Letter from the Editor (December 2019)


Letter from the Editor Kenneth J. Varnum 
 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES | DECEMBER 2019 1 
HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.6017/ITAL.V38I4.11923 

 

Earlier this fall, I had the privilege of participating in the Sharjah Library Conference, a three-day 
event hosted by the Sharjah Book Authority in the United Arab Emirates with programming 
coordinated by the ALA International Relations Office. The experience of meeting with so many 
librarians from cultures different from my own was truly rewarding and enriching.  It was both 
refreshing and invigorating to see, first-hand, the global importance of the local matters that 
occupy so much of my professional life. I returned to my regular job with a newfound appreciation 
for how much the issues I spend so much of my professional time on—information access, equity, 
user experience, and the like—are universal. It is easy to get lost in the weeds of my own 
circumstances and environment, and sometimes difficult to look up and explore what colleagues, 
known and unknown, are doing and thinking.  

The experience reinforces the importance of important open access publications such as 
Information Technology and Libraries. While “open access” doesn’t remove every possible barrier 
to accessing the knowledge, experience, and lessons contained within in its virtual cover, it does 
remove the all-important paywall. And that is no small thing, in a community of library 
technologists who interact and exchange information through social media, email, and other tools. 
Our open access status gives this journal a vibrant platform for sharing knowledge, experience, 
and expertise to all who seek it.  

I hope you find this issue’s contents useful and informative, and will share the items you find most 
important with your peers at your institutions and beyond. I invite you to add your own 
knowledge and experience to our collective wisdom through a contribution to the journal. For 
more details, see the About the Journal page or get in touch with me. 

Sincerely, 
Kenneth J. Varnum, Editor 
varnum@umich.edu 
December 2019 

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