Journal of Western Archives Seeks New Editor

The Journal of Western Archives is seeking a new managing editor. The managing editor is responsible for the overall quality of the intellectual content of the journal and works closely with the editorial board to ensure that the needs of the professional community (including the journal’s four regional sponsors) in the western United States are met. If you are interested in this position, please submit a CV and a letter of interest to journal director Gordon Daines at gordon_daines@byu.edu by Monday December 16th at 5:00 pm MST. The successful applicant will assume their duties on January 1st, 2020 and receive a yearly honorarium of $500.00. The initial term will be for three years with the opportunity to renew once.

Journal of Western Archives Editor
Job Description

The Editor is responsible for the overall quality of the intellectual content of the journal and for overseeing the review process to ensure it is thorough, fair, and timely. The Editor is responsible for upholding the mission and scope of the journal and for selecting papers that provide new, original, and important contributions to knowledge.

Responsibilities:

The Editor oversees the mission and scope of the journal in consultation with the journal director and the editorial board.
1. The Editor ensures that the papers published are consistent with the editorial mission.
2. The Editor works with the journal director and the editorial board to determine if thematic issues should be published. The Editor identifies and invites potential guest editors for these issues.
3. The Editor works with the technical editor/layout specialist to ensure that content is visually appealing and readable.
The Editor is responsible for overseeing the peer review process.
1. The Editor selects editorial board members to shepherd potential articles and case studies through the peer review process.
2. The Editor and assigned editorial board members will use the BePress platform to conduct the editorial review process.
3. The Editor will review the feedback from peer reviewers and the assigned editorial board member and will make the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles and case studies.
4. The Editor will ensure that the peer review process is completed in a timely way and that authors receive constructive feedback about papers submitted.
The Editor is responsible for overseeing the copyediting process
1. The Editor will work with the journal’s contract copyeditor to ensure that articles and case studies are copyedited in a timely fashion.
2. The Editor has final authority on all copyediting decisions.
The Editor will seek opportunities to promote the journal.
1. The Editor will seek to speak at conferences and other events about the purpose and values of the journal, inviting potential contributors to consider submitting papers to the journal.
2. The Editor will encourage editorial board members to speak at conferences and other events about the purpose and values of the journal, inviting potential contributors to consider submitting papers to the journal.

Qualifications:

Required

Excellent oral and written communications skills
Must have the technical capacity to work in a fully electronic environment
Experience in conducting and writing research, sufficient to enable the individual to solicit and select research that will result in a high-quality publication that addresses the diverse interest of the readership
Dynamic, self-motivated individual
Ability to delegate
Strong organizational skills
Ability to set and meet firm deadlines
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a team environment

Preferred

Experience with the peer review process as both a peer reviewer and an author
Membership in one of the four sponsoring regional associations (Conference of Intermountain Archivists, Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists, the Society of California Archivists, or the Northwest Archivists, Inc.
Familiarity with and ability to use the Chicago Manual of Style

Call for Participation: Research Project/Survey on Accessioning

Hello!

My name is Meaghan O’Riordan and I’m the Accessioning Archivist at Emory’s Rose Library. I’m collaborating with Rosemary K. J. Davis, Accessioning Archivist at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, on a long-term research project focused on archival accessioning. We’re interested in making accessioning work more visible in every way, primarily by illuminating the sorts of labor and relationships required in order to steward archival collections during the initial phases of acquisition and accessioning. We want to ground our research in the firsthand experiences of people directly involved in this work.

To that end, we have crafted a survey that collects information and experiences related to the intellectual, emotional, and physical labors involved in archival accessioning.

https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0Vza9JzfyNvQSZ7

Developing a better understanding of how repositories define and navigate accessioning is crucial to performing special collections stewardship that is rooted in transparency and mutual trust between all parties, and ultimately results in richer archival description, faster processing of materials, and greater access for researchers. What’s more, raising the visibility of individuals performing accessioning work will hopefully contribute to the creation of an empathetic and engaged community of practice, while also making this work’s value more readily apparent throughout archival profession.

This survey will be open through December 20, 2019.

We encourage you to give yourself plenty of time to give specific and thoughtful answers. We’re interested in collecting information about the nuts and bolts of accessioning work, but we also want to hear about how this work is valued, how individuals navigate the complexities involved in their work, and how a more supportive community of practice might emerge.

Thank you all for your time and feel free to reach out to us with questions: accessioningresearch@gmail.com.

Meaghan O’Riordan
Accessioning Archivist
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library

Rosemary K. J. Davis
Accessioning Archivist
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Call for Book Chapter Proposals: Learning in Action: Designing Successful Graduate Student Work Experiences in Academic Libraries

Call for Book Chapter Proposals

Working title: Learning in Action: Designing Successful Graduate Student Work Experiences in Academic Libraries

Proposal submission deadline: January 27th, 2020

Editors: Arianne Hartsell-Gundy (Duke University), Kim Duckett (Duke University), Sarah Morris (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill)

Publisher: Association of College & Research Libraries

Chapter proposals are invited for Learning in Action: Designing Successful Graduate Student Work Experiences in Academic Libraries, a book examining how academic librarians can best support interns, graduate assistants, and practicum and field experience students (both LIS and other fields). We welcome proposals focused on philosophical perspectives, practical strategies, reflective essays, and/or case studies. In addition to contributions from staff working in academic libraries, we welcome contributions from LIS faculty and current and recent graduate students.

Proposals are sought for chapters related to the following themes. Proposals should be between 250-300 words, and final chapters will be between 3000-4000 words.

Preparing Graduate Students for Professional Roles

This section will explore how internships, assistantships, practicums, and field experiences can support the learning of graduate students in order to help readers consider how these programs benefit graduate students and how they might want to structure such learning experience in their institutions. We hope to see explorations of skill-based training and discussions of how to most effectively mentor graduate students through hands-on work.