jan14_b.indd


C&RL News January 2014 42

Editorial purpose
College & Research Libraries News (C&RL News) 
publishes articles, reports, and essays written by 
practitioners addressing philosophy and tech-
niques of day-to-day management of academic 
library services and collections. C&RL News pro-
vides current information relating to issues, activi-
ties, and personalities of the higher education and 
academic and research library field. Information 
literacy, scholarly communication, technology, 
professional education, preservation, government 
actions that affect libraries, acquisitions, grants to 
libraries, product updates, and the business of 
the Association of College and Research Librar-
ies (ACRL) are covered in C&RL News. Established 
in 1966, C&RL News is the official newsmagazine 
and publication of record for ACRL. It maintains 
a record of selected actions and policy statements 
of the association and publishes timely reports on 
the activities of ACRL and its units. It is published 
11 times per year. Complete instructions to au-
thors are available on the C&RL website at http://
crln.acrl.org/site/misc/author.xhtml.

Content
The editor bears all responsibility for the con-
tent of each issue of C&RL News and selects ma-
terial for publication. The editor also reserves 
the right to make appropriate revisions in mate-
rial selected for publication to standardize style 
or improve clarity (except official ACRL docu-
ments). The editor may refer articles on high-
profile topics to editorial board members with 
appropriate subject expertise for comment. 
Note: Formal, theoretical, or research-oriented 
articles inappropriate for C&RL News will be 
forwarded to the editor of College & Research 
Libraries for consideration.

Material selected should fall into one of the 
following categories:

1. Articles on a project, program, or service 
dealing with a topic relevant to academic librar-
ianship (e.g., “Making assessment less scary” 
January 2013).

2. Essays for “The Way I See It” that offer rea-
soned and informed speculation or comment on 
relevant topics (e.g., “Boots to books,” November 
2013).

3. Topics for the “Internet Resources” col-
umn. Submit a topic idea and brief information 
about the compiler’s knowledge of the pro-

posed topic. Compilers whose topics are select-
ed will receive specific manuscript preparation 
information.

4. Essays for “ACRL TechConnect” column 
that cover technology-related topics, including 
advances in tech tools and innovative projects to 
enhance libraries. 

5. Essays that explore the ACRL President’s 
theme. Topics and authors are selected by the 
President’s Program Planning Committee.

6. Humorous essays related to issues of aca-
demic librarianship and higher education.

7. Essays for the “Scholarly Communication” 
column. ACRL’s Research and Scholarly Environ-
ment Committee has editorial responsibility for 
this column; manuscript ideas should be sent to 
the column editors at crlnscholcomm@gmail.com.

8. Standards, guidelines, or recommendations of 
an ACRL committee or other official ACRL group.

9. Press releases and other items for consider-
ation in the News From the Field department may 
be forwarded to dfree@ala.org.

Instructions to authors
1. Style. Articles should be practical; written in 

an informal, accurate, and informative manner; 
and follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed.

Manuscripts should be original and not pub-
lished elsewhere. (Exceptions may be made for 
items previously published in institutional news-
letters.) Footnotes, charts, and tables should be 
kept to a minimum. Article titles should be pre-
sented in title: subtile format.

2. Length. News notes may be 150–350 
words; essays for “The Way I See It” should be 
750–1,000 words; articles should be no more 
than 2,000 words.

3. Graphics. Whenever possible, photo-
graphs, illustrations, images from websites, etc., 
should accompany article submissions. Authors 
are responsible for obtaining permission to use 
graphic materials. Submit camera-ready artwork 
for all illustrations; digital files should be 300 dpi. 
If sending nondigital material, include complete 
contact information on the back of the artwork. 
A brief caption and credit (if appropriate) should 
be provided for all images submitted.

4. Submitting manuscripts. Manuscripts 
must be submitted electronically to the editor at 
dfree@ala.org. (Note: An e-mail note of inquiry 
may precede submission of the article.) 

C&RL News submission guidelines