Dr. Renée N. Jefferson, a lecturer at the San José State University School of Library and Information Science, has been named guest editor for a special issue of the New Review of Academic Librarianship, scheduled to appear in in July 2014. The theme for the issue will be “Action Research and the Academic Library Practitioner: Theories and Applications.”

Jefferson teaches LIBR-285 Research Methods in Library and Information Science with a focus on action research in the fully online Master of Library and Information Science program at the SJSU information school.

Special Issue Call for Papers
New Review of Academic Librarianship: “Action Research and the Academic Library Practitioner: Theories and Applications”

New Review of Academic Librarianship is an international journal that publishes reviews, research, critiques and exemplar case studies on substantive topics relevant to those providing library and information services to academic communities.

The themed issue for 2014 will be “Action Research and the Academic Library Practitioner: Theories and Applications” and will appear in July 2014. The journal is very fortunate to have Dr. Renée N. Jefferson as guest editor.

The intention will be to publish papers from academic library practitioners that describe action research conducted to improve policies, procedures, or practices within their libraries. Examples include:

• A reference librarian is planning to develop a technology policy.  A survey could be developed and distributed to reference librarians and instructional technology staff. The data collected would be used to develop the technology policy.
• An instruction librarian is planning to compare two instructional strategies. The strategies could be used with the same class on different occasions or with two different classes.  Data could be collected using focus group interviews. The information obtained would be used to improve instructional practices.

To be considered, please submit a summary of no more than 500 words describing what your paper will include (e.g., topic, participants, data collection instrument, and key results). Include the following information for all authors: name, institutional address, telephone number, and email address. 

Dr. Jefferson and Dr. Graham Walton will use these summaries to decide which should be developed as full papers. Acceptance notifications will be made by November 1, 2013.

Please submit your summary by email to Dr. Jefferson (renee.jefferson@citadel.edu) by Monday, September 30, 2013. The expectation is that the chosen papers will be submitted by mid-January 2014 when they will be peer reviewed.