ACRL International Perspectives on Academic and Research Libraries Discussion Group

The co-editors of Libraries: Culture, History, and Society seek a Managing Editor, who will also serve on the journal's Board of Associate Editors. 

Libraries: Culture, History, and Society (LCHS) is the official peer-reviewed journal of the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association. It aims to study libraries within their broader historical, humanistic, and social contexts. In addition to Library Science, the journal welcomes contributors from History, English, Literary Studies, Sociology, Education, Gender/Women's Studies, Race/Ethnic Studies, Political Science, Architecture, Anthropology, Philosophy, Geography, Economics, and other disciplines. The only journal in the United States devoted to library history, LCHS positions library history as its own field of scholarship, while promoting innovative cross-disciplinary research on libraries' relationships with their unique environments.

The Managing Editor will serve a term of two years, with the option to renew. This is a  remote volunteer position with regular virtual meetings with the co-editors.

Responsibilities:

The Managing Editor of LCHS will be responsible for the following, in approximate order of importance:

• Working with our submissions platform, Editorial Manager, to prepare submissions for the co-editors, to assist authors in using the platform, to track the status of submissions, to send reminders about outstanding peer reviews, to inform authors as to the status of their submissions, and to compile reports about the number of submissions and acceptance rates.
• Coordinating communication and meetings among the editors and editorial boards.
• Assisting and monitoring promotion of LCHS by preparing text and images for issue email, web, and social media communications.
• Assisting the co-editors and authors in finding available and appropriate illustrations for accepted articles.

Required qualifications:

• Attention to detail and deadlines.
• Familiarity with scholarly journals and the basics of the peer-review process.
• Knowledge of Editorial Manager and/or a high comfort-level with learning new software systems.
• Familiarity with MS Word and Excel and other editorial management tools.
• A strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness as expressed in the LCHS DEI Statement and Action Plan (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WwMbUDEIvp7Z0XT05ZQRsl6NVYESrhWbf3oPZSsDSmQ/edit#heading=h.xp7f2y22wzks).
• A strong commitment to mentoring authors.

Desired qualifications:

• Awareness of LCHS as a significant journal in the field.
• Awareness of the field of library history.
• Awareness of the field of bibliographical study.
• Strong writing skills.
• Ability to meet deadlines.

Please apply by email to the co-editors, Dr. Nicole Cooke (NCOOKE@mailbox.sc.edu) and Dr. Carol Leibiger (c.leibiger@usd.edu), including a declaration of interest, a description of your editorial experience and qualifications for the position, and a statement of the contributions you hope to make to LCHS. Please also include the names of three references that can attest to your qualifications for this position.

We will start reviewing nominations immediately. The position will be open until it is filled, with an aim to have the successful candidate begin work in January 2025.

Dr. Nicole Cooke and Dr. Carol Leibiger, LCHS Co-Editors