), 215–234. (data available at https://doi.org/10.7939/DVN/JDNPNC).

Kvale, L. (2021). Using Personas to Visualize the Need for Data Stewardship. College & Research Libraries, 82(3), 332. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.3.332 (data available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3673053).

McGowan, B., Hart, J., & Hum, K. (2021). Specialized Regional Conferences Support the Professional Development Needs of Subject Librarians: A 5-Year Analysis of the Great Lakes Science Boot Camps for Librarians. College & Research Libraries, 82(4), 548. (data available at https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_fssup/7).

Wiggins, B., Hennesy, C., Vetruba, B., Logsdon, A., & Janisch, E. (2022). Digital Scholarship Programs in Practice. College & Research Libraries, 83(4), 568–592. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.83.4.568 (data available at https://doi.org/10.13020/tdtb-2b96).