Library Worklife: HR E-News for Today's Leaders Guidelines

Dear Colleagues:

The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) is currently seeking submissions for “Library Worklife: HR E-News for Today's Leaders.” Our first issue was published online on Tuesday, January 7, 2004, before Midwinter in San Diego. CA. ALA-APA continues to inform readers about issues—career advancement, certification, human resources practice, pay equity, recruitment, research, work/life balance—that concern all library workers. One way to ensure that the publication reflects your concerns and celebrates your victories is to become a featured author. Published monthly, LW is received by thousands of Americal Library Association (ALA) institutional members and individual subscribers.

Guidelines for Submitting Manuscripts

Library Worklife is the channel for library workers, administrators and the public who are seeking change in the way our profession is defined, viewed and treated. Regard it as a community publication, as multi-faceted in its purpose as its audience, revealing similarities and differences between the work lives of workers in all types of libraries, showcasing individuals/institutions/programs that have a positive impact on the professional lives of library workers, and educating about theories and trends that challenge current notions and practices. LW is sent electronically each month on the second Tuesday to subscribers and abstracts of each article are available on the ALA-APA Web site.

Please consider:

• submitting an article or editorial
• debuting a concise excerpt from your research
• sharing a successful program
• reviewing and recommending human resources-related publications from the library and other disciplines
• submitting a speech tackling pressing professional issues
• suggesting a question for the survey
• describing how you manage new assignments and skill enhancements
• publicizing pay equity and certification initiatives in your institution/state/region.

At times, LW will feature themes and submissions may be held for publication in those issues if they are appropriate.

Editors and Writers

Volunteer editors would be expected to secure at least three (3) manuscripts/articles for the newsletter in a 12-month period. Editors may solicit manuscripts for one or more topic areas. Volunteer editors are listed in the masthead of the newsletter.  

Writers submit at least three (3) articles for the newsletter in a 12-month period.

Accepted articles will be included in the newsletter at the editor/publisher’s discretion sometime within a 24-month period.

Topic Areas - sample topics - index of past articles

• Spotlight
• Career Advancement
• Certification
• Human Resources Law
• Human Resources Practice
• Salaries and Pay Equity
• Recruitment
• Statistics
• Support Staff
• Work/life Balance

Deadlines

The deadline is the last working day of the month preceding the next issue, e.g., the deadline for the June issue is the last working day of May.

Style

Articles may be based on news, trends, or research.  They may be written in first person or third person (though not in the same article, please).  They, depending on the topic, may even be humorous.

Factual articles must be inviting and readable, with all statements backed by responsible research and interviews. The Chicago Manual of Style should be used in styling articles for publication, but extensive footnoting is discouraged.

Submissions by E-mail

Library Worklife will consider manuscripts sent by e-mail to jgrady@ala.org. When e-mailing a submission, be sure to include your full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information (including email address and phone number), along with one or two sentence biography (optional).

Submission Requirements

Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail in either plain text format within the body of an e-mail or as a Microsoft Word attachment to jgrady@ala.org. When submitting a manuscript in any other format, indicate the word processing program used.

Article Length

200-1200 words; longer articles accepted by previous arrangement.

Payment

Writers and editors who agree to submit at least three (3) articles within a 12-month period will receive a complementary year's subscription to LW.

Exclusive Submission

It is assumed that no other publisher is or will be simultaneously considering a manuscript submitted to LW until that manuscript is published, returned or written permission is provided by the LW editors.

Rights

According to the contract provided to authors, exclusive North American rights are retained until three months after publication, unless another arrangement is made in writing. LW retains rights to have the published material reproduced, distributed and sold in print or electronic text. LW should be credited as the point of original publication.

Reprint Policy

Permission is usually granted for authors to reproduce their contributions as published in LW . Others wishing to republish the text of an article are referred to the author for permission and fee information.

Unsolicited Manuscripts

Unsolicited manuscripts are acknowledged by email or phone when received.

Acknowledgement of Submissions

The editors try to report on manuscripts within 4–-8 weeks. Written reminders from the author after this period are welcome, and usually result in a prompt reply.

Publication Date

On acceptance, an estimated date of publication may be provided to the author.

Editing

On accepted manuscripts, the editors reserve the right to make editorial revisions, deletions or additions which, in their opinion, support the author's intent. When changes are substantial, every effort is made to work with the author.

Galleys

PDF versions of articles are submitted to authors upon request.

Photographs

Digital photographs are preferred for use with manuscripts. If the manuscript is selected for publication, an electronic copy of the image in GIF or JPEG format will be requested at a minimum of 300 dpi.

Editorial Calendar

Library Worklife, the official publication of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), is published and distributed electronically 12 times per year via email to subscribers and in part on the ALA-APA Web site. Please review the Editorial Calendar below.

©2007 ALA-APA