Author Guidelines
Methodology
As the focus of LIR is on LIS research, we encourage authors to report their research methods in full. If your methods are unusual, please report both successes and difficulties so that other researchers can learn from your experience.
Manuscript preparation
Full instructions for writing a paper for LIR are available here. We recommend that you download this document and use it as a style template for your paper.
The title of the paper should be typed in Times New Roman (boldface 14pt) and is left-justified. The author's name should be typed in Times New Roman (italics 12pt) and also left-justified. Authors should each supply 25-word biographies for inclusion in the Author section (footer of page 1). The principal author's email address should be supplied. A 100-150 word abstract is required.
Manuscripts must be typed single spaced using 12 point characters. Only Times, Times Roman, Times New Roman and Symbol fonts are accepted for the text. Section and subsection titles should be typed in Arial or Helvetica fonts using 11 and 10 point characters, respectively. Paragraph spacing for these should be 12pt above and 8pt below the heading.
The text should be left-justified on an A4 page (21 cm x 29.7 cm); the left margin should be 4.5 cm and the right margin should be 2.5 cm. Paragraphs are separated by 6 points and with no indentation. The text of the papers should be written in one column.
The maximum length of a refereed paper or article is 7,000 words although this may be negotiated with the Editor. Shorter pieces of no less than 2,000 words are also acceptable.
Figures and tables
Figures and tables should be left-justified, numbered consecutively throughout the text, and each should have a caption underneath it. Care should be taken that the lettering is not too small. All figures and tables should be included in the electronic versions of the full paper. Figures and tables should be boxed.
Equations
Equations should be typed within the text, centred, and should be numbered consecutively throughout the text. They should be referred to in the text as Equation (n). Their numbers should be typed in parentheses, flush right, as in the following example.
PA + A'P - PBR-1B'P + Q = 0. (1)
Quotations
Quotations of 20 words or less should be incorporated in the text with quotation marks. Longer quotations should be put in a new paragraph without quotation marks and using the Roman script in italics. All quotations should be attributed with Harvard referencing, for example, (Smith, 2000, 12). In longer quotations they should follow on a separate line, right-justified (see examples).
For example:
Short quotation without reference
Respondents to the survey confirmed the view of one respondent that they were "unable in the main to undertake appropriate user consultations", but were striving to further work in this area.
Short quotation with reference
Researchers have also outlined the five criteria established by the European DELOS project: "extensiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, costing and quality" (Fuhr
et al., 2001, 190).
Longer quotation
In times of rapid and profound societal and technological change, evaluation is essential to preserving the viability and visibility of libraries.
(Wallace and van Fleet, 2001, xx)
Conclusion
All authors are encouraged to conclude their paper with a section describing the practical applications of their research, i.e., answering the "so what?" question. What effect should your work have on the LIS practitioner or the research community? Is there anything the community should be doing differently as a result of your research? Have you identified areas for future research? If so, please state them here.
References Please use Harvard-style references, inserting the name and year in the text thus (Cook and Davies, 1997). The list of references should be ordered alphabetically according to the first author surname. If there is no author, order alphabetically by title. The references below are examples.
British companies: High Street stores (n.d.) URL:
http://www.britishcompanies.co.uk/highstreet.htm [accessed 25.5.06].
Chiner Arias, A. 5 Jan 2007. Re: Scanning Practice Survey & Event,
LIS-Link [online]. URL:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk [accessed 26.7.07].
Cook, D. and Davies, H. (1997) The importance of modern library canteens,
Public Service Catering,
13(3), 25-31.
Doran, M. (2000)
The public library service in a divided community, Portadown, Northern Ireland. MSc (Econ.) dissertation, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Fullsome, K. (1994a)
In search of the stupendous. Dublin: Strong Publishers.
Karp, R. S. (ed.) (2002)
The basic business library: core resources. 4th Ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Phipps, L. et al. (2004) Developing and publicising a workable accessibility strategy.
Ariadne [online], (38). URL:
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue38/phipps/intro.html [accessed 30.5.06].
Research Information Network and the Consortium of Research Libraries (2007)
Researchers' use of academic libraries and their services. London: RIN and CURL. URL:
http://www.rin.ac.uk/files/libraries-report-2007.pdf [accessed 26.04.08].
Tagish (2006)
County, district and borough council websites. URL:
http://www.tagish.co.uk/links/localgov.htm [accessed 27.6.06].
Yelland, M. (1977) Research in library and information science. In: Whatley, H. A. (ed.)
British librarianship and information science 1971-1975. London: Library Association. 26-54.
The Occasion
Use this heading only to describe a prize entry, thesis description, related project, etc. (for example, if you are writing this paper as the result of winning a LIRG prize). Otherwise omit this heading.
Acknowledgement
Please acknowledge your research funding body and/or colleagues or other organisations that have contributed to the research. Please use no more than 50 words.
