Welcome to our ALA Student Chapter blog. Visit this site to find out what's happening in UCLA's Department of Information Studies and for the latest news and events about libraries, archives, and information management.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

"How to Publish" with Esther Grassian

This past Thursday, UCLA ALA Student Chapter members attended a talk with insider tips and guidance on how to get published. Esther Grassian, the Information Literacy Librarian at UCLA's College Library and an accomplished writer, spoke to her audience about a wide range of publishing options ranging from blogs to textbooks. To view the slides from this presentation visit this link. Go to "26 May 2011, What Me Publish?." Notes View will reveal her talking points as well.

For those members who couldn't make it, here are some of the highlights from the informative and well organized presentation:

1) When selecting a topic to write about, make sure you have something new to say by doing research on what has been said before.

2) Publishing will help you build a name for yourself, boost a resume, and advance the field.

3) There is a writing progression from free and unmoderated (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and listserves) to a midpoint of control and difficulty (i.e. poster sessions, conference presentations, and magazine articles) to the most restrictive in terms of peer review and standards (i.e. book chapters, journal articles, and books). While students in grad school and new information professionals might not be ready for the high end of the progression, the best approach is to get started building expertise and gaining recognition as a voice in the field.

4) Resources: "LibGuides" (short for library research guides) are a community of consolidated resources organized by subject to assist university courses and special subjects. UCLA has a great collection, and they are readily available to all. Esther has produced several on information literacy instruction. Writer's Market is a book with topic listings of magazine publications, including the requirements for submission, pay, and the types of content a given magazine is soliciting.

5) If you publish, retain your copyright!

6) Calls for book chapters are disseminated via listserves. While new librarians are still early in their careers and low on experience, this is something to keep in mind for the future. A call will contain details of the chapter proposal and the deadline. To respond a writer must give a detailed outline. Those submissions with visuals such as check lists, images, and charts fare better.

7) If you want to write a book, make sure you have administrative support. Approval from the department head can mean time off to work on it as well as grant opportunities. Solicit feedback from the publisher and your colleagues. Acknowledge their help in the book.

Esther's sound advice and practical tips are useful to novice and experienced librarians alike. Cross-reference the 2010-2011 membership list with the new names in publication in a few years and see how many hits you get!