Instructions for Guest Editors
As Guest Editor, you are an important part of our Association's mission to keep Oregon librarians and library staff aware of current trends, best practices and cutting edge ideas affecting their work. There are a multitude of possibilities for thematic issues. To avoid duplication, look at the OLAQ Archive to see what topics have been covered in the past.
Guest Editors should be current OLA members. If you are interested in editing an issue, email the OLAQ Coordinator to volunteer and suggest a theme.
Background on OLAQ
From 1952 - 1994, the Association's main publication was the Oregon Library News (0030-4735) which was published on a monthly basis. In 1995, this publication split into the OLA Hotline (1097-8119) and the OLA Quarterly (1093-7374). The OLA Quarterly (OLAQ) is the Association's journal and is published four times a year. It is offered as a benefit of membership to approximately 1,000 individuals and institutions. As of the Winter 2009 issue, the OLAQ is only available in an online format, accessible via the OLA Web site. It is no longer printed and mailed.
OLAQ is indexed by Library Literature & Information Science and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Full text of the OLAQ is also available through HW Wilson's Library Literature and Information Science Full Text and EBSCO Publishing's Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) with Full Text.
OLA retains nonexclusive electronic representation and distribution rights to OLAQ contents. OLA reserves the right to re-use text, photos and artwork in subsequent OLAQ issues, with notification to the submitters, if possible. Otherwise, all rights revert to the authors.
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The Editor's Role
Your role as Guest Editor is to create the thematic vision for an issue and assemble a collection of articles that will communicate the theme to a spectrum of people involved with Oregon libraries. Don't be afraid to aim high or to consult non–library sources. For example, if you are editing an issue on children's learning styles, contact professors of education or developmental psychology about contributing articles. While many authors are OLA members, that is not a requirement.
Guest Editor duties include:
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Familiarizing yourself with deadlines in the Publication Schedule, the Instructions for Guest Editors, and the Instructions for Authors. Contact the OLAQ Coordinator with any questions. S/he is your resource throughout the process.
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Soliciting articles on your theme by putting out a call for article proposals in the OLA Hotline and by making direct contact with potential authors or others that can suggest authors for your theme.
- You may also have ideas for complementary advertising, especially from vendors that might not normally advertise in OLAQ, but whose products are related to your theme. Contact the Ad Coordinator with suggestions for advertisers well in advance of the publication date.
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Communicating deadlines and article length requirements to your authors and directing them to read the Instructions for Authors. If you or your authors cannot meet the deadlines, please advise the OLAQ Coordinator and the Designer as soon as possible so they can work with you to renegotiate them.
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Contacting authors at least one month before the final article submission deadline with a courtesy reminder. You might also offer to look at drafts.
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Writing an Introduction for the issue of about 500-1000 words outlining your vision. You may also wish to contribute an article for the issue.
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When articles are received, editing for clarity and style requirements. Format and layout are handled by the Designer.
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Determining a title for the issue and creating a table of contents.
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Submitting edited articles to the OLAQ Coordinator one to two weeks before the final deadline. This serves as a quick check that the overall issue length and editing is on track before submitting it to the Designer.
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Submit all content (title, table of contents, introduction, articles, and associated graphic/image files) to the Designer on time.
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Reviewing PDF file proofs from the Designer. To avoid confusion, it is recommended that you compile a list of edits/changes in one Word document, or email, to send to the Designer. Another option is to handwrite edits on proof, scan, and send to Designer as PDF. It is likely you will review two to three proofs before the issue is finalized.
- Enjoying the fruits of your labor!
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Layout and Article Lengths
The Designer handles the layout, but you will work closely to coordinate the content with the space. Different concepts may have different graphical requirements, so plan ahead for the type of issue that you are editing.
OLAQ layout considerations:
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OLAQ has a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 28 pages available for content (TOC, introduction, articles, graphics, and advertisements). There are four additional pages for the front/back cover.
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A text-only page holds about 500-600 words (without pictures or headers). Sidebars can be a way to gain more space for content and work well for things like tips, "top ten" lists, and short bibliographies. Sidebars should be submitted as separate files that have descriptive filenames, such as sidebar1_articlexyz, sidebar2_articlexyz, etc.
