Editorial


I think that writing editorials in my job as the new editor
of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) is going to be
a real piece of cake. All I have to do, dear readers, is to
quote (with proper attribution) Walt Crawford, the title of
whose book I repeat as the title of this, my inaugural edi-
torial.1 And then quote other sages of our profession,
using only as many of their words as is fitting and proper
to make my editorials relevant to the concerns of our
membership and readers and as few of my own words as
I can to repay the confidence that the Library Information
and Technology Association (LITA) has placed in me—
and to avoid muddling the ideas of those to whom I shall
be indebted.

Those of you reading this will note that I have already
fallen prey to the conceit of all scholarly journal editors:
that their readers, of course, after surveying the tables of
contents, dive wide-eyed first into the editorials. Of course.

To paraphrase a technologist of an earlier era, “When
in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for”
a new editor to take on the responsibility for the steward-
ship of ITAL, “a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that” he “should declare the causes
which impel” him to accept that responsibility and, fur-
ther, to write editorials. I quote, of course, from the first
paragraph of the Declaration of Independence adopted
by the “thirteen united States of America” July 4, 1776.

In this, my first editorial, I, too, shall put forth for the
examination of the members of LITA and the readers of
ITAL my goals and hopes for the journal that I am now
honored to lead. These goals and hopes are shared by the
members of the ITAL editorial board, whose names
appear in the masthead of this journal.

ITAL is a double-blind refereed journal that currently
has a manuscript acceptance rate of 50 percent. It began in
1968 as the Journal of Library Automation (JOLA), the jour-
nal of the Information Science and Automation Division
(ISAD) of ALA, and its first editor was Fred Kilgour. In
1978 ISAD became LITA, and in 1982, the journal title was
changed to reflect the expanding role of information tech-
nology in libraries, an expansion that continues to accel-
erate so that ITAL is no longer the only professional
journal within ALA whose pages are now dominated by
our accelerating use of information technologies as tools
to manage the services we provide our users and as tools
we use ourselves to accomplish our daily duties.

I write part of this editorial in the skies over the mid-
dle section of the United States as I return home from the
seventh National LITA Forum held in St. Louis, October
7–10. At the Forum, I heard presentations, visited poster
sessions, and talked with colleagues from forty-four
states and six countries who had something to say and
said it well. I hope that some of them may submit manu-
scripts to ITAL so that all the members of LITA and all the
readers of the journal will profit as well from some of
what the attendees of the Forum heard and saw. I

attended the Forum forewarned by previous ITAL editors
to carry plenty of business cards, and I went armed with
a pocketful. I think I distributed enough that, if pieced
together, their blank sides would provide sufficient writ-
ing space for at least one manuscript!

In an attempt to fulfill the Jeffersonian promise above,
I hereby list a few of my goals for the beginning of my
term as editor. I must emphasize that these goals of mine
supplement but do not supplant the purposes of the jour-
nal as stated on the first page and on the ITAL Web site
(www.ala.org/lita/litapublications/ital/italinformation.
htm); likewise, they do not supplant the goals of my pred-
ecessors.

In no particular order:
I hope to increase the number of manuscripts received

from our library and information schools. Their faculty
and doctoral students are some of the incubators of new
and exciting information technologies that may bear fruit
for future library users. However, not all research turns up
maps on which “X marks the spot.” Exploration is inter-
esting, even vital, for the journey, for the search itself, and
our graduate faculties and students have something to say.

I hope to increase the submission of manuscripts that
describe relevant sponsored research. In the earlier vol-
umes, JOLA had an average of at least one article per issue,
maybe more, describing the results of funded research.
ITAL can and should be a source that information-technol-
ogy researchers consider as a vehicle for the publication of
their results. Two articles in this issue result from spon-
sored research.

In fact, I hope to increase the number of manuscripts
that describe any relevant research or cutting-edge devel-
opments. Much of the exploration undertaken by librari-
ans improving and strengthening their services involves
research or problems solved on both small scales and
large. Neither the officers of LITA, the referees, the read-
ers, nor I are interested in very many “how I run my
library good” articles. We all want to read a statement of
the problem(s), the hypotheses developed to explore the
issues surrounding the problem(s), the research methods,
the results, the assessment of the outcomes, and, when
feasible, a synthesis of how the research methods or
results may be generalized.

I hope to increase the number of articles with multiple
authors. Libraries are among society’s most cooperative
institutions and librarians, members of one of the most
cooperative of professions. The work we do is rarely that
of solitary performers, whether it be research or the

EDITORIAL | WEBB 3

Editorial: First Have

Something to Say John Webb

John Webb (jwebb@wsu.edu) is Assistant Director for Digital
Services/Collections, Washington State University Libraries,
Pullman, and editor of Information Technology and Libraries.

(continued on page 21)



__Problems with unauthorized people accessing the
Internet through the wireless network

__Problems with restricted parts of the network
being accessed by unauthorized users

__Other

3. How were security problems resolved? 

Benefits of Use of Network

1. What have been the biggest benefits of wireless tech-
nology? Check all that apply.
__User satisfaction
__Increased access to the Internet and online sources
__Flexibility and ease due to lack of wires
__Has improved technical services (use for library

functions)
__Has aided in bibliographic instruction

__Provides access beyond the library building
__Allows students to roam the stacks while access-

ing the network
__Other

2. How would you describe current usage of the net-
work?
__Heavy
__Moderate
__Low

3. In your opinion, has this technology been worth the
benefit-cost ratio thus far?
__Yes
__No
__Not sure

4. What advice would you give to librarians consider-
ing this technology?

(Editorial continued from page 3)

design and implementation of complex systems to serve
our users. Writing about that should not be solitary either.

I hope to publish think-pieces from leaders in our field.
I hope to publish more articles on the management of

information technologies.
I hope to increase the number of manuscripts that

provide retrospectives. Libraries have always been users
of information technologies, often early adopters of
leading-edge technologies that later become common-
place. We should, upon occasion, remember and reflect
upon our development as an information-technology
profession.

I hope to work with the editorial board, the LITA
Publications Committee, and the LITA board to find a
way, and soon, to facilitate the electronic publication of
articles without endangering—but in fact enhancing—the
absolutely essential financial contribution that the journal
provides to the association.

In short, I want to make ITAL a destination journal of
excellence for both readers and authors, and in doing so
reaffirm the importance of LITA as a professional division
of ALA.

To accomplish my goals, I need more than an excellent
editorial board, more than first-class referees to provide
quality control, and more than the support of the LITA
officers. I need all LITA members to be prospective
authors, prospective referees, and prospective literary
agents acting on behalf of our profession to continue the
almost forty-year tradition begun by Fred Kilgour and his
colleagues, who were our predecessors in volume 1, num-
ber 1, March 1966, of our journal.

Reference

1. Walt Crawford, First Have Something to Say: Writing
for the Library Profession (Chicago: ALA, 2003).

WIRELESS NETWORKS IN MEDIUM-SIZED ACADEMIC LIBRARIES | BARNETT-ELLIS AND CHARNIGO 21