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Get Published 101Guide to publication in the library literature

Rachel Singer Gordon Column Editor

www.emeraldinsight.com


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Preface by Rachel Singer Gordon 1

Introduction 2

Identifying and overcoming your self-imposed obstacles 3

Banishing rejection 5

Where do you get your ideas? 7

To niche or not to niche? 9

Online is fine, part I 11

Online is fine, part II 13

Time keeps on ticking 15

Selling your work, selling yourself 17

Library literature and the gift economy 19

What if? Overcoming writers remorse 20

Emerald LIS journals overview 22

Emerald Authors Charter 24

Emerald LIS titles 26

Books by Rachel Singer Gordon 26

Table of contents


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Preface

Writing for the library literature has transformed my career. And I do mean that quite literally: when I published my first short piece back

in 1997, I could never have foreseen that I'd be making a living from writing and editing just n ine short years later.

Few of you will be crazy enough to take it quite this far, but writing for publication does have the power to transform anyone's career.

Your publishing activities can help you:

Gain tenure or get promoted

Develop yourself professionally

Learn about issues of interest

Share successes with other information professionals

Share the results of your research

Expand your professional horizons

Become more attractive to potential employers

Gain name recognition

Open up additional opportunities.If you've been hesitant about taking the plunge into professional publication, wait no longer! I hope the hints and tips in this booklet

will be useful as you begin your career as a librarian author.

Rachel Singer Gordon ([email protected])

PAGE 1OCTOBER 2008 GET PUBLISHED 101: GUIDE TO PUBLICATION IN THE LIBRARY LITERATURE

Rachel Singer Gordon has written and co-authored several books for information professionals, and has been published in a

number of library-related journals. She is the founding editor of, and contributor to, the Info Career Trends electronic newsletter

(www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/index.htm).

Rachel is also Consulting Editor, Information Today, Inc., Books Division. She has been columnist for Emerald for Librarians since

September 2004.

About Emerald for Librarians

Emerald for Librarians is an online resource specifically designed for the LIS community to improve information services and better

serve library users. Visit http://info.emeraldinsight.com/librarians and become a member of Emerald for Librarians. Its free!


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Introduction

When Emerald approached me about starting a column on

writing for publication, I was instantly excited about the

opportunity. Writing for the library literature has enabled me to

connect to the profession, to colleagues around the world, and

with our ongoing professional conversation in varied and never-

anticipated ways, and I welcome the chance to share this

excitement with others.

Beginning to write for the profession can be an unfortunately (and

often unnecessarily) intimidating process. As with anything else,

though, the more we familiarize ourselves with the tools,

practices, and conventions of publishing, the more comfortable

and natural the idea of participating through publication

becomes. Through these columns, Ill begin demystifying the

publishing process, showing how to get started, how to improve

your odds of getting published, and how to interact in this new

environment.

We all have something to say

Apart from writing for the professional literature, we all benefit

from reading the professional literature and the more varied

voices that are willing to participate, the richer and more

interesting our literature becomes.

Many potential and newer librarian authors falter originally under

the belief that they have nothing new to contribute. For most of us,nothing could be further from the truth! We are all both

professionals and practitioners, and can approach our writing

from either angle. Whether you write about how you and your

library carried out a successful program, start out small by writing

book reviews or conference reports, create your own weblog,

contribute a short article to an online newsletter, or conduct and

write up the results of a lengthy methodologically-strict research

project, you are adding your voice and helping others learn from

your experiences and insights.

As professionals, we make a habit of sharing with others through

conferences, e-mail lists, workshops, or just one-on-one

conversations with colleagues. Writing for the literature is justanother way of participating that helps formalize these

discussions and make them accessible to both your current

colleagues and future researchers.

Why write?

As budgets shrink, technology changes, and demand increases

for our programs and services, we generally have no problem

keeping ourselves busy. The question then becomes: why take

time out of our busy schedules to contribute to the profession

through writing for publication?

Reasons for writing vary as much as librarians themselves. You

may be required to write for peer-reviewed journals in order to

gain tenure or promotion in your academic institution. You may

want to share the results of a successful program or service that

your library has implemented, or may be required to write these

results up as a requirement of a granting body. You may want to

enhance your rsum as you think about moving up the career

ladder; you may like to see your name in print; you may be

encouraged to publish by colleagues or administrators or you

may just enjoy the process of writing itself!

In any of these cases, your main reason for writing should be to

share your enthusiasm for the profession, connecting with

colleagues through your publishing activities. You may in time

establish yourself as an expert on a certain aspect of librarianship,

finding your own niche, or you may use your writing as an

opportunity (or excuse!) to research and to inform yourself about

a variety of subjects. Either way, you stretch yourself

professionally, keeping informed and involved.

Where to start? If you want to write, start by reading

No, Im not trying to resurrect the idea that all of us joined the

profession because we loved books, and that we somehow

spend our days poring over obscure volumes in some musty

back room. But in order to keep up with changes in our

profession and to find fodder to spark our own imaginations, we

do need to devote time each day to our professional reading. In

order to see what others have already suggested and to find gaps

where our ideas might fit, we need to make a commitment to

keeping current with the literature in our areas of interest. (This will

make you not only a better author but also a better professional!)

Your professional reading here of course ranges from association

publications, to magazines and journals in your areas of expertise

and interest, to online venues such as e-mail discussion lists,

newsletters, and blogs. Our opportunities for learning about our

profession and for expanding our own knowledge are endless,

and each of these venues also provides a potential outlet for your

own work.

As you read, let others work trigger your own ideas. Ask yourself

questions while you read: How would you respond to someone

elses article, build on the authors ideas, or spin off on a tangent?

What additional topics do you wish your favorite journal would

cover? Why has no one done a study on a recurring topic in the

library-related news? What warrants a closer look or would benefit

from an alternative viewpoint? The more you train yourself to think

about the literature as an ongoing conversation, the more clear it

becomes that everyone does have something to contribute.

Whats next?

Within this booklet, you will find more specific ways of beginning

or enhancing your library writing career, from finding an

appropriate publishing outlet, to working effectively with your

editor, to handling rejection, to just carving out the time to

research and write. Some of these areas might come more

naturally to you than others; we each have personal strengths and

sticking points.In the meantime, why not take some time over the next month to

reconnect with the professional literature and to spy out where

there just might be a place for your voice? Ill look forward to

hearing your side of the conversation!

PAGE 2 OCTOBER 2008GET PUBLISHED 101: GUIDE TO PUBLICATION IN THE LIBRARY LITERATURE


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Identifying and overcoming your self-imposed obstacles

Before we can start writing for the profession, we first need to get

ourselves to a place where we are ready to begin. I often hear

otherwise articulate and thoughtful colleagues demur by insisting

that they have nothing to contribute to the literature, or that they

just cant write. Others, equally convinced that they cant write,

but knowing that they have to, slog through and publish only as

required for tenure. (Trust me, that always shows!)

This kind of self-deprecating attitude dumbfounds me. As

librarians, we write all the time from grant applications, to

memos, to user documentation, to conversations on

professional forums. As librarians, we are trained to research; as

librarians, we spend plenty of time thinking about and discussing

professional issues. What is it, then, about formalizing the

process through publication that intimidates so many to the point

that they decline to participate?

Wheres the block?

Many of us can blame our elders, especially our middle school

teachers or library school professors. When we contemplate

putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, we flash back toterm papers covered with red ink and last-minute all-nighters

pounding out pages on a topic not of our choosing.

