Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: ALCTS News
ISSN: “ALCTS News is an official publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association. It replaced the ALCTS Newsletter Online (ISSN 1523-018X) in September 2013; that publication replaced the ALCTS Newsletter (ISSN 1047-949X) in December 1998.”1
Website: http://www.ala.org/alctsnews/
Purpose, objective, or mission: ALCTS Newsletter Online is the official newsletter of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. The Newsletter is, from the ACLTS’ Publications & Resources: will “deliver critical information to ALCTS members and the broader library community in areas of expertise related to selecting, obtaining, preserving, and providing access to resources required by library users, and they establish ALCTS as the leading voice in these functional areas.” There are several different publications to contribute to through ALCTS. 2
The ALCTS, according to their bylaws, “…will provide its members, other ALA divisions and members, and the library information and community” with “leadership and a program for action on the access to, and identification, acquisition, description, organization, preservation, dissemination of information resources in a dynamic, collaborative environment.”3
Target audience: ALA members and members of ALCTS.4
Publisher: American Library Association (ALA)5
Peer reviewed? No.6
Type: ALCTS Newsletter is a LIS professional newsletter.7
Medium: Online, with an archive of past issues.8
Content: Information and news on topics for those involved in library collections and technical services as well as events, updates, practices and developments in the field. Newsletters typically include letters from the editor, ALCTS news, ALA news, and calls for papers from related journals. There are frequent announcements for web courses and workshops at various sites and online.9
Frequency of publication: Quarterly.10
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: http://www.ala.org/alctsnews/about
Types of contributions accepted: Per the submission guidelines, “The primary focus…is to report the news and activities of ALCTS and its members.11 The secondary focus is “reporting activities of interest to the membership relating to practice and developments in the fields of library collections and technical services.”12
Submission and review process: From the Author Guidelines: submit manuscripts in Word format, single spaced (double spaced between paragraphs), with no highlighting, special fonts, or text effect other than bold or italic. Do not use page numbers, headers, or footers. Submissions may be sent as email attachments to alctsnews@ala.org. Most articles and reports are about 300-500 words; longer articles will be considered on an individual basis.13
Editorial tone: Tone appropriate for a professional publication.14
Style guide used: The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)15
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
By reading previous newsletters, there is a reasonable assumption that non-members are permitted to submit written materials for publication on the newsletter although members are probably preferred. There certainly is potential for LIS writers to expand the knowledge in the areas of library collections and technical services.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: ALCTS, as of 2018, has a membership of 3209, according to ALA Membership Statistics.16 However, the newsletter is open to anyone with access to the internet.17
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: ALCTS is a division of ALA, with a majority of its members located in the United States and smaller numbers in as many as 42 countries.18 ALCTS Newsletter is published in English19 and is written primarily for American librarians. It is an informal newsletter written for a more general audience of librarians with less jargon or scholarly terminology.20
Reader characteristics: No specific information could be located; however, since a majority of Library Resources & Technical Services readers are members of ALCTS, their characteristics would be similar: the majority work in academic and public libraries.21 Most members of ALCTS are particularly interested in collections and technical services, such as acquisitions, cataloging, metadata, collection management, preservation, electronic and continuing resources.22 Readers of this newsletter will have established opinions on library issues but are generally more interested in seeking scheduling information on workshops, seminars, etc. There is not much opportunity in this newsletter for sharing opinions or biases; short essays relevant to ALCTS might provide an opportunity for sharing values and attitudes on technical services functions.23
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: This is a highly informed and educated audience of technical services and collections librarians. They will have a full knowledge of library issues relating to cataloging, collections, preservation, and all the encompassing technical jargon.24
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
The readers of ALCTS Newsletter are interested in professional news. Authors would want to write short articles and reports relevant to ALCTS committee work, and other topics related to ALCTS, and have the skills necessary for writing book reviews on highly technical topics.
Last updated: March 15, 2020
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