- Email: [email protected]
Lapt: Filling the void and bridging the gap
Library
Acquisitions:
Practice
and
Theory.
Vol. 1, PP. l-2
(1977).
Pergamon Press
Printed in U.S.A.
LAPT: FILLING THE VOID AND BRIDGING THE GAP SCOTT R. BULLARD Editor-in-Chief
A good editorial answers six questions, namely, Why? What? How? Who? When? and Where? If one is able to form the answers in a language compelling yet precise, provocative yet factual, and elegant yet incisive, then one may justifiably think of oneself as Pulitzer Prize material. Typing this, the fourteenth draft of my editorial, I am all too aware that I will not have to worry about preparing an acceptance speech for any such transcendent feat of journalism. Still, I have managed to answer all six questions - no mean feat nowadays, when most of us involved in library acquisitions consider ourselves very fortunate to get even one straight answer to the myriad questions assaulting us everyday! Thus . . .
Why? I have spoken to many of you - librarians, both professional
and paraprofessional; library during the months since I first began work on Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory. Usually, your first question to me has been, “Why, in this era of dwindling library budgets, should we consider yet another journal title”? It’s such a good question that I think it should be answered first. Money is tight today. Let me begin, then, with what I consider an indisputable fact: Any scientific regimen, be it nuclear physics or library acquisitions, must be grounded on a broad practical and theoretical base, if it is to properly grow and evolve. Moreover, I contend that, because of the rapid changes taking place in most scientific regimens nowadays, such a broad base must necessarily be largely composed of information disseminated through journals - by the time a lengthly scientific treatise appears in print, much of its information is out-of-date. Prior to LAPT, the journals disseminating information about library acquisitions felI into two distinct categories: (1) those devoted to only one facet of library acquisitions, e.g. serials; and (2) those which covered library acquisitions, along with other topics, necessarily sacrificing depth of coverage for breadth. Each of those two types is, within its “Aims and Scope,” useful to persons involved in tibrary acquisitions, but neither is capable of serving as the broad base which the study of library acquisitions needs. Rather, a vehicle is needed for library acquisitions which can serve as an assimilating medium, i.e. a “melting-pot” in which all the different types of library acquisitions (books and serials, in academic, public, and school Iibraries; government documents; gifts and exchanges; school
students;
and booksellers
-
2
SCOTT
R. BULLARD
microforms; rare books; et al.) and all the different types of persons involved (professionals, paraprofessionals, students, and booksellers) can be amalgamated.
in the field
LAPT is that unique vehicle. What? The journal’s title was, decidedly, not chosen at random. It’s obvious that it should have been called Library Acquisitions. Less obvious, though possibly more significant, is the subtitle - Practice precedes Theory. A broad informational base is composed not only of the concepts of the cloistered theoretician, but also of the practical ideas of library acquisitions persons on-the-job. Thus, though LAPT will, by no means, exclude purely theoretical articles, our emphasis is firstly placed on the practical aspects of library acquisitions. How? All articles received have been reviewed initially by three professional librarians. Their comments have been considered by the Editor-in-Chief and his Editors, and he has made the final decision whether to publish, based on those inputs. Who ? As indicated by the selective bibliography Mollie Arthur and I present herein, LAPTS Editorial Board was chosen only after a pain-staking search of the literature of library acquisitions. Moreover, the opinions of the Editorial Board have been complemented by opinions of the Editor’s Advisory Board. Paraprofessionals especially skilled in both librarianship and journalism have also been consulted, and we are already in the process of soliciting thoughts and ideas from library school students. When? As you can see, LAPT has brought
out its first quarterly
issue in January,
1977.
Where? Pergamon Press, of Elmsford, New York, is also dedicated to bringing a broad base to library acquisitions. Like us, they realize the importance of “getting back to the basics of library acquisitions.” So, as you see, six questions have been asked, and six answered. If your editor has performed his task well, the six answers lead, inevitably, to but one conclusion: Though library acquisitions has not, heretofore, had a vehicle specifically designed to bring all its disparate subfields and persons together, it has one now - LAPT. Or, put another way: With the void in our literature finally filled, the gaps between us are now more easily bridged.
