Library Trends

Hopkins Press does not require potential contributors to pay an article submission fee to be considered for publication in any of the scholarly academic Journals that we publish. The literary publications that we publish (The Hopkins Review, The Sewanee Review and The Yale Review) do require a submission fee. Websites that purport to be affiliated with a Hopkins Press Journal and that require to payment of an article submission fee, other than the literary journals mentioned above, are fraudulent. Do not provide payment information. Instead, we ask that you contact William Breichner, Hopkins Press Journals Publisher: [email protected].

Library Trends only accepts manuscripts in response to calls for papers.

Under the guidance of Melissa A. Wong, editor in chief, Library Trends provides an outlet for individuals to serve as guest editors for a special topic, exploring a key area of activity or interest in librarianship. Guest editors are selected by Wong, with the advice of the Editorial Board and based on the content of submitted proposals.

A guest editor proposes the theme and scope of a new issue, draws up a list of prospective authors and article topics, calls for submissions to the issue, arranges for review of the manuscripts, provides short annotations of each article’s scope, and prepares a statement of philosophy guiding issue development.

Issue topics for Library Trends are developed in many ways. We value recommendations from professional librarians, archivists, and other information personnel, from members of the faculties of schools of library and information science, and from others whose concern is with issues of the management of cultural heritage. We seek volunteers from these areas to act as guest editors.

The style and tone of the journal is formal rather than journalistic or popular. Library Trends reviews current theory and practice and identifies and evaluates new directions for both practice and research. Papers must represent original work. Extensive updates of previously published papers are acceptable, but revisions or adaptations of published work are not acceptable. Both issue proposals and the papers they contain are subject to rigorous external review.

If you would like to submit a proposal, it should include the nature and scope of the proposed topic and suggestions of the names of individuals whom you hope would contribute the articles. For ease of review, please submit your CV and a proposal using the following format:

1.Guest editor name and contact information

2.Proposed issue theme/draft issue title

3.Description of the nature and scope of the issue’s topic (300-500 words)

4.List of potential articles (8-10 articles)

5.List of potential authors to solicit (8-10 authors)

6.List of potential reviewers for the manuscripts (4-5 reviewers)

7.Proposed timeline for proposals, authoring, editing, etc. (12-14 months typical)

Please send your ideas, inquiries, or issue proposal to [email protected].

The guest editor is responsible for adhering to the deadlines and page limits established by Library Trends editorial staff.  They will notify the Library Trends managing editor, Natasha Sims ([email protected]), regarding progress in the development of the issue, issues that may occur with securing manuscripts, and problems with the content of manuscripts.

Throughout the entire production process, the managing editor will remain in close contact with the guest editor. If at any point in the process the guest editor and authors have questions, they should immediately contact the managing editor.

The Production Process

1.The guest editor(s) will provide an ordered table of contents to the editor-in-chief as well as a list of all contributing authors, including for each an email address and daytime telephone number.

2.Having completed the review process and confirmed that the article manuscripts follow the “Author Instruction for the Preparation of Articles,” the guest editor(s) will provide the articles to the journal’s general editor for review and approval.

3.All articles will be reviewed and approved by the journal’s editor-in-chief. For articles that are approved, revisions may be requested on occasion.

4.The journal’s managing editor will review for completeness all material submitted— including abstracts, author biographies, tables, figures, etc.—to be included in the respective articles. Any questions at that time will be referred to the issue editor.

5.The managing editor will send publishing agreements to authors and may need assistance from the issue editor in obtaining the authors’ signatures. Government employees may need to sign a separate publishing agreement (articles provided under governmental auspices need to be accessible in the public domain, and copyright cannot be transferred). Translation permission forms also will be required if the issue includes articles that have been translated into the English language.

6.The managing editor will assist authors with the process required to obtain written permission to reprint any copyrighted material (photos, illustrations, etc.), whether previously published or not, that falls outside the bounds of fair use. Production cannot proceed until all forms are signed and on file.

7.Manuscripts will be submitted by the managing editor to the journal’s publisher, The Johns Hopkins University Press, for production of the issue: copy editing, typesetting, proofreading, and preparing files for printing. 

8.Copy editing consists of reviewing the manuscripts for style, format, organization, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and reference consistency; this process takes 6-8 weeks. It does not include substantial content editing, which is the responsibility of the guest editor prior to submission. During the copy-editing stage, authors will be given an opportunity to review their manuscripts and asked to answer any questions (articles authored by more than one person will be sent to the lead author). If the author(s) cannot review the article, the guest editor will need to answer any outstanding editorial queries. 

9.When copyedits have been reviewed and approved, the issue will be typeset. A complete set of page proofs will then be sent to a proofreader, who will closely read the issue; this process takes 2-3 weeks. Thereafter, the managing editor will review the proofs and resolve with the authors any queries raised by the proofreader (which also takes 2-3 weeks). The guest editor’s role at this stage is to review any article they have authored, as well as to assist the managing editor in resolving queries if the authors are not available to review their articles.