Worry not: Editors just dont have red pens. They dont have the

time, and they dont have the inclination. Once you push past

this block, further, you will find that writing on a subject that truly

interests you is a night-and-day difference from writing on an

assigned topic. The more natural your topic, the less panic-

inducing the process.

Other would-be writers have more personal reasons for their

procrastination. Some may stop after their first rejection. Here,

you are only stymieing yourself maybe your work is right for

another publication, maybe it just needs a bit of polishing,maybe the editor already has a similar topic lined up. Rejection

is a natural part of the process; use it to hone your work and

improve your odds of success next time.

Others think theyre too new, too young, or too inexperienced to

have anything to contribute. Unlikely! What have you learned that

will be useful to your even-newer, even-younger, even-more-

inexperienced peers? What do you wish you knew starting out,

starting school, looking for that first job? What do you want to

learn? Why not research and write about it? Why not seek out

and publish with a more-experienced colleague? Why not look

for publications that specifically welcome new writers?

Still another group of would-be writers argues that theyre too

busy with their day-to-day duties to put the time into writing for

publication. This, I do sympathize with, but why use it as an

excuse to avoid writing altogether? Look for simpler, shorter

options write a conference report, a short informal article for

your local association newsletter, or a first-person account of

your experiences for an online publication. Straightforward

projects that take little time to complete can build your writing

portfolio and confidence.

Start slow, move easilyYou have to begin somewhere. Realize first that publishing is a

two-way street: while you depend on editors to publish your

work, they rely on writers to fill their pages. When I surveyed

published librarians, a number mentioned that their first

published piece was solicited by an editor who heard them

speak, saw a thoughtful post they made to an e-mail list, or had

a conversation with them at a conference. Editors wouldnt be

out there actively soliciting articles if they werent interested in

finding and nurturing new talent.

As an editor of an online library-related publication, I find that

locating writers for a given issue is sometimes like pulling teeth.

I often talk to other editors or read their comments about thedifficulty in finding contributors willing to share their opinions,

even on topics that seem as if they would be of interest to many

librarians. Between publications actively seeking authors and the

tendency of librarian authors to focus on big name journals and

publishing houses, opportunities abound for writers willing to

take advantage of smaller or less-well-known publishing outlets.

Your job, then, is simply to find editors who want your work. Think

realistically here. If youre just starting out, or if your confidence

is shaky, why not contact publications that publish work from

others just like you. Dont start with The Journal of Academic

Librarianship; start with Info Career Trends (www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/) or LISCareer.comDo it anyway

Trust me: If you can speak, you can write. If you can think about

our profession, if you can set up programs and services in your

institution, if you can discuss solutions and ideas and problems

and issues with your colleagues you can write!

The more you write, the more you will develop the self-

confidence to continue. Aim for that first published work and

move on from there. Take the time you spend thinking of excuses

for not writing, and put that time and energy into your work.

If you are interested in being published, yet feel too unready to

show your writing to others, then start out with prep work. Beginresearching a topic of interest. Start a clippings file, start

bookmarking web sites, start e-mailing yourself articles. Do your

daily professional reading and think about which publications



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match your comfort level in tone, subject, and style. Bounce

ideas off colleagues, whether online or in person. Sign up for

library writing-related e-mail lists and blogs such as:

Beyond the Job: http://librarycareers.blogspot.comA Library Writers Blog: http://librarywriting.blogspot.comNMRTWriter e-mail list:

www.ala.org/ala/nmrt/comm/nmrtwriter.htmRead some books that encourage new librarian authors, starting

with:

Crawford, Walt (2003), First Have Something to Say: Writing for

the Library Profession, ALA Editions, Chicago, IL.

Gordon, Rachel Singer (2004), The Librarians Guide to Writing forPublication, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD.

The more reading, research, and thinking you do, the more you

will get in the writing mindset and you may even find yourself

anxious to begin! Give your enthusiasm a chance to shine, and

be willing to take the plunge when you are ready.



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Banishing rejection

While there is of course never a guarantee of publication

success, we can easily scare off some of the most common

reasons why our work is rejected.

First, lets look at the typical reasons why editors at library-related

publishing outlets reject any authors work:

(1) The work is not appropriate for the particular publication or

publisher.

(2) A failure to put the necessary effort into a query or draft.

(3) A lack of willingness to start small.

(4) An unwillingness to rewrite or rework an article or topic.

(5) The work does not offer anything new on the subject.

(6) The publisher has something already scheduled on a similar

topic.

There are other minor reasons perhaps the editor is having a

bad day; she has personal issues with you or your work; he just

isnt interested in your topic. The six above, however, encompass

the most common reasons for rejection. If we examine theseclosely, we find something interesting: in all but the last case, we

as writers have control over the outcome.

How heartening! If we have control over the outcome, there are

some simple steps we can take to minimize the chance of

rejection and increase the odds that our work sees the light of

publication. Lets take these one by one, and see how we can

conquer each.

The work is not appropriate for the particular publication

or publisher

This is the biggest reason for rejection, and the one which is

most easily remedied. You are an information professional: doyour research ahead of time. Familiarize yourself with a

publication or publishing house before you submit your work, by

reading the journal or by reading several books from that

publisher. Read their author guidelines (which are usually

available online); these provide direction on the type of work the

publisher looks for. Think about their typical topics, tone, style,

and audience, and take the time to target your work.

Information Today, Inc.s Editor-in-Chief, John Bryans, notes:

This might seem rather obvious, but if I had a penny for every

hopeful childrens book author who approached me over the

years (without considering the fact that I have never, ever

published a childrens book) I wouldnt be worrying about my

retirement plan today. He echoes a common complaint of

editors who see inappropriate submission after inappropriate

submission.

Submitting work appropriate to a given publishing outlet is the

biggest and simplest step you can take towards publishing

success.

A failure to put the necessary effort into a query or draft

Sometimes we get so excited about our topic and the prospect

of seeing it in print that we dash off a query, article, or proposal

and send it out without taking the time to let it sit, edit our work,

or think about the best way to make our case. Theres nothing

wrong with excitement! But a sloppy query or sloppy draft easily

convinces a publisher that we will also fail to put our best effort

into the finished product.

The same applies to writing that lacks focus or clarity, to

academic work that fails to explain its methodology, and to any

work that fails to follow guidelines. Take the time to proof-read.

Take the time to spell-check. Take the time to show your work to

a trusted friend or colleague who will read it with a critical eye

and suggest ways to make it stronger. Never expect your topic to

sell itself without your help; show editors from the outset why

they should publish your work.

A lack of willingness to start small

I have talked in a previous column about places where librarian

authors can start small and build up their writing muscles,

rsum, and confidence before tackling larger or more

prestigious publications. Those of us facing tenure pressure,

those of us who are ambitious, or those of us who are only aware

of big-name publishing outlets sometimes forget this advice

and get overly discouraged by rejections from prestigious

publications. Prestigious journals earn their prestige partially by

a rigorous acceptance process. Big-name journals often have

correspondingly low acceptance rates precisely becauseeveryone has heard of them: they receive, and therefore must

reject, a larger number of articles.

If you cultivate an awareness of the wonderful variety of

publication outlets in our field, though, you improve your odds of

success by your willingness to branch out beyond the well-

known. Once you have built a record of successful publication

and a comfort with writing for the profession, you will be readier

to tackle bigger projects and bigger-name outlets. Think of this in

the same way as you think of building your career in general;

entry-level positions have a lot to teach you, although they may

not be where you choose to spend your entire career.

