Call for Chapters

Best Practices in Librarianship:

Learnings and Lessons

Submission Deadline

Nov  20, 2011

A book edited by

Prem Chand
Librarian
IIAS, Shimla (H. P.)

chanprem@gmail.com

Nirmal Kumar Swain
 Assistant Professor
 Banasthali University

Rajasthan

nkswainlisfaculty@gmail.com

Introduction
Soon-to-be published book is proposed to be a nice primer for anyone wants to be aware of the new and emerging area “best practices”. “A best practice may be innovative and be a philosophy, policy, strategy, program, process or practice that solves a problem or create new opportunities and positively impact the whole organization (NAAC, 2006). In the application of theory to real-life situations, procedures that, when properly, applied consistently yield superior results and are therefore used as reference points in evaluation of the effectiveness of alternative methods of accomplishing the same task.  Best practices are identified by examining empirical evidence of success.

Objectives of the Book

The basic objectives of the books are to have the process of developing best practices we take action rather than good ideas, and we improve our skills. In case library operation in general and Indian context in particular, good services are provided to the users even with or without the facilities in terms of resources and infrastructure. 

• To have a sound theoretical background of the concept ‘ best practices’
• To narrate the stories of practices of own libraries and information centres.
• To have a generalised version of current state-of-the-art available to LIS professionals
• To assess the strong and weakness of the technological use of modern facilities 

Recommended topics include but are not limited to the following:

* Special Note to the contributors:

Please contribute chapter preferably current practices of your library and information centres operation.

Submission Procedure:

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit the manuscript clearly explaining the mission and concerns on or before Nov 20, 2011. Authors will be acknowledged immediately and the acceptance of the contribution will be notified within a fortnight of receipt of the contribution. Authors may be required to help, if need be, in terms of proof, clarifications, etc.  Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that they are original and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere. 

Style manuals: Submissions must follow the styles outlines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001, 5th edition)

Abstract: All manuscripts should include an abstract of 100 words or less.

Author identification: The complete title of the contribution and the name(s) of the author(s) should be only on the first sheet and the main text should begin on the same sheet. Complete contact information must be supplied for all authors and co-authors, including full address and postal pin code, telephone, and e-mail address. The corresponding authors should be identified.    

Typescript: Manuscript should be typed on A-4 size paper, double-spaced, with generous margins at top, bottom, and sides of page. In soft copy it should be in IBM-compatible MS Word format. Sub-heads should be used at reasonable intervals to break the monotony of the text. Words and symbols to be italicized must be clearly indicated, by either italic type or underlining. Abbreviations and acronyms should be spelt out with its first occurrence, unless found as entries in their abbreviated form in a standard dictionary. Pages should be numbered consecutively.

Length: Manuscript should typically be of 10 to 15 pages including the reference list.

Notes and reference:  Notes are for explanations or amplifications of textual material. They are distracting to the readers and expensive to set and should be avoided whenever possible. They should be typed as normal text at the end of the text section of the manuscript rather than as the part of the footnote or endnote feature of computer programme and should be numbered consecutively throughout the contribution. 

A reference list should contain references that are cited in the text. These should be accurate and complete. Personal communications (letters, memos, telephone conversations) are cited in the text after the name with as exact a date as possible. Examples of references to a book, a chapter in book, and journal article follow, formatted in APA style:

Tables, Figures, and Illustrations: Create tables, figure, and illustrations in their electronic files, separate from the main text. (You may use one file for all the tables, but place each figure or illustration in a separate file. Each table should begin in a new page). Figures and tables should be keyed to the text. The data in the text need not be described in such detail that tables become redundant. Figure captions should appear on a separate sheet, not on the original figures. One high quality, camera ready version of each figure must be submitted with the manuscript; photocopies may accompany the additional manuscript copies. Compositors will typeset the tables.

Note 1: Generalised writings are not encouraged.

Note 2: Any doubt(s) regarding the sub themes of the proposed volume may be clarified preferably by e-mail before preparing the contribution.

Note 3:  There will be a free copy to 1st author

Submissions can be forwarded electronically 
MS Word document  

Nirmal Kumar Swain

Assistant Professor
Banasthali University

Rajasthan

E-Mail: nkswainlisfaculty@gmail.com
Copy to: chanprem@gmail.com 

Ph: 0177-2830105, Fax 1772830105