10.Finally, the issue will be sent to the printer; approximately 4 weeks later, advance copies will be available. Complimentary digital copies for the guest editor(s) and all authors will be emailed shortly thereafter. PDF files of individual articles will be available upon request by contacting the managing editor, Natasha Sims, at [email protected].

Please review the Library Trends Guest Editor and Author Handbook to learn more about the production process, review helpful guidelines, and find answers to frequently asked questions.

Library Trends 75 (4): Rethinking the Role of Libraries as Democracies Falter

Guest Editors:

Nancy Kranich, [email protected]
Mikala Narlock, [email protected]

Globally, democratic decline has resulted in the rise of authoritarianism, deepening political polarization, voter disengagement, misinformation, bigotry, economic and social inequality, suppression of ideas, and a distrust of science. This upheaval across countries has threatened long-term access to information as governments cut funding, materials disappear from catalogs, banned books are pulled from shelves, and databases vanish. When democracies falter, what role should libraries play?

This special issue of Library Trends examines the role of librarians and libraries during times of democratic crisis. We aim to capture the current moment—a period marked by intensifying threats to information access and institutional autonomy—while reimagining what librarianship can become in response. Rather than simply defend existing practices, we seek to envision new frameworks, values, and modes of practice that can sustain our commitments to equitable access, intellectual freedom, and knowledge preservation even as traditional democratic structures falter. How can libraries transform to meet this moment and build more resilient futures?

Examples of topic areas might include, but are not limited to:

• Censorship and intellectual freedom under authoritarian pressures (e.g., book challenges and government restrictions), current and historical.
• Rapid response collecting of threatened information, including both national and international initiatives (data rescue and digital preservation, government information)
• International comparison/analysis of libraries responding to democratic threats
• Community organizing and activism librarianship in crisis
• Misinformation, pseudoscience, and AI slop with regards to media and information literacy and implications for collection development, digital curation, digital preservation, archives and records management
• Federal and other Library closures and implications thereof
• Centrality of freedom of information for democratic processes; how administrations have usurped processes and instruments to undermine access to information
• Privacy and national security concerns in tension with transparency in record-keeping
• Data collection limitations in academia and the federal government, and skewed research agendas, which can result in data manipulation and mismanagement
• Methods for acknowledging threats to free expression posed by authoritarian regimes while upholding institutional values and protecting those involved in the work
• Strategies for maintaining commitments to free and open access in contexts where "open" has become a privilege, particularly when research challenges dominant political forces
• And other relevant topics

Article length: 7,000-10,000 words (not including bibliographic references)

Submission of Proposed Articles:

If you are interested in contributing a paper to this special issue, please submit a proposed title, an approximately 500-word summary of the topic, and a list of the authors and their affiliations to: Nancy Kranich, [email protected] and Mikala Narlock, [email protected], by February 15, 2026. Proposals will be reviewed within two weeks. Articles based on accepted proposals will be due July 15, 2026.

The guest editors for this special issue are:

• Nancy Kranich, Teaching Professor at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Kranich served as ALA President in 2000-2001, focusing on libraries and democracy, and has led numerous initiatives to promote the civic role of libraries in the 21st century.
• Mikala Narlock, Director of Research Data Services at Indiana University Bloomington. Narlock’s professional expertise and research interests center on access to research data and cultural heritage information.

Peer Review This issue will use an open peer review system in which authors review manuscripts from other contributors in addition to editorial review by the issue editors. 

Timeline Call for Proposals December 8, 2025

Proposals Due February 15, 2026

Acceptances Sent March 1, 2026

Manuscripts Due July 15, 2026

Peer Review Period August 1 - October 1, 2026
Send out manuscripts by August 1
Reviews due September 1
Reviews returned to authors by October 1, 2026

Revised Manuscripts Due October 31, 2026

Issue Submitted to Library Trends November 30, 2026

Publication Date May 2027

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

Each issue of Library Trends is a special-topic issue and is overseen by one or more guest editors. Articles are invited or the result of a call for proposals. The guest editors manage a peer review process for each issue and draw upon a reviewer pool developed for their expertise around that issue's topic. The process may be single-blind, double-blind, or open at the discretion of the guest editors. 

