Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association
ISSN: 0027-4380
Website: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/page/Notes
Purpose, objective, or mission: Notes is the journal of the Music Library Association. Since 1934, the journal has offered “its readers interesting, informative, and well-written articles in the areas of music librarianship, music bibliography and discography, the music trade, and on certain aspects of music history.”1
Target audience: Notes is the journal of the Music Library Association, whose members are “librarians, musicians, scholars, educators, and members of the book and music trades.”2 Members of the Music Library Association receive the journal in print and can access it online.
Publisher: Music Library Association, Middleton, Wisconsin.
Peer reviewed? Yes, double-blind peer review.3
Type: LIS scholarly journal.
Medium: Print and online.
Content: A Notes issue typically contains an editorial section; general articles on music and music librarianship; reviews of books, scores, periodicals, and new media; and newly cataloged books and recently issued music scores.4 Articles and reviews published in Notes are international in scope.
Frequency of publication: Quarterly.
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: Information for Contributors.
Types of contributions accepted: “Notes welcomes submissions of interesting, informative, and well-written articles on music librarianship, music bibliography, the music trade, and discography, and on certain aspects of music history.”5 The editor welcomes preliminary ideas and manuscript proposals.6 Unsolicited reviews are not accepted, but those who would like to become reviewers “are invited to send a curriculum vitae and a statement delineating their special areas of interest and competence to the appropriate editors.”7
Submission and review process: Articles should be submitted as an email attachment to the editor, Deborah Campana (deborah.campana@oberlin.edu). Manuscripts are first read by the editor for “general suitability” and then are subjected to a double-blind peer-review process. Once a submission is accepted, the author is informed of the conditions governing that acceptance.8
Editorial tone: Scholarly.
Style guide used: The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition).9 Journal-specific style requirements are delineated in the “Notes Style Sheet,” which is helpful, extensive, and “in continuous revision.” Furthermore, authors should consult the “Information for Contributors” in the most recent issue of Notes.10
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
As the quarterly journal of the Music Library Association, Notes clearly belongs to the library and information science literature. Music librarianship, however, is still largely the domain of librarians who are also scholars in the field of musicology–they have advanced degrees, teach, and publish in both disciplines. As such, publishing in Notes is only an option for LIS authors with a great deal of expertise in both librarianship and some area of musicology, such as music history, music theory, or the music trade. Being published in Notes would be a huge boost to the career of any LIS author, and it would be sure to impress almost any tenure committee.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: Each quarter, 1,150 print issues are mailed.11
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: Notes is the quarterly journal of the Music Library Association, which is the U.S. branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres; as such, the journal reaches an international audience. Based on the Music Library Association membership, the audience includes “librarians, musicians, scholars, educators, and members of the book and music trades.”12 The journal is published in English.
Reader characteristics: Readers are professional music librarians and archivists, as well as LIS professionals with an interest in music, from around the world. Further, the readership of Notes likely includes scholars and students in music, musicology, and related fields from outside the LIS professions.
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: Readers of this journal will have a professional knowledge of LIS, especially in terms of music librarianship and archival work.
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
Notes readers are a very educated group of people who typically have advanced degrees in both library science and musicology. It’s reasonable to assume that they expect a comparable expertise from the publication’s authors, so Notes is probably a venue that should be left for authors with that kind of background. Writers who do publish in Notes can assume that their readers are familiar with the terminology of both the music/musicology and LIS fields.
Last updated: February 14, 2018
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