An unwillingness to rewrite or rework an article or topic

This is not, strictly speaking, rejection. Often we get so wrapped

up in our writing that we tend to see any suggestions or requests



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for modifications as a personal insult. Especially at peer-

reviewed publications, though, nearly every article that eventually

appears in a journal undergoes a process of reviewing, rewriting,

and revision. If an editor kicks an article back to you with aninvitation to revise it, it means that he has an interest in

publishing the revised version. He is not likely to waste his time

asking to see a rewritten article with no intention of using it. If an

editor kicks a book proposal back to you with suggestions on re-

focusing your topic or modifying your approach, it means she is

seriously considering publishing the re-focused final work.

Remember that editors have experience with the types of

material that succeed with their audience. Review boards exist,

not just to approve or reject material, but to make expert

suggestions on improving and strengthening a journals content.

Editors serve a function as gatekeepers, and must take that role

seriously in offering suggestions and improvements to the work

that they publish. If you take their criticism and suggestions

personally, your publishing career will be short-lived.

The work does not offer anything new on the subject

This complaint is especially common among those who publish

peer-reviewed or more academic work. Your responsibility as a

librarian author is to make a unique contribution to the literature,

not simply to rehash what has already been said on a topic

without adding fresh data, a unique perspective, or a different

conclusion. This is one main difference between writing for

professional publication and the writing you might have been

used to doing in school, for example. Even a literature review

needs to be evaluative; let your thoughts about the topic shine

through.

The wish for work that says something new is often explicitly

stated in publishers guidelines, and for good reason. Readersexpect to be enlightened, informed, and even provoked by the

professional literature work that simply rehashes old

conversations is unlikely to do so.

The publisher has something already scheduled on a

similar topic

Over this we have no control. We cannot read editors minds or

foresee what other authors might have turned in. We can,

however, see what publishers have already published on a topic,

and avoid duplicating previous work. We can also put aside our

suspicions: editors are extremely unlikely to steal your ideas

and assign them to another writer. When people think and talkand read about issues important to our profession, some

inevitably arrive at similar conclusions and have similar

comments. Editors who made a habit of taking others ideas

would not stay in business long were a tightly-knit profession,

and we talk!

Any actions we can take to decrease our chances of rejection

only make our work stronger and our writing more likely to find an

audience. Realizing the real control we have over our works

acceptance helps us feel more secure in our library publishing

careers, and lets us put aside our fear of rejection to concentrate

on the writing itself.



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Where do you get your ideas?

The question of where successful writers get their ideas is nearly

as old as the first written texts. We all wish we had a glimpse into

some magic crystal ball that could tell us which topics will be

winners and which might fall flat. Truth be told, though, no one

has a crystal ball not me, not you, not Stephen King; not Will

Manley nor Marylaine Block nor any other prolific librarian author.

Fed up with this unanswerable query, speculative fiction writerHarlan Ellison even started telling aspiring writers that he

subscribes to an idea store in Schenectady, which for a low fee

sends him a new packet each month. Unfortunately, that doesnt

always put an end to the question he notes that some people

then ask him for the address of the service!

If only life were that simple. Those of us who are newer to writing

or newer to the profession may be used to having had all our

topics handed to us, from grad school papers to grant

applications. In real life, though, we generally have the

responsibility for coming up with our own ideas, just as we are

responsible for our own career paths. Barring the occasional

lucky accident or actively-solicited paper, we need to pulltogether our own ideas from our reading, our professional

conversations, our work experiences, and our cogitations about

the profession.

There are, however, several ways in which you can help ideas

flow more naturally and spur your own inspiration. First, and I

know I have said this before, but it bears repeating:

Stay circumscribed

Beginning librarian authors can start by writing resource reviews

and conference reports, which offer a more circumscribed way

to begin. Even these, though, benefit from your ability to draw on

your experience and your other reading: a good book reviewdraws on your knowledge of the topic and previous reading on

the subject; a good conference report builds on your ability to

compare the workshops you attend with previous meetings and

on your knowledge of the subjects discussed.

If just finding an initial topic, though, is what has you stumped,

these defined assignments can help you build your confidence

as a writer so you can later move on to articles of your own. You

can also stay circumscribed in other ways. Think about starting

your writing career by making contacts within your own circle of

colleagues or coworkers. Think about your fellow librarians as

potential co-authors; take the time to bounce ideas off one

another.

As you go on, articles and longer projects grow most easily when

you take the time to:

Stay professionally active

In order to make original contributions to the library literature, we

need first to become full participants in the profession. Our ideas

evolve best in conversation with others, and our efforts to keep

current can spur our own thoughts. The old adage to write what

you know, while unnecessarily restrictive when taken to

extremes, does have a grain of truth. What we know what welearn from our professional activities informs both our writing

and our thoughts about the profession in general.

Where we often fall short is in the assumption that there is one

right, and costly, way to remain professionally engaged, when in

fact information professionals today have multiple ways to

remain professionally involved. These can be as simple as

joining e-mail lists or taking workshops in your area of interest,

forming a book discussion group with colleagues, creating a

blog or other online resource, or volunteering for a local or state

committee. Especially if you are in a smaller or less well-funded

institution, be creative with your professional activities. Each of

these offers new fodder for your professional writing. You can

mine all of your professional interactions for ideas, from

conversations with colleagues, to projects you carry out in your

own institution, to workshops you attend.

Trust in the power of serendipity, and remain open to ideas

everywhere. In my own professional life, I often find ideas that

turn into successful projects while engaged in other endeavors.

The idea for my first book, for example, grew out of my own

experiences as a newer reference librarian trying to put together

public internet classes in the late 1990s. At the time, there were

few materials available on the subject. I thought: Someone

should write a book! and screwed up the courage to send in a

proposal. A year and a half later, ALA Editions published

Teaching the Internet In Libraries.

A couple of years later, I had moved up from beginning reference

librarian to computer services department head. I found myself

managing a network, maintaining a web site, providing tech

support, and doing computer repair all without formal technical

training. I happened to be thinking about my position as a lucky

accident and wondering how many others were in the same

boat; while reading Computers in Libraries one day, I saw a call

for contributors, and sent in a proposal. This turned into the 2001

article A course in accidental systems librarianship which later

expanded into the 2003 Information Today book The Accidental

Systems Librarian.

In 2003, I was weeding one day and slogging through cases of

general books aimed at beginning writers. This made me wonder

whether there were any books aimed at beginning author-



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librarians. I took a look, and found nothing recent a niche just

begging to be filled. In 2004, Scarecrow published The

Librarians Guide to Writing for Publication.

As I continue on my professional path as a librarian and continue

to write about professional issues, the more I see the need to:

Stay the course

The more time you spend reading, thinking about the issues, and

interacting within the library profession, the more you will find that

ideas begin to flow naturally. The more time you spend writing

about library-related topics, the more often you will find that your

own writing and reading and experiences spark new ideas.

As in all other aspects of our careers as informationprofessionals, our confidence and knowledge base as writers

build on all our previous experiences. If you remain open to the

possibilities, you will find that you start facing the opposite

problem of too many ideas, too little time.

See you in Schenectady!



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To niche or not to niche?

As you progress in your library publishing career, you will need to

decide whether to carve yourself out a particular niche or to

diversify your writing and research interests. Some who write

more than two or three articles on a given subject will find that

they are quickly pigeon-holed, so make this decision before it is

made for you!

