Library Instruction Round Table Manual

LIRT GUIDE TO PUBLISHING

This guide outlines the steps an ALA Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Committee should take to publish a document.

Any committee planning on publishing should notify the President of LIRT and the LIRT Steering Committee of its intent to publish. At that time, the originating committee, in conjunction with the Steering Committee, will decide if the document should be a LIRT publication or an ALA publication. A document whose audience is mainly LIRT members and others interested in library instruction is usually published by LIRT with the help of ALA and its LIRT Liaison Officer. Such a document would usually be less than 100 pages with simple style and graphics requirements.

If the document is to be published by LIRT, the committee then chooses from the following methods of publication:

Publishing Printed LIRT Documents
STEP 1: Prepare the Document
In addition to the main text, the document should include the following elements:
  • Cover
    The cover can be designed by the committee members and produced with desktop publishing; or the committee can send a sketch of the cover to the LIRT Liaison Officer and ALA will then create a cover.

  • Include the LIRT logo on the cover. The LIRT logo is available through ALA. Camera-ready copies of the logo in various sizes can be requested from the Liaison. The logo can then be scanned by committee members for use with their software. The logo can also be cut and pasted on the manuscript, or the committee can simple indicate the location of the logo on manuscripts sent to the Liaison.
     

  • Title Page
    The title page should include:
    • Title
    • Author -- Round Table name, Committee name, and members' names
    • Publisher, place, and date
    • LIRT logo
    • Copyright information -- Any item published by an ALA unit will be copyrighted in the name of ALA. The committee should send two copies of the document to the Liaison who will handle the copyright process with the Library of Congress. The Round Table must pay the fee. The copyright notice -- 8 1992 by the American Library Association -- should be placed on the title page or the verso, printed in not less than 8-point type.
       
  • ISBN
    The LIRT Liaison Officer will get the ISBN for the committee. The ISBN should be printed below the copyright notice.
     
  • Table of Contents
     
  • References
Maintain a uniform citation format (e.g. MLA) throughout the document.
In preparing the document, the committee has a choice of two options:
Option 1: Create an edited manuscript.
An edited manuscript can be sent to the LIRT Liaison Officer for final layout and graphic enhancements. The manuscript may be typed or word-processed. ALA can design, style and typeset on their equipment. The committee will be charged ALA's standard production staff costs plus 10.%. The committee should request an estimate from their LIRT Liaison Officer to be sure its budget will cover the costs.

The committee should indicate on the manuscript stylistic and graphic enhancements such as compressed or expanded fonts, lines or boxes, or tables. ALA will accept a file on floppy disk. It should be straight text; do not include graphics. The Committee should discuss software compatibility with the LIRT Liaison Officer.

Allow 4-5 weeks for ALA to typeset, proofread, and correct the edited manuscript. Allow an additional 2 weeks minimum if the committee wants ALA to design the document. If the design is complicated, allow an additional 5-6 weeks. Ask the LIRT Liaison Officer for a proof for the committee's examination. Allow an additional 1-2 weeks if approval of a proof is desired.

Option 2: Create camera-ready copy.
Camera-ready copy is text and graphics clear enough to be photographed by the printer's camera.  The resulting photographic negatives are used for the reproduction of the publication.  Camera-ready copy has the appearance of the final product.  It is essential that the copy be of high quality. 

Usually, individual committee members will be writing text on their own.  Then the individual files or documents will be merged into a single document.  Committee members should discuss at the beginning which word processing programs will be used so that plans can be made to convert or retype incompatible files.  The LIRT Electronic Resources Manager can provide expertise in the areas of data file creation, maintenance, and conversion.

In creating the initial documents with wordprocessing software, do not use graphics such as italics, bold face, compressed or expanded fonts, or lines or boxes.  These may not be compatible with the desktop publishing software used for the final product.  It is more efficient to create graphics with the desktop publishing system.  However, committee members should indicate on the hard copy what graphic enhancements are needed.

In creating camera-ready copy, there are several aspects of style, typography, and graphic design to be taken into consideration.  For example, margins should be consistent, or varied as needed for good aesthetic reasons.  All pages should be the same size.  Headings, type faces and fonts, rules, boxes, shadings, columns, and borders should be consistent throughout the document.  Discuss details such as use of capitalization, numerals, and centering.  The committee may want to refer to desktop publishing guides for more information on the basics.

Print the final version on the document with a laser printer.  Although committee members may not personally own a laser printer, all effort should be made to have documents to be duplicated printed with a laser printer.  The clarity and quality of reproduction is well worth the effort to ensure true camera-ready copy.

The committee should send an 8-10 page sample to the LIRT Liaison Officer for advice on whether the copy is actually camera-ready or if improvements need to be made.  This should be done as early as possible.  For example, if the final copy needs to be submitted by November 1, the sample should be sent by mid-September.

STEP 2:  Submit for publication and distribution.
Submit a paper copy of the document to the LIRT Executive Board for approval before publication.  Determine number of copies to print.  ALA can give advice through the Liaison.  The Steering Committee can also advise.  Be conservative.  Reprints can always be done as needed.  ALA recommends limiting copies to 250-300, perhaps 500.

Send the document to the Liaison.  Allow a minimum of 8 weeks for ALA to produce the cover, reproduce, and distribute to the ALA store. For example, a document should be submitted to ALA by November 1 in order for it to be available for sale at Midwinter.

Documents published by LIRT Committee members or by ALA will be made available for sale in the ALA Store.  All arrangements including shipping, accounting, and inventory are made by the LIRT Liaison Officer.

STEP 3:  Publicize.
Send information about the document to the LIRT Public Relations Coordinator who will handle all arrangements.  Also send information to the LIRT News.  Order blanks can be published in the newsletter.


Publishing in the LIRT News

The LIRT newsletter, Library Instruction Round Table News, should be considered as an option for publishing some types of communications.  Frequently included are: short articles of a practical nature on library instruction in all types of libraries; announcements of upcoming events and conferences; calls for papers and poster sessions; specific questions that invite response from readers; book and article reviews; and publicity for publications and other products created by LIRT.

Refer to the LIRT News Guidelines for additional information.


Publishing as web-based materials

Some documents may be most useful as online materials, such as web pages, PDFs (Adobe Acrobat documents), or interactive applications. This option may be considered for organized lists of links, handouts, tutorials or searchable files.

Consult with the LIRT Electronic Resources Manager before creating web-based materials for LIRT.

LIRT committees may also choose to contribute their ideas and announce their publications on ILI-L (Information Literacy Instruction Listserv, ILI-L@ala.org) or LIRT-L (LIRT-L@baylor.edu) listservs. For more information about these listservs, refer to the LIRT-L or ILI-L web pages.

Publishing through ALA

If the Steering Committee decides that the document should be published by ALA rather than by LIRT, the Committee should write a proposal outlining the purpose and intended audience.  ALA will evaluate the proposal, and if they are interested, they will write a proposal to LIRT, estimate the royalties, and assume all costs.

ALA has the "right of first refusal;" that is, all LIRT documents not published by LIRT itself must be submitted to ALA Publishing Services first.  Then, if ALA declines to publish, the document may be offered to a commercial publisher.

Prepared by the LIRT Publications Committee, 1992:
Karen Daniel Dyson (Chair), Paul Frantz, Molly E. Molloy, Barbara Pilvin.
Slightly revised by Stephanie Michel, 2005.

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Contact Billie Peterson-Lugo (Billie_Peterson@baylor.edu) about these pages.
Last Updated: Content: 5 June 2006 -- Billie Peterson-Lugo; Graphics: 15 April 2001-- Jana Ronan