Editor in Chief

Melissa A. Wong, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

Managing Editor

Natasha Sims, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

Assistant Managing Editors

Evan M. Allgood, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA 
Charles E. Delplanche, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

Editorial Board

Ben B. Chiewphasa, Columbia University, USA
Hailley Fargo, Northern Kentucky University, USA
Africa S. Hands, University at Buffalo, USA
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA  
Noah Lenstra, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA 
Rachel M. Magee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA  
Amal W. Mostafa, Cairo University, Egypt 
Travis L. Wagner, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA 
Yuxiang (Chris) Zhao, Nanjing University, China

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Clarivate Analytics
  • Current Contents
  • Web of Science
• De Gruyter Saur
  • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
  • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
  • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• EBSCOhost
  • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 1/1/1993-
  • Academic Search Complete, 1/1/1993-
  • Academic Search Elite, 1/1/1993-
  • Academic Search Premier, 1/1/1993-
  • Academic Search: Main Edition, 1/1/1993-
  • Biography Index: Past and Present (H.W. Wilson), vol.38, 1989-vol.56, no.4, 2008
  • Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Apr.1984-
  • Business Source Corporate, 1/1/1993-, dropped
  • Business Source Corporate Plus, 1/1/1993-
  • Corporate ResourceNet, 1/1/1993-
  • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2000-
  • Education Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 4/15/1984-
  • Education Index (Online), 1984/04-
  • Education Research Complete, 1/1/1993-
  • Education Research Index, Jan.1993-
  • Education Source, 4/15/1984-
  • Information Science & Technology Abstracts, 1/1/1993-
  • Library & Information Science Source, 1/1/1937-
  • Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), 04/15/1984-
  • Library Literature & Information Science Index (H.W. Wilson), 4/15/1984-
  • Library Literature & Information Science Retrospective: 1905-1983 (H.W. Wilson), 1/1/1937-12/16/1983
  • Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA), 1/1/1966-
  • MainFile, 1/1/1993-
  • MasterFILE Complete, 1/1/1993-
  • MasterFILE Elite, 1/1/1993-
  • MasterFILE Premier, 1/1/1993-
  • MasterFILE: Main Edition, 1/1/1993-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 4/15/1984-
  • Professional Development Collection, 1/1/1993-
  • Professional Development Collection: Main Edition, 1/1/1993-
  • Public Affairs Index, 6/1/1993-
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
  • Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
  • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 1/1/1995-
• Elsevier BV
  • Scopus, 1980-
• FRANCIS
• Gale
  • Business & Company ProFile ASAP, 1/2000-
  • Business ASAP, 1/2000-
  • Business ASAP International, 1/2000-
  • Business Insights: Essentials, 06/1978-
  • Business Insights: Global, 06/1978-
  • Gale Academic OneFile, 06/1978-
  • Gale Academic OneFile Select, 06/1978-
  • Gale General OneFile, 06/1978-
  • Gale in Context: College
  • Gale in Context: Elementary
  • Gale OneFile: Business, 06/1978-
  • Gale OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete, 06/1978-
  • Gale OneFile: High School Edition, 01/1985-
  • Gale OneFile: Information Science, 06/1978-
  • Gale OneFile: Leadership and Management, 06/1978 -
  • Gale OneFile: Popular Magazines, 06/1978-
  • General Business File ASAP, 1/2000-
  • General Reference Center, 06/1978-
  • General Reference Center Gold, 06/1978-
  • General Reference Centre International, 1/1980-
  • InfoTrac Custom, 1/1980-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • Student Resources in Context, 06/1978-
• Gale In Context: Canada, 06/1978-
• Gale in Context: High School
• Magazine Index Plus, Jan.1998-
• National Library of Medicine
  • PubMed
• OCLC
  • ArticleFirst, vol.38, no.3, 1990-vol.60, no.1, 2011
  • Education Index (Online), 1984/04-
  • Electronic Collections Online, vol.54, no.1, 2006-vol.60, no.1, 2011
  • Library Literature, vol.32, 1984-vol.59, no.1/2, 2010
  • Periodical Abstracts, v.36, n.3, 1988-v.59, n.1/2, 2010
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• ProQuest
  • Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database, 1/1/1988-, dropped
  • Education Collection, 1/1/1988-
  • Education Database, 1/1/1988-
  • Library & Information Science Collection, 01/01/1988-
  • Library Science Database, 01/01/1988-
  • LISA: Library & Information Science Abstracts (Online), Core Coverage - Actively Indexed
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • PAIS Archive, vol.6, 1957-vol.25, no.2, 1976
  • Periodicals Index Online
  • Professional ProQuest Central, 01/01/1988-
  • ProQuest 5000, 01/01/1988-
  • ProQuest 5000 International, 01/01/1988-
  • ProQuest Central, 01/01/1988-
  • ProQuest Professional Education, 01/01/1988-
  • ProQuest SciTech Collection, 1/1/1988-
  • Research Library, 01/01/1988-
  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
  • SciTech Premium Collection, 1/1/1988-, dropped
  • Social Science Premium Collection, 01/01/1988-
  • Technology Collection, 1/1/1988-, dropped
• VINITI RAN
  • Referativnyi Zhurnal, coverage dropped

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Chicano Index   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Children's Literature Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Family Index   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Legal Information Management Index   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Personnel Literature   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Middle East: Abstracts and Index   (Researched / Unresolved)  (Print)

Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

0.3 (2024)
0.7 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00027 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
137 of 166 journals in “Information Science & Library Science”

© Clarivate Analytics 2025

Published quarterly.

Readers include: College and research libraries, public libraries, library systems and networks, special libraries, and international college and research libraries

Print circulation: 165

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