The right decision for you will depend on a number of factors,

and your focus may shift over the course of a lengthy publishing

career. Following, though, find some discussion of the pros and

cons of each approach that will help you make an informed

beginning in library publication.

Specialization: pros and cons

There are a number of pluses to becoming a specialist, and

academic librarians in the throes of the tenure process may feel

a particular pressure to specialize. Publication requirements can

inspire academics to research various aspects of one larger

topic, allowing them to publish a number of related articles more

quickly and efficiently and providing fodder for a tenure or

promotion folder. Those who decide to pursue the PhD will alsofind a pressure toward specialization, and will likely begin by

publishing shorter material that builds up to their larger

dissertation topic.

Non-academics, though, can also consider focusing their work

and developing their expertise in a particular area. Writing

extensively on a topic builds your reputation as an expert on that

subject. This can parlay into speaking invitations, monthly

columns, or solicitations to write a book dropping additional

professional development and exposure opportunities in your

lap.

You can use and reuse the research you have done on your area

of specialization, never having to start from scratch. Your in-depth reading and research allow you to understand your

subject more fully and help you build your confidence as a writer:

you own your topic. Exploring different areas of a subject can be

rewarding and, the more you learn, the more in-depth you will be

able to go. You can write about how your topic changes over

time, about how changes in the profession affect your thinking,

about how another writers views have affected your own, about

various aspects of a broader issue.

Those who think they may eventually wish to diversify their writing

into other areas may reconsider excessive specialization,

though, as they run several risks. First, readers and editors may

identify them with their previous writing and feel leery of inviting

them to contribute on another subject. This may fit your needs

now, but if you in the future wish to branch out, you may be

distressed to find yourself pigeon-holed.

Second, limiting your writing to a single area can in time

undermine your own confidence in your ability to branch out.

Building a niche equates to creating your own comfort zone, and

we all have difficulty moving outside our comfort zones. Trends

and topics come and go, in the library world as everywhere else.

If you specialize in a disappearing trend, you will need to make

the transition to other topics, or cut short your writing career.

Steven Bell, Director, Paul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia

University , mentions a colleague who wrote extensively on

training patrons to use CD-ROMs in libraries, only to disappear

from sight with the emergence of the web. As he notes: I think

this points to the weakness (danger?) of specializing. You may

have a great niche, but in our field the technology and issues

change so rapidly that you may find that suddenly your niche is

no longer relevant. Know the difference between specialization

and getting stuck in a rut.

Lastly, your reputation as an expert in a particular field comes

with the responsibility to protect that reputation. If you misstep,

misspeak, or miss an opportunity, your errors will seem all the

more glaring owing to your expert standing.

Diversification: pros and cons

When you diversify your writing and research interests, you are

never likely to become bored; you can always pick a different

direction, or work on a different article or topic for a while.

Focusing on breadth as opposed to depth gives you an excuse

to read extensively in the profession and to keep up with the

multiple issues affecting librarianship as a whole: you never

know where your next idea might come from.

As information specialists, we know the value of lifelong learning

and continuing to assimilate bits of information; these come in

handy in unexpected ways as we carry on with our day-to-day

duties. As a generalist, these bits of information you pick up

during your varied writing and research projects can come in

handy while you write on various topics.

Working on various projects and topics allows us to develop

ourselves professionally in various ways. Steven Bell shares: I

also find it a better learning and personal professional

development experience to explore a variety of topics, because,

as I research and write about each, thats how I learn about them

and develop expertise. So I find that I end up having a more well-

rounded professional experience by moving to new topics on a

regular basis. Researching, writing, and thinking about various

aspects of our diverse profession keeps us connected with new

developments, and informed on topics that affect our individual

work and our field as a whole.



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When we diversify, though, we run the risk of researching a given

topic less thoroughly in cases where our minds have already

moved on to the next project or subject. Librarian authors are as

susceptible as anyone else to the grass is greener syndrome.When we are bogged down on one project, the next can beckon

seductively, urging us to abandon our current work and move on

to a seemingly more stimulating topic.

Diversifying our writing can also be exhausting. When you always

write on something new, you never have the familiar comfort of

building on a base of expertise. Be sure to schedule yourself

down-time between projects in order to renew your interest in

professional writing, and allow your mind to relax before picking

up something new.

The best of both worlds

Many librarian writers carve out a middle ground, specializing in

a very broad area that still allows them to draw on multiple topics

and trends. Others take the time during their writing careers to

become serial specialists in a number of different areas, moving

among them as circumstances and the needs of the library

literature change. You can delve in depth into a topic for a year

or two, then move on to new interests and ideas.

Another approach is to choose several different areas in which to

specialize, becoming known as an expert on multiple topics.

Eastern Illinois University Librarian and Assistant Professor Sarah

Johnson, who writes on topics ranging from professionaldevelopment to historical fiction, explains: I like the idea of

specializing in a bunch of diverse areas that way theres plenty

to write about.

You can also use your specific interests to branch out by offering

your expertise in collaboration with others with related but

different interests. University of Connecticut Reference Librarian

& Liaison to Sociology Tiffani R. Conner says: My greatest hope,

truly, is to be able to collaborate with others who have

specializations themselves (or maybe just educated interests),

so that we can collectively create great articles and

contributions. Move slightly out of your comfort zone, see how it

feels, and work with others to extend your own expertise andpublishing efforts.

Take some time to think about where you want to take your

writing career, and about what feels most natural to you. Your

decision depends on factors as varied as your current position,

your interests, and what you want to get out of your writing and

research. Opportunities await in any event; remain flexible

enough to take advantage!



13/28

Online is fine, part I

When we think about writing for professional publication, many of

us tend first to gravitate toward the familiar: big-name

publications, popular print outlets, the journals that we read and

discussed in library school and that we read and pass around

our workplaces.

As you progress in your writing and professional reading,

though, you will find that many of the exciting innovations, must-read publications, and informal yet influential outlets have moved

online. The following sections cover some of the reasons to write

for and ways to locate online publications; next months column

will address self-publishing online.

Online advantages

The biggest advantage to many librarian writers in publishing

online is that of timeliness. An article submitted to a traditional

peer-reviewed journal may take a year or more to appear in print;

peer-reviewed online publications tend to shorten that timeframe,

while non-peer reviewed online outlets sometimes publish your

work only weeks after you submit it.

Publishing on the open web also exponentially increases your

potential audience. When talking about the impact of online

publishing on tenure decisions, Marylaine Block puts it simply:

We should consider the question of readership as well. The fact

is, any journal article in even an esteemed scholarly journal will

be read by a minute fraction of scholars in the field, and virtually

not at all by students, hobbyists, and those who simply want to

explore the subject. The very same article, if its placed on the

public web and earns a high ranking, may be read by thousands,

or even hundreds of thousands, of people, which can improve

the general publics understanding of a topic or an academic

discipline (http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib159.html).

Think about how you came to read this online-only column.

Perhaps a colleague e-mailed you a link, maybe you subscribe

to Emerald for Librarians e-mail newsletter, you may have signed

up with a web page monitoring service that notifies you when

new articles are posted, you could easily have found it through a

Google search, or it is possible you saw it listed on someones

blog. The ease of locating and sharing online material translates

into an inherently larger readership.

Librarians and information professionals often think about

marketing our institutions and our profession long before we

think about marketing ourselves as professionals. Our careers,

though, need just as much nurturing as our libraries and

publishing online is one fantastic and simple method of self-

marketing. Online publishing in open-access journals creates

name recognition more quickly than publishing only in print, and

gives you freely accessible examples to which to point when you

are marketing yourself and your work in the future.

