{"id":2244,"date":"2024-03-24T19:11:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T19:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/?page_id=2244"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:31:26","slug":"the-active-librarian","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/is-publications\/is-scholarly-journals\/archived-is-scholarly-journal-profiles\/the-active-librarian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Active Librarian"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Publication analysis<\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>About the publication<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Title<\/strong>:\u00a0<em>The Active Librarian<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>ISSN<\/strong>: 2379-9528<sup class=\"footnote\">1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Website<\/strong>: Link is no longer accessible<\/p>\n<p><strong>Purpose, objective, or mission:\u00a0<\/strong><i>The Active Librarian (TAL)<\/i>\u00a0is devoted to publishing repeatable and data-driven initiatives in order to improve the services of public librarianship<i>.<\/i><sup class=\"footnote\">2<\/sup>\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0aims to become a centralized \u201crepository of best practices among public librarians for developing new services and enhancing existing ones.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">3<\/sup>\u00a0Its goal is to enhance the profession by publishing needed program analysis and assessment.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">4<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Target audience:\u00a0<\/strong>LIS professionals working in public libraries.<sup class=\"footnote\">5<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Publisher:\u00a0<\/strong>Michael J. Carlozzi.<sup class=\"footnote\">6<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Peer reviewed?\u00a0<\/strong>Yes.<sup class=\"footnote\">7<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Type:\u00a0<\/strong>LIS professional news.<sup class=\"footnote\">8<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Medium:<\/strong>\u00a0Online.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Content:\u00a0<\/strong>The publication reports on specific initiatives, services, programs, and protocols. Articles should provide concrete details about projects and programs so that other public libraries can use the information to develop, implement, or enhance their own services.<sup class=\"footnote\">9<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Frequency of publication:\u00a0<\/strong><i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0plans to publish one volume per year with nine issues; although the publishing schedule may be adjusted to meet supply and demand.<\/p>\n<h3>About the publication\u2019s submission guidelines<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Location of submission guidelines:<\/strong> Link is no longer accessible<\/p>\n<p><strong>Types of contributions accepted:\u00a0<\/strong>The journal seeks reports on public library initiatives, programs, or services\u2014for example, a recently adopted adult literacy program. Acceptable topics may include any library-related idea that can be generalized to and applied by other librarians\u2014for example, \u201cfostering an educational partnership, configuring credit card payments, developing a community \u2018make space,\u2019 writing a troubleshooting guide for Envisionware\u2019s Time Management service, becoming a passport processor.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">10<\/sup>\u00a0The journal\u2019s submission requirements emphasize articles of \u201cpractical application rather than theory-building or historicizing.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">11<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Submission and review process:\u00a0<\/strong>Submissions may not be previously published, or under consideration before other journals. All articles undergo a peer-review process (unless an article is solicited by an editor). The editors determine whether an article is appropriate for publication in\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>, after which the article is submitted to at least two referees in a blind process wherein the referees are anonymous to the authors. Submissions may be accepted, accepted with minor revisions, accepted with major revisions, or declined.<sup class=\"footnote\">12<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Editorial tone:\u00a0<\/strong>According to the journal\u2019s submission requirements: \u201c<i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0is a practical rather than academic journal.\u201d The tone should be professional but not overly academic, \u201ceasy to read but not juvenile.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">13<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The journal adheres to important practices of publishing original peer-reviewed work, but forgoes overly-rigid academic norms in order to emphasize application. A\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0article does not require a literature review, exhaustive references, or deep statistical analysis. However, an article must include a clear, direct explanation of a project or program so that may be replicated.<sup class=\"footnote\">14<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Style guide used:\u00a0<\/strong>APA.<sup class=\"footnote\">15<\/sup><\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion: Evaluation of publication\u2019s potential for LIS authors<\/h3>\n<p>The journal<i>\u00a0<\/i>presents a new opportunity for LIS professionals to share projects that have been implemented in a public library setting. (As of this writing, no issues have been published.) Authors need not be a public librarians to publish in\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>, but their work must be applicable to or done in partnership with public libraries. For example, academic librarians are encouraged to submit if their work can be generalized or applied to public librarianship, or if working in concert with public libraries.\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0intends to be a forum for professional exchange for projects that are best publicized widely and freely.