“Many Thanks”
Correspondence concerning this column should be addressed to Barry Trott, RUSQ Editor, 7770 Croaker Rd., Williamsburg, VA, 23188; email: btrott@wrl.org.
Once again, we are entering the holiday season and it is a good time to thank all of the people who make RUSQ possible. First off, I would like to recognize the members of the RUSQ board for volume 55: Jenny S. Bossaller, PhD; Heidi L. M. Jacobs; Kate Kosturski; Scott Seaman; Carol Singer; Nicolette Sosulski; Laurel Tarulli; David A. Tyckoson; Chiang A. Wang; and Neal Wyatt, PhD. The board members are the first readers of submissions to the journal, and without their thoughtful critiques and keen suggestions for improvements, the pieces that we publish would not be as strong. The board members also offer guidance to the editor in terms of directions for the journals, and I am grateful for their help in making sure that RUSQ is valuable to our readers.
In addition to the board, I am fortunate to have a complement of reviewers who can assist with submissions when special expertise is needed or if we have a large number of manuscripts to review. This past year, the following reviewers have contributed their time and talents to reviewing potential articles: Susan Burke, Loida Garcia-Febo, Neil Hollands, Kathleen Kern, Elizabeth Kline, Dan Mack, Mary Popp, Carolyn Radcliff, and Molly Strothmann.
The columns in RUSQ are an important piece of the journal and a complement to the feature articles. These pieces offer new and interesting ways to consider our daily practice, present case studies that can inform different aspects of that practice, and can be a springboard for ideas that could later expand into feature articles. I would like to thank our column editors for their excellent work in seeking out authors whose passion for reference work, defined broadly as we always do here at RUSQ, inspires and guides the profession. Column editors for volume 55 were Karen Antell, Nicole Eva, Aimee Graham, Eric Phetteplace, Kelly Myer Polacek, Marianne Ryan, Erin Shea, Laurel Tarulli, and Tammy Voelker.
I would also like to take a moment to welcome to RUSQ several new column editors. Esther Grassian and Sarah LeMire have agreed to take on joint editorship of “Information Literacy and Instruction” starting this issue. Mark Shores will step into the role of column editor for the Alert Collector. This issue also sees long-time editor of the Reference Reviews section, Tammy Eschedor Voelker, stepping down. Her excellent work seeking out reviewers and editing their reviews has been essential to RUSQ and will be missed. I am delighted to have Anita Slack stepping in as Reference Reviews editor, beginning with RUSQ 56:3. And Nicolette Sosulski and Dave Tyckoson debut a new column in this issue—“A Reference for That”—that will explore issues in reference services. I look forward to working with both our new and our continuing editors to continue to bring interesting columns to our readers.
In addition to those folks who are mentioned above, and whose names you see on the masthead and in bylines, there are many other people whose work is essential to getting the journal out, and who I want to thank. Tim Clifford at ALA Publishing is responsible for copyediting, typesetting, and always keeping me up to date on style and usage issues. The staff of the RUSA office, Executive Director Susan Hornung, Leighann Wood, and Jennifer Cross and former RUSA office staff Marianne Braverman and Andrea Hill all helped keep RUSQ funded and promoted to our readers. I would like to thank all of these folks without whom the job of editor would not be possible.
I would also like to express my great thanks to all the librarians across the world who have submitted papers to RUSQ. Putting your thoughts down in an article is a challenging task and then being willing to put those thoughts out for review can be equally challenging. While we cannot accept every paper that is submitted, we do read each one carefully. We try to make sure that the time and effort that the author put into the paper is reflected in the comments and editorial suggestions that we send back. I appreciate the grace with which RUSQ authors accept edits, comments, requests for clarification, and criticism. It is a joy to work with them.
Finally, I want to thank all of the readers of RUSQ, without whom we have no reason to publish the journal. Your comments and emails are always appreciated. I also appreciate the collaborative spirit that is so evident in the library profession. Regardless of the type of library, the members of RUSA are always excited about how we can work together to bring library services to our users in the best way possible. I cannot think of a better profession to be in and once again, thanks to you all.