Publishing online

Writing for the online environment can be as simple as publishing

in a freely-accessible, informal e-journal or zine, or as complex

as going through the traditional peer-review process with a

refereed online publication. Your target outlets will varydepending on your goals. If you want to be published in an

online journal, think about the ones you yourself read, do a

search on your area of interest, or see if familiar print publications

have an online counterpart.

As with print publishing, focus on what you need to accomplish.

Do you need to write for peer-reviewed journals during a tenure

or promotion process? Find out how your institution views online

publishing, both formally and informally (ask around!). Ask

colleagues for their favorites, or explore journals like First Monday

(www.firstmonday.org) or LIBRES (http://libres.curtin.edu.au). Do

you just want to share a particular experience or viewpoint? Look

into relevant newsletters or zines like Lisjobs.coms Info CareerTrends (www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/); think about their target

readership and whether it matches your topic. Are you a student?

See whether your library school or student organization sponsors

an online publication like the McGill Library and Information

Studies Student Associations Marginal Librarian (www.gslis.

mcgill.ca/marginal/).

Think also about publishing in print journals that provide part or

all of their content online. Even a freely accessible table of

contents and abstracts can provide an impetus for site visitors to

look up the full text of your work. Look at what different publishers

are doing in this area: see for example tables of contents and

selected articles from any of Information Todays periodicals atwww.infotoday.com/periodicals.shtml while Library Journal

currently makes its articles available at www.libraryjournal.com

Online inevitability

More publishing outlets than ever have embraced the inevitability

of online publication, either in whole or in part. A number make

selected articles available online; others allow authors to post

final edited versions on their personal web sites some months

after their first appearance in print. For an example, see the

Computers In Libraries author FAQ at www.infotoday.com/

cilmag/faq.shtml, which notes that authors can post the final

version of their articles online as long as they include CILs legal

permission statement.

Newer journals assume the importance of an online presence

from the outset. As Richard Naylor, editor of the Journal of the



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Library Administration & Management Section (JLAMS) of the

New York Library Association (www.nyla.org/index.php?page_

id=813), notes: An electronic format has several related

advantages for us. While the most obvious advantage is cost, itis also important that we are able to reach all our library

association members without first selling them on the advantage

of paying. And, since our goal is not to raise money but to

provide additional services to our members and to further the

professional goals of librarianship, the more people who read the

journal, the better.

Some editors see personal professional benefits as well. Priscilla

Shontz, webmaster of LISCareer.com and editor of The

Librarians Career Guidebook, started LISCareer as an outgrowth

of her first book. She says: The site offers me the opportunity to

contribute to the profession both by publishing articles that share

practical advice with new and future librarians and by offering

other librarians a publication opportunity. Ive also been able to

widen my professional network as more people find the site.

As you build your writing career, think about how publishing

online can interact with your offline publishing activities, helping

you build your portfolio and your name recognition. Keep an

open mind, and always be on the look-out for new opportunities.



15/28

Online is fine, part II

The previous column talked about the ins, outs, and advantages

of writing for online journals and other internet publications. Now,

lets move on to discussing some of the various ways to self-

publish online.

Automated tools and graphical editors have lowered the barrier

of entry to the point where any self-motivated librarian can self-

publish on the internet. Want a blog? Go to Blogger.com or

Livejournal.com, register for an account, and have your own

within a couple of hours. Want a web site? Contact your ISP,

Geocities.com, or one of thousands of low-cost hosts; use

automated site-builder tools, or invest in a copy of Microsoft

FrontPage. More advanced? Use your own favorite tools and

services!

If youre not yet familiar with weblogs, or blogs, these are web

sites showing brief, reverse-chronological postings or musings

from the sites author. Content can range from a personal diary,

to commentary on new stories, to full-length articles and

discussions. Weblog software and hosting services allow you to

use graphical editors to format and publish your posts to your

personal blog without needing to know HTML. (For examples oflibrary-related weblogs, see http://librarian.net or www.lisnews.

com) Interested parties can subscribe to your blog to

automatically receive your newest postings as you publish them.

(For an easy way to get started subscribing to several

representative library blogs so that you can see what the fuss is

about, visit http://joy.mollprojects.com/blog/projects/quickrss.

html)

Blogs and other forms of online self-publication can range from

the utterly personal to the impersonally professional; those who

land closer to the professional end of the spectrum are those

most likely to interact fruitfully with your other publishing activities

and help build your library writing career.

Online advantages

Publishing in online professional journals can let your work

appear in a more timely fashion. You can also, of course, publish

anything on your own web site or blog the instant you finish

writing it and can start collecting comments and criticism the

instant you finish posting it. If you have opinions on a current

news story or professional discussion, posting them online

allows you to contribute your thoughts while the issue is hot. If

you have ideas you want to work out before committing to more

formal publication, posting online can help you organize your

ideas while simultaneously collecting feedback from others.

Self-publishing online can extend your online reputation beyond

the presence you establish in the online professional media. If

you create a resource of use to other information professionals,

or if you build up a reputation as someone with thoughtful

comments and insights about professional issues, you will start

attracting a regular audience to your personal online presence.

Your online writing will be searchable and accessible; you can

easily add a link to your rsum, to your e-mail signature file, to

directories of library-related resources.

Online pitfallsThose who self-publish online do bypass the traditional function

of editors and review panels as gatekeepers, and in most cases

need to consider ways to duplicate that function by creating their

own circle of trusted critics. Be even more careful than when

submitting your work to journals to take the time to read your

writing over, or have someone else read it over, and determine

that it says what you actually want to say before you put it up

on the internet for the world to see.

The temptation to throw your work online without thinking it

through leads some to speak quite dismissively of the potential

of these selfpublishing venues. Michael Gorman, for one,

writes: Unfortunately, if there are writers of genius, or talent, oreven basic competence out there blogging, I have yet to find

them. In the early heady days of the internet, we were promised

that, in the future, everyone could be published. Alas, that

promise is being fulfilled, which should remind us all to be wary

of what we wish for (Our Own Selves: More Meditations for

Librarians, ALA, Chicago, 2005, p. 208).

Most commentators are not quite as provocatively dismissive,

but the ease of online publishing does underscore the effort

needed to make our online activities useful. Post when you have

something to say, rather than for the sake of posting. Blog posts

in particular are not necessarily intended to be polished and

precise; their very roughness underscores the immediacy and

enthusiasm of bloggers commentary. On a professional blog,

though, they are expected to be relevant, coherent, and

readable.

Online experimentation

Librarian and technology trainer Michael Stephens explains how

his blog, Tame the Web (www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/), helps

him work out ideas that may later appear more formally in print:

I believe I have a definite voice in my blog that is well-suited to

the medium, but would not translate to the literature well at all. A

few blog entries have seeded articles for sure. I try concepts and

thoughts on for size in my blog, and Im pleased if an idea for an

article appears there. Library Stuffs (www.librarystuff.net)Steven M. Cohen concurs: Some of the content that I put on my

weblog can be seen as a testing ground for more formal writing.

Having readers comment on my posts also helps in forming



16/28

theories that can go into future columns. In fact, I count on those

comments, which is something that is lacking in the professional

literature, at least in real-time.

