The Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy (https://journals.ala.org/index.php/jifp) seeks a volunteer Book Review Assistant Editor, located in the Chicago, IL area. Location is essential as books are sent to and managed out of the American Library Association main office in central Chicago. This is a great opportunity for someone looking to gain service and experience in the profession while aiding the cause of intellectual freedom.
Duties would include the following:
- Liaise with publishers to request books for review. Using a variety of tools, identify relevant publishers and contact them to request review copies of books pertinent to the journal and its readership. A good knowledge of the journal's scope, book review purpose and readership is needed to select relevant titles as well as knowledge of relevant publishing resources (publishers in this and related fields).
- Develop spreadsheet to track books and publishers. Serving as a liaison to publishers requires a system/spreadsheet to track potential books, forthcoming publication dates, books requested, publisher contacts (email address and contact person), date received, assigned reviewer, assigned date/vol/issue for the review, date received by reviewer and publisher follow-up etc.
- Recruit and assign book reviewers. Recruit via various methods (listservs, networks via LinkedIn, social media associations, previous authors published works, at conferences etc.); recruitment will be coordinated and shared with senior editor. Establish deadlines for book reviews and communicate with reviewers to ensure timely submissions. Develop spreadsheet for tracking books sent, reviewers, reviews received, deadlines, etc.
Important Skills
- Time management/organizational skills. Coordinate the book review workflow to publish reviews in a timely manner; maintain database of reviewers; track communications with publishers and reviewers; track book requests, shipping and review deadlines.
- Ability to problem solve. Resolve shipping issues, late reviews; plan for deadlines.
- Interpersonal/communication skills. Ability to contact, liaise with book publishers to coordinate book requests; communicate with potential book reviewers; work with reviewers and editorial team.
- Written communication skills. Correspond professionally with publishers, reviewers, and the JIFP editorial team and board.
- Technical/computer skills. Familiarity with social media; skill with Google Sheets and/or Excel.
- Research skills. Good knowledge of journal's subject and scope and relevant publishing resources (publishers in this field) to identify and select new titles for review.
Send a resume and cover letter to Shannon Oltmann, editor of JIFP, at shannon.oltmann@uky.edu by June 5. Please indicate in the cover letter or resume/c.v. that you are located in the Chicago area.
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Shannon Oltmann
Associate Professor
School of Information Science, University of Kentucky
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