Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: LISNews
ISSN: N/A
Website: http://www.lisnews.org/
Purpose, objective, or mission: “LISNews is a collaborative weblog devoted to current events and news in the world of library and information science.”1
Target audience: LIS professionals and anyone interested in reading about library and information science news.2
Publisher: Blake Carver, MLS.3
Peer reviewed? No.4
Type: LIS professional news and forum.5
Medium: Online.6
Content: The content on LISnews varies from day to day and includes newspaper articles from the United States and other English-speaking countries, editorials, interviews, book reviews, and original writings. Glancing at the most recent postings reveals excerpts and links from LIS-related articles in popular publications and organizations. Activity on the site has slowed down significantly in recent years, but new blog posts are added about once a week by the blog’s owner. Some articles do not speak anyone’s interest; other postings can generate heated, but civilized discussion for several days.7
Frequency of publication: According to the blog owner, content is updated “frequently, usually 7 days a week.”8 However, recent activity suggests a pattern of updating slightly more than once per week.9
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: There are no guidelines as this is an informal forum for open discussion. The author attempts to maintain accuracy and fairness in postings and gently hints that others do the same.10
Types of contributions accepted: Articles, editorials, original work; anything of interest to a LIS audience.11
Submission and review process: Submissions can be sent to the ”submit suggestion” link on the website. Contributions remain the property of the author and can be removed from the website any time by request. There is no review process other than the publication of that which interests a majority of readers. The author does caution that anything that “causes trouble” will be deleted.12
Editorial tone: Informal blog that accepts any writings about LIS news. Authors are free to post and opine on the blog regarding any previously published works. The publisher does, however, “reserve the right to remove any work at any time for any reason.”13
Style guide used: None.
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
LISNews does not provide any scholarly writing opportunities, but does offer an almost daily opportunity for new writers to post their work and ideas on any library topic. The blog offers a nice opportunity to get one’s feet wet in the world of LIS writing but not much else. This may be good venue to find the pulse of library and information science news, to find out what others are talking about, what is of interest to other LIS professionals, and what LIS topics are making headlines in mainstream publications.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: There is no circulation information available. However, readership is not necessarily restricted to the activity on the site, as the blog is also be delivered via an email subscription list.14
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: The publisher is in New York, and it is claimed that there is some international reach.15 American English is the standard for communication as the focus is on North American information science and news. Newspaper articles posted here are from all over the country, Canada, and the UK.16
Reader characteristics: A majority of the readers are librarians of every specialty; however, the publisher does not ask any specific information. The readers are likely to have similar types of workplaces, as the majority of most recent posts focus on public or academic librarianship.17 Readers, as librarians, tend to be open to new information, are willing to express their opinion online, and listen to what others have to say. The editor will post anything of value related to library issues but will remove anything that causes too much discord.18
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: Since this is an audience of mostly librarians (as determined by the editor)19, there is a great deal of LIS knowledge. Information is gathered from many sources for contributions to LISNews. Some posted articles are highly technical, while others are newspaper articles free of any jargon.20
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
This is a resource for librarians to contribute information on anything related to library and information science from the conventional to the bizarre.21 Some articles are very technical and directed toward librarians with a specialization and a knowledge of library jargon and acronyms. Other articles are of a general nature that are of interest to not only librarians, but a general audience as well. Authors are welcome to contribute on any library related topic. Since there are few productive authors relative to prior years, there is opportunity for authors to stand out and be heard by posting frequently. 22 This is an informal and engaged audience of librarians that will be interested in anything that writers have to post.
Last updated: June 29, 2019
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