Blogs offer a built-in mechanism for organizing and preservingyour thoughts on a subject; their commenting function and e-

mail links allow easy input from your colleagues. Newer ideas

include using a personal wiki to brainstorm and organize your

ideas; think about what format better matches the way you think

and inherently self-organize. (Wikis are basically open-editing

systems that allow any user or any authorized user to edit and

create any of an interrelated collection of web pages. Check out

SeedWiki at www.seedwiki.com or Jotspot at /www.jot.com) If

you are collaborating on a writing project with another librarian,

either blogs or wikis can be an interesting way of collecting your

contributions, organizing your thoughts, editing your work, and

commenting on one anothers ideas.

When blogs make it even to Time Magazine (www.time.com/time/

personoftheyear/2004/poymoments.html), we need to pay

attention. Adding our voices as librarians to the larger blogger

and other online communities is one way to remain relevant

online participants as we work on transforming our profession in

the internet age.

If you do decide to publish a library or information-related blog or

web site as a counterpart to other professional writing, keep

these simple guidelines in mind: keep it useful, keep it topical,

and keep it professional. Look at what else is out there, and think

about where you might fill a niche. Think about your overall

research and writing interests and how these can intersect with

your online activities. Before establishing your own site or blog,think about how often you can commit to updating it and whether

you have the self-motivation to continue writing after the initial

creative rush.

Once you have committed to creating your own self-publishing

venue, dont forget the most important rule enjoy exploring the

various connections and professional advantages it offers!

For further reference

Block, Marylaine (2002), Web contributions and tenure

decisions, Ex Libris 159 (November 14), available at: http://

marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib159.html

Levine, Jenny (2002), Blogging and the shifted librarian, InfoCareer Trends, July, available at: www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/

archives/jul02jlevine.htm

Mortensen, Torrill and Walker, Jill (2002), Blogging thoughts:

personal publication as an online research tool, available at:

www.intermedia.uio.no/konferanser/skikt-02/docs/Researching

_ICTs_in_context-Ch11-Mortensen-Walker.pdf

Tonkin, Emma (2005), Making the case for a wiki, Ariadne 42

(January), available at: www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/



17/28

Time keeps on ticking ...

Busy librarians often complain that they lack the time to devote

to building a publishing career. The very thought of producing

lengthy peer-reviewed articles, reading books in time to write

reviews on deadline, creating and conducting valid research

studies, or investing the time in finishing a book-length

manuscript gives them nightmares. In other cases, a bad first

project that took over their lives for a time makes them reluctant

to repeat the experience.

Do I ever sympathize!

All evidence to the contrary, though, most librarian writers do

indeed lead busy lives outside their prose, taking the time to hold

down day jobs, raise children, pursue hobbies, eat dinner, and

maybe even read a book or two every once in a while. So, where

do successful writers find the time, and how do they achieve

balance? The suggestions below will be most applicable to those

who want to make writing for the profession a regular part of their

careers; if you are a tenure-track librarian just looking to publish

a couple of articles, or simply interested in contributing

occasionally as the muse or mood strikes, then you will want toscale down this approach to match your needs.

Get consistent

Julia Cameron offers the concept of morning pages, where you

get up each morning and write at least three longhand, free-

flowing pages on any topic, without judging or editing or

criticizing your own work. While this often works well as an

unblocking technique for fiction writers, something similar,

whether you call it morning pages or freewriting, can work for

you, too.

Your writing muscles get out of shape just like any others, and

the best way to ensure that you are able to write consistently andreasonably quickly is to... well... keep writing consistently and

reasonably quickly. Write something every single day. It doesnt

all have to be publication quality, it doesnt even have to be

library-related but it does have to be down on paper or on

screen.

This is one good use for a blog or other self-publishing venture

(see last months column), although do beware of letting your

work out online in too rough a form. You can also write longhand

or on your own PC for personal consumption and never let your

scratchwork see the light of day. You may be surprised, though,

at how many ideas find eventual fruition or by how many

thoughts you manage to work out, just by consistently writing

them down. You will also be surprised by how pleasantly your

work can flow when you make it part of your everyday life rather

than consistently procrastinating until deadline.

In a recent interview, Walt Crawford estimates he writes about

250,000 words a year (www.ybp.com/ybp/DomIndex.html?cites

_interview.html&). Yes, that is a heck of a lot of words. But lets

stop and think about this for a minute. One double-spaced typed

page is about 250 words. If you wrote just one double-spaced

typed page every single day for one year, youd have 91,250

words! If you got ambitious and wrote two pages a day, you

could take some time out for spring break, having the flu, takingSaturdays off, or just plain old mental recovery time and still

end up having written comfortably over 100,000 words.

If numerical goals make you uncomfortable, try setting aside

specific blocks of time instead. Do you have half an hour free

each morning? An hour at night before going to bed? An hour

when the kids are napping or when Sesame Streetis on? Call this

block your writing time, turn down the ringer on the phone, make

it clear what constitutes an emergency where people can bother

you (house on fire) and what does not (cant find the grape

juice).

Of course, most of these daily words may not be publishable intheir original form. But, how many usable articles could you distil

out of this work? How many of these pages might turn into ideas

that later see the light of day, even if the original iteration

justifiably disappears forever? Try devoting half your time to

writing and half to editing and organizing your existing content,

or half to writing and half to researching and collecting ideas.

Find the balance that works best for you.

Get organized

One problem we have in maximizing our time comes when we

fail to organize the work that underlies our writing. As librarians,

we recognize the importance of organization, of being able to

find a given item or piece of information when needed. Apply thisprinciple to your own work; it deserves it!

Julie Hoods Files, piles, and stacks ... get organized for 2005

(www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/002316_01052005.h

tml) gives some suggestions for organizing ongoing writing

projects that will be especially useful to anyone working on more

than one project at a time. Use, though, any system that works

for you and enables you to put your finger quickly on a needed

piece of information, or to recall items you have read or skimmed

and wanted to keep for future reference. The main point of

organizing is to reduce the time you spend finding the content

you need to do your work, and increase the time you have to

spend actually writing.

Think also of your everyday efforts to keep current as research.

Clip articles for future reference, bookmark web sites and blog



18/28

entries, and use your super-secret librarian skills to organize

these in a manner that will let you recall them when needed.

Get going!

Youve written, youve organized now, how to turn this flow of

productivity into publishable work? After taking a month or two to

simply write, the first skill you will need to develop is the ability to

let go. Look at your piles of papers and pages and words. Some

will be duplicative of each other, of something you just read in

the literature. Some will be confusing what were you thinking

when you wrote that? Some will have seemed important at the

time, but now not necessarily worth the effort to pursue.

Pull out the parts that still interest you, that contain the germ of

an idea, or that, in wonderful but rarer cases, contain the bones

of a fully-fledged article or book proposal. Now you have the

genesis for creating publishable work; you have ideas writtendown that you can expand upon, combine, and otherwise use. It

is always more difficult to start from scratch than to take the

usable sentences, paragraphs, or even fragments from your

previous writing and expand them into a complete work.

Consciously perpetuate this writing cycle, and you will be able to

make the most of the time you have available and should never

run out of ideas!



19/28

Selling your work, selling yourself

In order to be published in the professional literature, you need

to develop the ability to sell your ideas to editors. Thinking in

terms of selling, especially if you are writing for peer-reviewed

publications, can seem strange particularly given that

marketing is not always among our strengths as librarians.

The reality, though, is that you are selling yourself and your ideas

whenever you put your ideas or your work out there. Your ultimategoal is to convince an editor that your work is appropriate for him

to publish; you do so by marketing yourself. You can think of

effective marketing as a variation on the old who, what, when,

where, why, and how series of questions:

Who are you? Show that you are the right person to write the

article, book, or other work.