Acquisitions:
Practice
and
Theory.
Vol. 1, PP. l-2
(1977).
Pergamon Press
Printed in U.S.A.
LAPT: FILLING THE VOID AND BRIDGING THE GAP SCOTT R. BULLARD Editor-in-Chief
A good editorial answers six questions, namely, Why? What? How? Who? When? and Where? If one is able to form the answers in a language compelling yet precise, provocative yet factual, and elegant yet incisive, then one may justifiably think of oneself as Pulitzer Prize material. Typing this, the fourteenth draft of my editorial, I am all too aware that I will not have to worry about preparing an acceptance speech for any such transcendent feat of journalism. Still, I have managed to answer all six questions - no mean feat nowadays, when most of us involved in library acquisitions consider ourselves very fortunate to get even one straight answer to the myriad questions assaulting us everyday! Thus . . .
Why? I have spoken to many of you - librarians, both professional
and paraprofessional; library during the months since I first began work on Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory. Usually, your first question to me has been, “Why, in this era of dwindling library budgets, should we consider yet another journal title”? It’s such a good question that I think it should be answered first. Money is tight today. Let me begin, then, with what I consider an indisputable fact: Any scientific regimen, be it nuclear physics or library acquisitions, must be grounded on a broad practical and theoretical base, if it is to properly grow and evolve. Moreover, I contend that, because of the rapid changes taking place in most scientific regimens nowadays, such a broad base must necessarily be largely composed of information disseminated through journals - by the time a lengthly scientific treatise appears in print, much of its information is out-of-date. Prior to LAPT, the journals disseminating information about library acquisitions felI into two distinct categories: (1) those devoted to only one facet of library acquisitions, e.g. serials; and (2) those which covered library acquisitions, along with other topics, necessarily sacrificing depth of coverage for breadth. Each of those two types is, within its “Aims and Scope,” useful to persons involved in tibrary acquisitions, but neither is capable of serving as the broad base which the study of library acquisitions needs. Rather, a vehicle is needed for library acquisitions which can serve as an assimilating medium, i.e. a “melting-pot” in which all the different types of library acquisitions (books and serials, in academic, public, and school Iibraries; government documents; gifts and exchanges; school
students;
and booksellers
-
2
SCOTT
R. BULLARD
microforms; rare books; et al.) and all the different types of persons involved (professionals, paraprofessionals, students, and booksellers) can be amalgamated.
in the field
LAPT is that unique vehicle. What? The journal’s title was, decidedly, not chosen at random. It’s obvious that it should have been called Library Acquisitions. Less obvious, though possibly more significant, is the subtitle - Practice precedes Theory. A broad informational base is composed not only of the concepts of the cloistered theoretician, but also of the practical ideas of library acquisitions persons on-the-job. Thus, though LAPT will, by no means, exclude purely theoretical articles, our emphasis is firstly placed on the practical aspects of library acquisitions. How? All articles received have been reviewed initially by three professional librarians. Their comments have been considered by the Editor-in-Chief and his Editors, and he has made the final decision whether to publish, based on those inputs. Who ? As indicated by the selective bibliography Mollie Arthur and I present herein, LAPTS Editorial Board was chosen only after a pain-staking search of the literature of library acquisitions. Moreover, the opinions of the Editorial Board have been complemented by opinions of the Editor’s Advisory Board. Paraprofessionals especially skilled in both librarianship and journalism have also been consulted, and we are already in the process of soliciting thoughts and ideas from library school students. When? As you can see, LAPT has brought
out its first quarterly
issue in January,
1977.
Where? Pergamon Press, of Elmsford, New York, is also dedicated to bringing a broad base to library acquisitions. Like us, they realize the importance of “getting back to the basics of library acquisitions.” So, as you see, six questions have been asked, and six answered. If your editor has performed his task well, the six answers lead, inevitably, to but one conclusion: Though library acquisitions has not, heretofore, had a vehicle specifically designed to bring all its disparate subfields and persons together, it has one now - LAPT. Or, put another way: With the void in our literature finally filled, the gaps between us are now more easily bridged.