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Editorial 

Changing of the Guard 

With this September 2008 issue of College 
and Research Libraries there is a changing 
of the guard in editors and editorial board 
members. I assume the role of editor, re-
placing Bill Potter who has served in this 
position so ably for the past six years. Fred 
Hay, the journal’s long-standing book 
review editor, turns over his responsi-
bilities to Geoffrey Smith. We also have 
a new editorial support team and new 
editorial board members who are listed 
on the masthead. 

While all of us involved in editorial 
work think we make a diff erence, it is 
really, of course, the authors and the refer-
ees who count. Our journal receives about 
one hundred manuscripts annually for 
consideration. After a quick initial review 
by the editorial team, ninety percent of 
these submissions are sent to at least two 
referees for blind peer review. 

With the referee evaluations in hand, I 
accept the best manuscripts that advance 
our knowledge about academic librarian-
ship. Our acceptance rate over time has 
been about thirty to forty percent. 

Blind peer review is a time consum-
ing and labor intensive process, but well 
worth the wait and effort. Our peer re-
view, as much as it is humanly possible, 
is objective, and I hope also rigorous and 
constructive. Authors should receive back 
from us useful and fair critiques of their 
writing and ideas. Almost all authors, 
whether their manuscripts are accepted 

or rejected, receive recommendations 
for revisions that will make their writing 
stronger. Experienced authors know the 
secret to good writing: revise, revise, and 
revise again! 

In the Internet Age will authors con-
tinue to write for peer reviewed scholarly 
journals like College & Research Libraries? 
Will busy professionals continue to vol-
unteer their time and effort as referees to 
perform the essential but anonymous task 
of peer review? I hope so, or I will be out 
of an editorial job, and more seriously, I 
believe our profession will suff er. 

Peer review offers an essential ele-
ment of quality control in scholarly 
communications and is our basis for se-
lecting the best writing to bring to you. 
It has worked in the past—helping to 
make College & Research Libraries one of 
the most widely read and cited journals 
in academic librarianship. I know, how-
ever, that we cannot rest on our laurels. 
To dramatically reduce the time from 
submission to acceptance and access, 
we have established a pre-publication 
service that makes accepted peer re-
viewed manuscripts immediately avail-
able online to the public. You can find 
this new pre-publication service on the 
C&RL Web site. We will continue to look 
for ways to improve the journal, making 
it more responsive to both author and 
reader needs without sacrifi cing our 
commitment to peer review. 

Joseph J. Branin 
Editor, College & Research Libraries 

399