What is the work about? Be able to explain it succinctly yet

accurately.

When should the work appear; is it topical now; will it be topical

by the time it appears in print?

Where is the best place for this work to appear; can you pictureit in this journal or among this publishers offerings?

Why should an editor publish it?

How is it appropriate for the readers of this journal or target

audience of this publisher?

Before you can even think about selling your idea or your work to

an editor, you need to be able to sell it to yourself. Devote time to

thinking and talking about your topic, bounce ideas off

colleagues, and take the time you need to clarify your thoughts.

If you are unable to summarize the subject of your book or article

or work in a couple of sentences when talking to a colleague, you

probably lack the focus to sell it to an editor.Effective query letters

When you write for non-peer-reviewed publications, you will often

be asked to submit a query letter describing the topic, focus, and

content of your proposed article before actually sitting down to

write the piece. This saves you from taking the time to complete

a whole article and then finding out that it is inappropriate for, or

unwanted by, a given publication.

Whenever I put out a call for queries for my electronic newsletter,

I receive incomplete, oddly formatted, and inappropriate

submissions. Although potential contributors are enthusiastic, I

often cannot tell from their messages what they want to write

about or why they might be qualified. Although they have

interesting ideas, their topics often fail to fit into the scope and

tone of the publication.

One query I recently received read, in its entirety: Id like to write

for the next issue, so send me the deadline. This is less a query

letter than a demand, leaving me with no idea who the potential

author is, what she plans to write about, or why I should publish

her work. Another aspiring author sent, in its entirety, a 20-page

footnoted academic article. My publication guidelines call for

800-1,000-word conversational articles around thematic issues.

Neither of these approaches made a positive impression.

Before writing your query letter, take time to look at a publication,

any back issues or articles it makes available, and its contributor

guidelines. Think about the who, what, when, where, why, and

how series of questions above, and have your answers

formulated your letter will then pretty much write itself! Query

letters in many ways parallel the cover letters you write when

seeking employment; you show how you match a publication

outlets needs, just as you would show how you match an

employers needs. If sending a paper query, keep it to one page,

and keep e-mailed queries similarly brief; practise selling

yourself and your work concisely and effectively.

Effective cover letters and abstracts

When you publish in the peer-reviewed literature, you will instead

of a query often be asked to submit a finished piece of work with

a cover letter and/or abstract that summarizes its content and

goals. Generally, abstracts run to 100-250 words (this will be

spelled out in the journal guidelines). An abstract briefly

summarizes the purpose of your paper, your methodology, your

argument, and your conclusion(s). Here again, the practice you

went through in learning to succinctly describe your topic to

colleagues will come in handy.

In your cover letter, describe your article briefly, and supply any

important information. Are you submitting it for a particular

section of the journal, a special issue, or an upcoming thematic

issue? For a multi-authored work, identify one contact author and

include full contact information; this person will be responsible

for any communications with the editor. If the publishers

guidelines ask for specific verbiage to be included in the cover

letter (for example, assigning copyright to the journal), be sure to

do so and be sure you know to what you are agreeing.

Effective book proposals

The content and format of your book proposal will vary,

depending on the guidelines of your target publisher. Most

supply detailed proposal outlines online; be sure to follow a

given publishers format and style when submitting yours. Each,though, asks for similar basic elements. These often include

items such as: a description of the proposed work (more

practice in succinctly summarizing your topic!), an annotated



20/28

table of contents, a biographical statement, a sample chapter

(and/or other writing samples), a description of the potential

market, a list of competing works, and delivery details.

Potential authors are often intimidated by the length of a book

proposal and the amount of work required with no guarantee of

success. It may help, though, to look at a proposal as merely a

lengthier version of a query letter, covering the same who, what,

when, where, why, and how type of questions. Its greater length

is appropriate, given the greater commitment you and a

publisher are making to each other in working together on a

book-length project.

Working on a proposal, further, can help you clarify and organize

your own thoughts about your potential book. The process of

creating the table of contents and describing the work will help

you determine whether you really do have a book-length idea, or

whether your topic might be better off as an article.

Effective selling

As in any other aspect of publishing, you improve your odds of

success by giving editors what they are looking for and

remaining professional in all your communications. This is

especially important in an initial communication, such as a query,

cover letter, or book proposal these offer your best chance at

making a good first impression. Put the same thought into these

documents as into your other writing; if an editor sees that you

can create an effective letter or proposal, she will be more likely

to take a chance on your longer work.



21/28

Library literature and the gift economy

So, what makes writing for the library literature different? Our

common bond as members of the profession in itself gives us

reason to participate. We all give back to the profession in

different ways some of us get passionately involved in

associations, others lobby for libraries and librarians, and some

of us write for the library literature. Librarianship as a field is built

on the contributions and conversations of its members.

Not enough for you? Well, lets try enlightened self-interest!

More than one observer has remarked on the natural affinities

between librarianship and the open source software movement,

arguing for the increased use of open source in library

applications. We can go further, and think about participation in

the library profession as in some ways analogous to participation

in the creation of open source software.

Individual contributors to open source software forgo monetary

profit, but find other less tangible benefits in participating in the

open source community. As a Feb. 3, 2005 Economistarticle on

the economics of sharing puts it: In the context of open

source, much has been written about why people would share

technical talent, giving away something that they also sell by

holding a job in the information-technology industry. The reason

often seems to be that writing open-source software increases

the authors prestige among their peers or gains them

experience that might help them in the job market, not to mention

that they also find it fun. (www.economist.com/finance/display

Story.cfm?story_id=3623762)

Writing for publication in the library literature a major way of

participating in the library community offers similar advantages

in terms of prestige, experience, and even fun! Should you

always write for free? Of course not, but dont let monetarycompensation be an automatic deal-breaker. Writing for the

literature offers the following benefits:

Name recognition. If you think about the whos who of

librarianship, most of the big names in the field are big names

at least partially because of their publication record. While we

are a fairly small field, we are also fragmented and spread out,

and many more people will get to know you through your

writing than will necessarily meet you in person.

Rsum fodder. Academic librarians obviously realize the

importance of listing publications on their CVs, as well as the

part research and publication play in the tenure and promotion

process. Any librarian, though, benefits from the opportunity to

include a Publications section on her rsum, showing her

professional involvement and demonstrating that she has

thoughts on the issues of the day.

Reputation building. Beyond simple name recognition, your

writing on a given subject gives you the chance to become

known as an expert on that subject. As your reputation grows,

so, too, do related opportunities you may be asked to write,

present, or opine further on your topic of choice; you may have

the chance to build connections with others who are expert in

the field.

Advancing the literature. Writing for the library literature

provides the opportunity to contribute to something bigger

than any one person. While your article or blog entry or book

or review is in itself a minuscule part of the whole, each

contribution interacts as part of the ongoing conversation that

builds our professional foundations and advances the field.

Overall, the more you write for the profession, the more

opportunities will come your way and the more you will feel a part

of the larger whole.

You will note also that most of these opportunities are maximized

when access to your work is also maximized. Ive talked before

about the advantages of publishing online, especially in free,open-access venues. The library literature of course contains a

healthy mix of publication outlets, both free and fee but take

accessibility into account, along with other considerations, when

choosing an outlet for your work.

Cases to study

Still skeptical?

Case #1: A regular, unpaid book reviewer for Library Journal is

invited to apply to write a monthly topical review column, on

the strength of her reviews and writing on similar topics. She

now writes a paid column each month.

