About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice provides an opportunity for librarians in Pennsylvania to share their knowledge and experience with practicing librarians across Pennsylvania and beyond. Readers will be exposed to the unique and valuable work of librarians in Pennsylvania that may not be published elsewhere in the library literature. The journal includes articles from all areas of librarianship, and from all types of libraries within Pennsylvania. The journal will consider all submissions that report original research (research articles), highlight innovative initiatives (practice articles), or discuss current trends/challenges (editorial/commentary). Each issue will also feature news items (collections, services, awards, events, etc.) from Pennsylvania’s libraries.

Section Policies

Letter

Letters to the coeditors of Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice (PaLRaP) should address contributions, clarifications, or corrections to PaLRaP content. Letters should be specific about the topic in question and professional in tone.

The authors of previously published articles may be invited to respond to a letter-writer's concerns. The coeditors may also elect to respond to the letter-writer's concerns. These responses will be published along with the original letter to the coeditors.

Letters may be edited for length and for adherence to PaLRaP style.

Editors
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer Reviewed

Commentary

The commentary section of Pennsylvania Libraries: Research and Practice is dedicated to original and thoughtful discussions of current trends and/or challenges in all types of libraries. Preference will be given to those articles that have a special focus on Pennsylvania libraries. Topics discussed should be timely and relevant. Manuscripts should not exceed 2,500 words.

Essay / Commentary manuscripts will not be peer reviewed. However, they will be edited and fact checked and revisions may be requested. If outside expertise is needed, the editor will consult with others to ensure thorough editing of your article. Suggested graphics, photographs, and illustrations will also be reviewed to determine appropriateness. The article will not be published until authors have approved the final version.

Editors
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer Reviewed

Feature

Features are magazine- or journalistic-style articles that are more than substantial than news items but not as detailed as practice articles. They should focus on notable and unique library activities and initiatives that showcase, for example, outreach, programming, architecture/renovations, or other items of a topical nature. Feature manuscripts will not be peer reviewed. However, they will be edited and fact checked and revisions may be requested. If outside expertise is needed, the editor will consult with others to ensure thorough editing of your article. Suggested graphics, photographs, and illustrations will also be reviewed to determine appropriateness. The article will not be published until authors have approved the final version.

Editors
  • Stephanie Campbell
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer Reviewed

Research

Submissions should include reports of scholarly research in all areas of librarianship that provide insight to those who work in Pennsylvania libraries. Discussion of problems and issues, as well as descriptive or theoretical articles, may be accepted if they are based on evidence and data rather than unsupported personal opinion.
Examples might include, but are not limited to, research-based articles on library administration, library collections, library programs and services, information literacy, the effects of developing technology on libraries, and library design and construction. Submissions by Pennsylvania academic, public, school, or special librarians; library paraprofessionals; or graduate students are welcome and encouraged. Manuscripts should not exceed 7,000 words, should detail a systematic investigation of a well-defined question or problem, and should generally include headings for literature review, methods, results, and discussion/conclusion sections.

Editors
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer Reviewed

Practice

Articles should describe best practices of interest to academic libraries in Pennsylvania. Topics might include, but are not limited to, innovative programs and services; collaboration between academic libraries and public, school, or special libraries; reports of special projects; assessment activities; or detailed descriptions of successful instruction sessions. Articles written by academic, public, school, or special librarians, library paraprofessionals, and graduate students are welcome. Manuscripts should not exceed 7,000 words, and should include a brief literature review and/or survey of the broader landscape, clear but concise details of the project or topic being discussed, and recommendations for other libraries to follow.

Editors
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☑ Peer Reviewed

Interview

This section will feature interviews with individuals working in or around libraries in Pennsylvania. Please submit your suggestions for future interviews to the editors.

Editors
  • Stephanie Campbell
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer Reviewed

News

Use this form to submit news items.

Submissions should include: information about staffing changes (new hires, retirements, etc.), news about state or national awards/recognition to libraries or library staff, and news of events or new initiatives happening in Pennsylvania libraries that may be of interest to those outside of that institution. Items submitted should be a maximum of 300 words. The editor retains the right to edit news submissions for length and clarity.

Please do not submit requests to acquire/give away materials or equipment, advertisements for products, job advertisements, information about libraries outside of Pennsylvania, orinformation from other professional associations (unless it directly involves Pennsylvania librarians).

Editors
  • Annie Jansen
  • Kate Cummings
  • Roseanne Perkins
☑ Open Submissions ☑ Indexed ☐ Peer Reviewed

Peer Review Process

  • Research and Practice articles will be read by 2 reviewers. Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice uses a process of double-blind review in an effort to enhance quality and fairness. To the greatest extent possible the author will remain anonymous to the reviewer just as the reviewer will remain anonymous to the author. For invited works and submissions adapted from conference presentations a single blind process will be used where the reviewers are unknown to the author. When reviews are completed, the editor will contact the author with a decision to accept as is, accept with revisions, or reject.
  • Essay / Commentary manuscripts will not be peer reviewed. However, they will be edited and fact checked and revisions may be requested. If outside expertise is needed, the editor will consult with others to ensure thorough editing of your article. Suggested graphics, photographs, and illustrations will also be reviewed to determine appropriateness. The article will not be published until authors have approved the final version.
  • News, features, and letters to the coeditors will not be peer reviewed. Journal editors will select content for this section and may edit submissions for length and clarity.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content. Our publisher, the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, abides by the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition of Open Access:

“By “open access” to [peer-reviewed research literature], we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.”

Researchers engage in discovery for the public good, yet because of cost barriers or use restrictions imposed by other publishers, research results are not available to the full community of potential users. It is our mission to support a greater global exchange of knowledge by making the research published in this journal open to the public and reusable under the terms of a Creative Commons CC-BY license.

Furthermore, we encourage authors to post their pre-publication manuscript in institutional repositories or on their Web sites prior to and during the submission process, and to post the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version after publication. These practices benefit authors with productive exchanges as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

There are no article processing charges, submissions fees, or any other costs required of authors to submit articles to this journal.