<sup class=\"footnote\">16<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Audience analysis<\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>About the publication\u2019s readers<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Publication circulation:<\/strong>\u00a0The journal is entirely open access. According to an\u00a0ALA Library Fact Sheet, there are approximately 137,000 paid library staff in the United States.<sup class=\"footnote\">17<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Audience location and language or cultural considerations:\u00a0<\/strong>The editors are based in the United States, so it may be inferred that the audience will be primarily U.S.-based. However, international (non-American) submissions are also welcome.<sup class=\"footnote\">18<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Reader characteristics:\u00a0<\/strong>Expect that readers are well-acquainted with public library issues and trends. Readers will want to know how their libraries might benefit from the work other public libraries have done, and the features and steps to implement such efforts.<sup class=\"footnote\">19<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Knowledge of LIS subject matter:<\/strong>\u00a0As a professional publication, most readers will be familiar with issues relevant to public libraries such as outreach and marketing, technology demands, computer networking, digital literacy instruction, collection development, among other areas.<sup class=\"footnote\">20<\/sup><\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors<\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0<i>TAL\u00a0<\/i>website notes that \u201cpublic librarians typically do not readily enjoy professional development opportunities that other LIS professionals do. Unlike colleagues in academic positions, [public librarians] often cannot attend distant conferences or take sabbaticals, purchase expensive database subscriptions, limiting exposure to cutting-edge research; and many do not have time apportioned for pursuing large-scale research projects. But our work benefits from the same professional exchange as academic librarians; the patrons we serve are no less important, and our community outreach is arguably greater and more critical.\u201d<sup class=\"footnote\">21<\/sup>\u00a0If your library does something well and you want to share it,\u00a0<i>TAL<\/i>\u00a0provides an excellent forum for doing so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Last updated:<\/strong>\u00a0May 13, 2016<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>References<\/h4>\n<div id=\"footnotes-11802\" class=\"footnotes\">\n<ol>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-1\">\u00a0<em>The Active Librarian,\u00a0<\/em>Michael J. Carlozzi, accessed May 5, 2020,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-2\">The Active Librarian. (2016). Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-3\">The Active Librarian. (2016). Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-4\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-5\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-6\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Journal contact.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/contact<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-7\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-8\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-9\">The Active Librarian. (2016). Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-10\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-11\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-12\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-13\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Author guidelines.<\/i>\u00a0Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/submissions#authorGuidelines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/submissions#authorGuidelines<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-14\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-15\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Author guidelines.<\/i>\u00a0Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/submissions%22%20%5Cl%20%22authorGuidelines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/submissions#authorGuidelines<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-16\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-17\">American Library Association. (2016).\u00a0<em>Number Employed in Libraries:\u00a0<\/em><em>ALA Library Fact Sheet 2.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ala.org\/tools\/libfactsheets\/alalibraryfactsheet02\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.ala.org\/tools\/libfactsheets\/alalibraryfactsheet02<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-18\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies%22%20%5Cl%20%22focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-19\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies%22%20%5Cl%20%22focusAndScope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-20\">The Active Librarian. (2016).\u00a0<i>Focus and scope.\u00a0<\/i>Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies%22%20%5Cl%20%22focusAndScope\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/about\/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"fn-11802-21\">The Active Librarian. (2016). Retrieved from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/activelibrarians.com\/index.php\/tal\/index<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Publication analysis About the publication Title:\u00a0The Active Librarian ISSN: 2379-95281 Website: Link is no longer accessible Purpose, objective, or mission:\u00a0The Active Librarian (TAL)\u00a0is devoted to publishing repeatable and data-driven initiatives in order to improve the services of public librarianship.2\u00a0TAL\u00a0aims to become a centralized \u201crepository of best practices among public librarians for developing new services and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":772,"featured_media":0,"parent":2954,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2244","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3416,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2244\/revisions\/3416"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/infosci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}