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Headlines displace between 50 and 120 words of text.
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Single column illustrations or advertisements take up about 40 words per inch of height; double that for double-column illustrations.
- Provisions can be made for supplementary materials to appear as additional links on the OLA Web site when they cannot fit into the physical limits of the print issue. However, these materials must meet the criteria of offering added value to original articles. Examples are extended interviews, raw data, further reading, etc. Refer to these items in the Introduction and at the end of affected articles to alert readers to the supplementary materials. Supplementary materials will not be formatted by the Designer or included in full text content supplied to HW Wilson and Ebsco.
Article lengths:
Based on layout considerations, these are guidelines to help estimate article lengths.
- The introduction to the issue should fall in the 500-1000 word range (1-2 OLAQ pages).
- Articles should fall into the 1000-2500 word range (2-4 OLAQ pages). Often OLAQ issues have five to ten articles of varying lengths.
Tips for creating a document:
- Don't worry about the fonts you use. They will be changed to standard OLAQ fonts.
- Use a single column only.
- When creating tabular material, use tabs, not spaces, to align items.
- Don't incorporate graphics into your documents; these should be provided separately (refer to Artwork and Graphics).
- Please do not submit Microsoft Publisher files.
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Style Guides
For article content, use the punctuation and grammar rules in the Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (2009), published by the Associated Press. The one exception is that we use a comma before the last item in a series to insure clarity (e.g., red, white, and blue).
For formatting references choose one of the main styles (APA, Chicago, or MLA) and use that style for the entire issue. Please let your authors know which one you have chosen. For Chicago style, please use the author-date system (in-text citations), rather than using footnotes/endnotes. This system is described in Chapter 16.4 of the Chicago Manual of Style.
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Artwork and Graphics
Somewhere between total use of all images in any publication and total prohibition against using any images lies, well, Calvin Klein and other registered trademarks. A good copyright source is at Stanford University, where you can find links to discussions of major copyright issues and information on appropriate documentation.
Do not incorporate graphics directly into your word processor documents. The Designer will integrate the text and images using their own software. If you want to associate an image with a particular passage in your article, add the sentence "Insert Image N about here" (where N is a specific number). Set that sentence off by itself, as in:
Insert Image 1 about here
The Designer will place the image based on the text flow and page layout, so only an approximate location is needed.
Please do not submit Microsoft Publisher files.
If you have any questions regarding the graphic formats, please contact the Designer.
If you would like artwork or CDs returned to you, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (see address in Submitting Files section). Your materials will be returned upon publication.
Photographic material:
Please send original black & white or color photographs if possible. Include a detailed caption that clearly indicates what is going on and who is in the picture. Write your caption(s) on separate paper, not on the back of the photographs.
If digital photos are submitted, please submit them at a minimum of 300 dpi at full size (3 inches wide at minimum). Please include a caption in the email and indicate which article the photo goes with and the area in the article where you would like it to be placed.
Line art:
Supply a clean copy of the artwork (preferably an original). Remember, the better quality illustration you supply, the better it will appear in the publication. Include a detailed caption that clearly indicates the purpose of the illustration.
The Designer can scan images for you, however if digital art is submitted, please submit line art at 1200 dpi in grayscale. Please include a caption in the email and indicate which article the image goes with and the area in the article where you would like it to be placed.
Computer art:
Please state the application that created the image (e.g., FreeHand, Photoshop) and indicate the file type (e.g., TIFF, EPS). If your computer-generated art includes any text, please convert the type to paths in the original illustration. Also include the phone number of the person to contact with any questions regarding the image provided. Please include a caption in the email and indicate which article the image goes with and the area in the article where you would like it to be placed.
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Submitting Files to the Designer
Email files to the Designer. Attach Word documents and graphics files to a brief email describing the attachments. If files are too large to successfully email, then they can be mailed to the Designer on a CD or flash drive. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope to have materials returned to you upon publication.
Mailing Address:
Tobias Weiss Design
7345 SW Deerhaven Drive
Corvallis, OR 97333
Phone: 541.738.1897
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Last revised September 4, 2011
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