Editorial Guidelines

Have an idea of an article for CCL Outlook newsletter? Whether a quick news item or something more in-depth, if you have something of interest to California Community College librarians and libraries then we’d love to hear from you!

Please consider the following guidelines when preparing a submission:

Content

The Outlook publishes short staffing and event announcements as well as longer pieces featuring original content on topics including but not limited to: access services, California statewide initiatives, collection management, library technology and reference & instruction. Preference is given to submissions with practical applications for our libraries and librarians.

Length

For news items such as staffing and events, please limit to 300 words maximum. In-depth articles typically range from 500 to 1,500 words.

Style

Succinct, inviting and informative style of writing is preferred. If including web links in your article, please hyperlink a descriptive word or short phrase rather than using the URL as the link text. Employ endnotes for any non-open web citations using Chicago Manual of Style (current edition) format.

Grammar and Spelling

Our editorial team reserves the right to copy edit for grammar, spelling, formatting and style. Authors are responsible for accuracy of article, so please proofread and apply proper grammar and spelling before submitting your piece.

Format

Submit articles as an attachment in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf. Please do not use .pdf format.

Images

Preferred format is .gif or jpg. For each image, please include the following:

  • a brief caption describing the photo or image
  • alt text that describes what is pictured to help us serve readers with visual impairments
  • who created the image and - if it was a third-party - what the license is

Include all images with the narrative in a single document along with instructions for desired placement.

Licensing

We publish content in the Outlook under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.

Deadlines for Submission

The Outlook is published quarterly in September, December, February and April and submissions are accepted via our website on a rolling basis. Specific deadlines are announced on the cclibrarians-all mailing list approximately two weeks prior to publication.

Questions?

Email CCL Communications Manager Cynthia Orozco at orozcocm@elac.edu.