Case #2: An enthusiastic blogger is contacted by an editor ata library-related publishing company, and now is under

contract to write a book that builds on some of the information

and ideas he previously blogged.

Case #3: An author of a reference work is contacted by a

magazine editor and asked to contribute a feature article on a

similar topic.

Case #4: Another authors book is reviewed favorably in the

literature. The review attracts the notice of a conference

organizing committee, and she is invited to fly in and do a

conference workshop on the topic.

Just as in your job hunt, your name recognition, skill-building

exercises, and enthusiasm can lead to a successful writing

career. Putting your words out there is another way of beginning

to build a network; people get to know you by what you have to

say. So join on in, showing that you are someone worth knowing!



22/28

What if? Overcoming writers remorse

Writers remorse: all writers have had it. As soon as we send in

an article, we have a flash of inspiration about the perfect hook

we could have used to snare readers attention. As soon as a

book is on its way to the printer, we run across the perfect source

to shore up its weakest spot. As soon as we turn in a manuscript,

we have an epiphany about the perfect section we could have

included had we only thought of it earlier. As soon as we see

the final version in print, we cringe at an unfortunate word choicehere, an incomplete train of thought there.

Its natural to second-guess ourselves; writers remorse being

merely one manifestation. The fact that we can think, remember,

and envision alternative scenarios is part of what makes us

human. Weve all thought of the perfect comeback to a days-old

insult, dreamed about another path we could have taken and

where we could be now. Writers remorse, though, hits at the

center of our insecurities about putting our work more than that,

our words out there for others to see. In order to overcome our

insecurities and go on as writers, we need to gain some

perspective on what part of this is really under our control.

Purchasing perspective

Try this exercise: Pick a librarian author whose work you admire,

one who has been writing for at least ten years. Read a recent

piece or two, taking note of topic, writing style, voice, and where

the work appears. Now, go back three to five years and pick

another couple of pieces. Look at the same aspects. Lastly, go

back another three to five years. Would you know this was the

same writer? How have her approach, her topics, her publication

outlets changed over time? Has her distinct voice emerged over

time, or was it present from the outset?

Next, pick someone who has been writing for the past 20 years.

Look at his recent work, then go back ten years, 15, and 20. Howdo you see his work evolving over the years?

Now, just for fun, pick someone who has just started writing

recently. Make the same notes about her work. How do you

envision her topics, style, voice, and choice of outlets changing

over the next five years? The next ten? Keep an eye out for her

writing and see whether she matches your expectations over

time.

Buying time

Now that we are done dissecting others, lets get back to you

and your writing. The above heavy-handed exercise should, if

nothing else, show that peoples writing naturally changes over

time. If you are just starting out, why compare yourself with

someone who has been writing for years? Everything you write,

everything you work on, helps create your own unique voice and

style, helps hone your writing muscles so that your voice can

shine through. A simple shift in perception helps move early

writing from the category of mistake to that of building-block

as does the recognition that we are generally our own harshest

critics.

The best way to side-step writers remorse, though, is always to

have that next project in mind. When we are busy writing,researching, or thinking about our next article, we have less time

to wallow in couldve, wouldve, shouldve from the last one.

Yes, some of us only have one article, one book, or one idea in

us; in others, inspiration strikes but rarely. If, however, you have

the ambition to call yourself a writer, if you have the need to

publish widely for tenure or promotion purposes, if you have a

flood of ideas waiting to take shape, you have the perfect

antidote. Best of all, your work on that next project, that next

article, hones your writing that much more as your writing

improves and your unique style takes shape, bouts of writers

remorse will become fewer and further between.

Remorse for the rest of us

All of us, no matter the volume or frequency of our writing, can

battle writers remorse preemptively. Regardless of how long you

have been writing or how often your work appears, you are more

likely to second-guess your own work when you know you have

failed to put in your best effort. Much of the time, our remorse

stems from the guilty knowledge that we could have should

have done better.

If you wait till the last minute and dash something off for a waiting

editor, you are sure to regret it in the morning. If you get tired of

looking at a given piece and send in an unfortunately rough draft,

it will fail to miraculously polish itself up in transit. While not a

sure-fire cure, avoiding sure-fire paths to remorse increases ourodds of being able to take pride in our work.

A while back, I read a business book whose main point was (in

so many words): Sell like hell, do the work, take the money. In

writing, as in business, it can be a lot more fun to sell (to get

others excited about our fabulous ideas) and to take the money

(or rsum fodder or recognition) than to spend time on the nitty-

gritty details of writing. Neglecting this middle bit, though, pretty

much obviates the whole point; there is only so much selling we

can do before our failure to really do the work leaves the rest right

out.

Writing is indeed work! Again, as in business, the key to

satisfaction is to find the work that is personally rewarding,

interesting, and challenging, to do it well, and to expend your

energy where it is important and needed.



23/28

The worlds leading publisher of management research

www.emeraldinsight.com

Backfiles

Online access to over 100 years of management research

120 journals from the 1800s to the present day

60,000 articles in key management disciplines

http://ww2.emeraldinsight.com/backfiles

The farther backward youcan look, the farther forward

you are likely to seeWinston Churchill


24/28

Emerald LIS journals overview

Aslib Proceedings: New Information

Perspectives: an interdisciplinary journal in the

field of information studies with content and

coverage to match the rapidly changing

discipline profile. The journal brings currency,

authority and accessibility to the reporting of

current research, issues and debates in the

broad area of information work. It provides an ideal platform for

the dissemination of new and challenging research and ideas in

this field.

The Bottom Line provides librarians, library

trustees and others concerned with library

management, with current information related

to the financial aspects of library operations.

The journal focuses on cost measurement and

containment, fundraising, development, fiscal

policies and procedures, and the financial

implications of technological change. It provides current,

practical information that can be applied in all types of libraries.

Campus-Wide Information Systems publishes

cutting-edge research and case studies relatingto administrative, academic and library

computing, as well as other educational

technologies. The journal analyses the latest

theories, applications and services relating to

planning, developing, managing, using and

evaluating information technologies in higher education.

Collection Building publishes well-researched

and authoritative information on collection

maintenance and development, from the

practical to the theoretical. It provides practical

information on resource sharing, maximisingrestricted budgets and the implications of

change, particularly in the area of information

technology. The journal aims to maintain a balance between

theory and practice and help librarians to improve their service to

users.

The Electronic Library is devoted to the

applications and implications of new

technology, automation, user interfaces,

networks and the web on libraries, information

centres and museums world-wide. The journal

also covers the development of software and

hardware for such applications. It serves as a

medium for reporting research results, descriptions, news,

reviews and information exchange.

Interlending & Document Supply covers a

wide range of activities relating to document

provision and supply, from traditional

approaches to the use of advanced

technologies, both within and between

countries world-wide. It aims to provide well-

researched and authoritative information for

senior managers in library and information services, and

librarians in academic, public and special libraries.

Journal of Documentation is a leadingresearch journal in the field and has the unique

perspective of focusing on theories, concepts,

models, frameworks and philosophies in the

information sciences. It aims to provide a forum

for the dissemination of scholarly articles,

research reports and critical reviews in the

information sciences. It provides a link between

research and scholarship and reflective professional practice, so

that both are informed and enhanced.

Library Hi Tech is dedicated to substantive

coverage of computing and technology for thelibrary community world-wide. It is international

in scope, and defines technology in the

broadest possible terms to include the full

range of tools librarians a

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