"indexes more than 560 core journals, nearly 50 priority journals, and nearly 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. This database also contains full text for more than 330 journals and nearly 30 full-text monographs including Handbook of Electronic & Digital Acquisitions, Library/Vendor Relationships, Journals of the Century, etc."And this is just one database. For the LIS professional looking to learn more about their field there are thousands of publications available. For the past several months I've been following The Electronic Library (EL) and Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP). Both journals are peer reviewed scholarly publications aimed at LIS professionals. The LPP is available to everyone for free without a subscription through the Digital Commons @ University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The EL is published by Emerald Insight and must be accessed through the publisher or through a subscription service. I was able to access EL through the Wayne State University library system as well as through the LISTA database provided by my local public library. The EL journal is directly related to my interest in electronic libraries, software development, and the changing technological landscape of libraries. A full description of the journal provided by the publisher can be accessed here. The LPP journal is a more general publication dedicated to library best practices and the philosophy behind those practices. Between the two, I've been able to gain a greater insight into whats going on in my field.
The EL is a very tech-heavy publication. The casual reader without a background in tech may find themselves at a loss when perusing the articles. The vast majority of the articles are research papers with titles such as "Integrating Semantic Web Technologies with XML Schema Using Role-Mapping Annotations." The journal is an international journal. Many of the authors hail from outside of the United States. The editorial team comes from the University of North Texas but their editorial advisory board is filled with scholars from all over the world. The result is that readers have access to a broad base of information coming from a variety of areas of LIS technology. For me the most useful articles in this journal center around issues with creating and using metadata and controlled vocabularies. I live and breathe metadata and having access to what other professionals are doing with the same problems I encounter are is at the very least encouraging. It means I'm not alone and that someone has probably thought of a solution I have overlooked.
From the description the Library Philosophy and Practice:
"is a peer-reviewed electronic journal that publishes articles exploring the connection between library practice and the philosophy and theory behind it. These include explorations of current, past, and emerging theories of librarianship and library practice, as well as reports of successful, innovative, or experimental library procedures, methods, or projects in all areas of librarianship, set in the context of applied research."The journal is far less tech heavy than the EL and most readers would be comfortable with the subject matter. While the articles are still mostly research papers the tone is less heavy handed and more consumer friendly. The EL tends to speak to LIS professionals focused on tech, LPP focuses on the total librarian. Articles are on topics related to everything from technology acceptance to literacy. Like the EL, LPP has an international focus. Though it is published in Lincoln, Nebraska its editorial board comes from all over the United States as well as from many other countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia. Many of the articles deal with issues specific to a country or place but their application is useful to librarians in almost any setting. They do address issues of technology but that seems to be more of a result of the current library climate rather than a directed decision to focus in that area. I do not have any immediate plans to work in a public library again but I have found many of their articles useful. One article in particular examines CONTENTdm. This excited me because I work almost exclusively in CONTENTdm and I loved reading about what it is I actually do. Because the LPP is published for free it is more accessible to the garden variety librarian. This is important because journals behind a paywall or available only after jumping through hoops are less likely to be sought after by busy librarians who are holding down jobs and families. These librarians need to be able to access good information because continuing education funding is often lacking. Free and open access scholarly journals can help to fill this hole.
While I followed these journals only because of this assignment I believe that I will keep up on them. I'm not terribly interested in the international aspects of librarianship but I do find the occasional gem that makes me want to keep coming back. I would not recommend EL to the garden variety librarian. Many librarians have tech services to handle most of the things EL addresses but for the LIS professional focusing on digital resources and electronic libraries, it is a good resource. I would definitely recommend LPP to anyone in the LIS profession who wanted an easy to access scholarly journal that spoke to the different issues they face.
For next time, I will be looking at library focused blogs, which for a person who has more than 499 items in her Feedly each day, is something of a pet topic.
References
Chen, Jiangping. (Ed.) (2014) The Electronic Library. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Accessed from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0264-0473& .
Bolin, Mary & Eckwright, Gail. (Eds.) (2014) Library Philosophy and Practice. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska. Accessed from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/index.html.
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