A poster session for the 2009 Pacific Northwest Library Association annual conference in Missoula, Montana, USA. It describes the process of creating and maintaining open access e-journals, using the PNLA Quarterly and Library Philosophy and Practice as examples

1. Creating and Maintaining an
Open-Access E-journal:
Library Philosophy and Practice
and The PNLA Quarterly
Mary K Bolin, PhD
Professor and Chair, Technical Services
University Libraries
University of Nebraska--Lincoln
Lincoln NE 68588-4100
Gail Z Eckwright
Humanities Librarian, Professor
Library
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho 83843
PNLA Annual Conference Poster Session
August 7, 2009
Missoula, Montana

2. LPP
Library Philosophy and Practice
LPP has published approximately 300
articles
LPP homepage
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/lpp.htm
•Peer-reviewed electronic journal
•Founded in 1998 at the University of
Idaho Library by Mary Bolin and Gail
Eckwright.
•broad spectrum of topics in library
and information science.
•Strong international presence
•Contributors from the US, India,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran,
Malaysia, and Turkey.

3. Visitors to LPP site

4. Readers in many countries

5. We started small and grew
In 1998, LPP had 3
articles in each of two
yearly issues
Contributions from
India, Nigeria, and
other countries began
in about 2000 and
grew rapidly
• That number grew
gradually larger

6. 2007- annual cumulative volume
Semi-annual issue
became
unworkable
In 2007, LPP began
to publish articles
continuously
throughout the
year.
• Web users expect frequent
updates
• Too many articles to
publish at once
• Concept of “volume” and
“issue” not as important
with an e-journal

7. What you need to create an e-journal
Server space
Software
Editors
Peer reviewers
• LPP resides in 3 places
• Idaho
• Nebraska
• Nebraska institutional repository
• html
• pdf
• ftp

8. Good to have
Listserv:
RSS feed
Stat counters
•Your institution may have listserv
system
•Set up a free one using Google or
Yahoo
• LPP uses mysitefeed.com
• Add RSS code to each page
• LPP uses statcounter.com
free version
• Add stat counter code to
each page

9. Process: Communicate with authors
Editorial board members serve as
reviewers, as do others who are
invited to do peer review
Editorial board has been
assembled from LPP authors in
various countries, and others who
have an interest in the journal

10. Process: Communicate with authors
Peer review cycle
Reviewers receive manuscript
with no identification of
author(s)
Editor communicates with
author
Editor schedules accepted
papers for publication
• Reviewers use a
standard form
• Make recommendation:
• accept, revise, reject

11. Revision cycle
Author submits
Author submits revised
version
Revised versions that are
accepted are scheduled
for publication by the
editor
• Peer reviewer
recommends revision
• Editor asks author to revise
• Editor accepts
• Editor sends for another
peer review
• Editor rejects

12. Editing and publication
Monthly schedule
of accepted papers
Copyediting
FTP to websites
• Add to tables of
contents
• Html version
• Pdf version
• Send message to
listserv
• Create RSS feed entry

13. Publicizing new articles
Listserv
Facebook
Special issues
• Libraries and Google 2007
• Iranian Medical Library
Student Association 2009

14. PNLA Quarterly
Read about the history of PNLA and
of the Quarterly in this awesome
article by Linda Frederiksen:
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/PNLA%20
Quarterly/frederiksen73-4.htm

15. From Print to Electronic
PNLA Quarterly made a gradual
change from print to e-journal
In Spring 2009, the PNLA Board
made the decision to make the
Quarterly an e-only journal.
The new Quarterly has a website
with tables of contents and links to
individual articles in html and pdf,
and a pdf of the whole issue.
Quarterly homepage
http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/PNLA%20Quarterly/pnlaq-
home.htm
•An interim step was to have a
pdf of the printed issue on the
PNLA website
•Printing and mailing costs for
any print journal are
significant
•A pdf of the whole issue is
also available on the PNLA
organizational website.
•PNLA homepage
http://www.pnla.org

16. Editing and publication process:
Software:
Both LPP and PNLAQ are
produced using DreamWeaver
Sites are designed to be
readable, attractive, and easy-
to-navigate.
Each site has a "favicon" that
appears in the address bar.
•Use any html editor that suits you.
•Colors are consistent.
•Articles are centered on the page
with wide margins for legibility.

17. Pages and files created: PNLAQ
Homepage
Individual
articles
• Available issues
• Instructions for submitting
articles
• Information about PNLA
• Tables of contents
• links to html and pdf versions of
articles
• pdf of entire issue

18. Pages and files created: LPP
Homepage
Tables of
contents
Individual
articles
• links to available issues
• list of all articles
• instructions for submitting articles
• editorial board members
• RSS feeds
• istserv signup.
• links to html and pdf versions of articles

19. What skills are needed?
Copyediting
Html/web design
Pdfs for downloading and printing
Publicity
Author relations
•Never utilize use "utilize”
•Always use “use”
• Seek advice
• Use common sense
• Think of your own user experience
• Keep it simple
• Redesign when necessary.
• Explore new features and ideas.
• listserv
• RSS
• Facebook, etc.
•mentoring

20. Benefits
Participation in
an international
community of
colleagues
Learning
opportunities
• It can be
lifechanging to
feel that you have
friends in Iran.
• Software
• Editing
• Article topics

21. What should you do?
Submit to the
electronic
PNLA Quarterly
Submit to LPP
• Deadlines are Oct 1,
January 1, April 1, July 1
• Submit to
mbolin2@unl.edu
(PNLAQ)
• Any time!
• Mary:
mbolin2@unl.edu (LPP)
• Gail:
gze@uidaho.edu
(LPP)