College and Research Libraries


Editorial 
A recent cartoon in the New Yorker struck home: A man and a 

woman are walking along a beach, the man thoughtfully looking 
ahead as the woman says to him, "I do think your problems are seri-
ous, Richard. They're just not very interesting." This thought, to a 
new editor, prompts him to remember that he has a dual mission to 
the readers of this journal: through his choice and arrangement of 
articles to present a serious and responsible consideration of pertinent 
matters and to .present them in a way that will engage and retain the 
attention of his readers. 

It has been stated in the past, and we reiterate that College & Re-
search Libraries is a journal presenting the reports of scholarly re-
search. It will cover the variety of subjects germane to academic and 
research librarianship. In this issue, for example, a number of such 
subjects are represented: resources, interlibrary cooperation, library 
management, specific library operations as shown in inventory and 
loan procedures, library automation, and international librarianship. 
We welcome and encourage new manuscripts for consideration for 
publication and in this issue present guidelines to authors preparing 
manuscripts for the journal. 

As we encourage new manuscripts, we also trust that authors will 
present their thoughts in such a way to hold their readers. Recently, 
the editor of a new journal in the field of higher education, Change, 
gave the back of his hand to library periodicals. Replying to an inquiry, 
he abruptly dismissed a librarian's questioning the methodology em-
ployed in an article in his journal. In the process he accused the library 
profession in general with an undue emphasis on research methodol-
ogy "strung out like so much wash." This led him to suggest that this 
is one reason his journal is read and library journals are not. 

That editor's comments notwithstanding, we hope our journal will 
be read and that as necessary we shall display our methodology dis-
creetly and neatly so as not to offend or discourage our readers. 

Through the articles in this journal we shall address many of the 
recurring problems that confront academic librarianship, with the 
hope we shall understand them better and possibly achieve some 
solutions. 

RICHARD D. JOHNSON 

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