Claire McGuinness February 24 th 2011 www.ucd.ie/sils
Nov 01, 2014
Claire McGuinnessFebruary 24th 2011
www.ucd.ie/sils
Mix of professional practice and academic/research/teaching
Library work 1993-94,1996-99 MLIS 1995, PhD 1999-2005, Post-Doc
2006-2007 Lecturer in SILS: 2008-present Teaching in SILS: 1999-present
Information Literacy - concepts, instructional strategies, assessment, impact
Professional Identity and the "Teaching Librarian" Reflective Practice in the Library profession Academic-Librarian Collaboration Theories of Learning (behaviourist, constructivist,
social learning), student-centred learning, enquiry-based & problem-based learning
Use of social networking applications (Web 2.0) for teaching and learning
Information behaviour in educational contexts Qualitative Research Methods, especially
Phenomenography
3 book chapters 6 peer-reviewed journal articles 1 conference proceedings And book in progress......
Different routes to getting published....
Conference presentation: Book chapter in 2003 based on paper given at ILIT conference in 2003 (Information Literacy & Information Technology, precursor to LILAC).
Martin, A. & Rader, H. Information & IT Literacy: Enabling learning in the 21st Century. Facet, 2003.
Committee Membership: Chapter in 2003 book “Information Literacy in Europe” arose from being representative for Ireland on European Network on Information Literacy (ENIL).
Invited chapter – based on “profile” as Irish information literacy researcher
Journal Articles: Normal process of submitting articles “on spec” to selected academic journals, and undergoing peer-review process.
Used knowledge of field, and ISI Web of Knowledge Journal Citation Reports (Social Sciences edition) to select journal
4 research papers, 1 discursive/theoretical, 1 practice-based
Based on:
PhD Research Irish Information Skills Survey 2006-7 “Real-life” experience of teaching
Stage One information skills module
Focus in higher education is on peer-reviewed publications & research funding
Book – long-term project with lower “rate of return” in terms of tenure, promotion, etc.
So, why write one?
Incentives for writing a book:
Experience: Awareness of gaps in market – imagined the kind of book I would like to use if I was an LIS student or information practitioner. Also kind of book I would find useful as an LIS instructor
Building idea over time of what a book could look like, visualising chapters, content
Too much material for journal article – lots to say! Not really based on research, more about practice than theory
Desire to connect with the professional community, not just the LIS research community
Development of a personal reputation in the field
Personal satisfaction
Original research you have done Recognising gap in the market – cannot find
what you are looking for, so write it yourself!
Experience of teaching or training – material suitable for textbook
Feel that you could improve upon existing books
“Call for Authors” from publisher/direct approach
(Patrick Brindle, Sage Publications)
Received personal email in November 2009 from Jonathan Davis, editorial assistant at Chandos Publishing. Subject line was “Call for Authors”
First reaction – checked to see if it was genuine! Google search.....
“As part of an on-going publishing effort, Chandos Publishing is commissioning a series of short books relating to librarianship, publishing, information management and information science, written from a management, legal or technical perspective.
My purpose in writing to you is to enquire whether you would be interested in writing such a book, based on your experience.”
Replied, with brief expression of interest, but not committing fully at that point
Received an Author Proposal Form to complete, along with Chandos catalogue
Invited to submit my own ideas, rather than the publisher’s brief
AUTHOR AND TITLE INFORMATION 1. Book title and subtitle (if any)2. Author's/editor's full name 3. Please provide some biographical
information about yourself, including current position and affiliation
4. Full mailing address (work)5. Full mailing address (home)6. Telephone Fax Email
SUBJECT MATTER
8. Please write a short description of your book
9. Please list up to five features of your book which make it unique
10. Please list the proposed contents, including chapter, section and sub-section headings (use the additional page(s) if necessary
MANUSCRIPT INFORMATION
11. Approximately how many words would you expect your book to contain?
12. How long do you estimate it will take for delivery of the completed manuscript (most authors take, on average, six months)?
13. Will you be able to prepare your manuscript on a word- processor? If so, what software will you be using?
15. Please tick the following for any special physical features you would expect to include in the book:
tablesillustrationsproblems/solutionsphotographs
THE MARKET
16. Please identify the readership for your bookPRIMARY MARKETSECONDARY MARKET
17. Is the book mainly aimed at practitioners or students?18. If the book has a student market, which courses are
likely to be interested in the book?
Level Typical student numbers
Length of course Is the course optional or compulsory?
Would your book be for main adoption, supplementary reading orrecommended reading?
COMPETITION 19. Please list, in order of importance, any
books which compete directly with or are similar to your book. Please supply (if possible)
author/editor, publisher, publication date, price and any further information you feel relevant (please use a separate sheet if necessary).
20. Please outline in what ways your book is better than and differs from the competitors mentioned in section 19.
Proposal reviewed by editor at Chandos, Glyn Jones
Accepted – “subject to contract”
Publisher then carries out a “Project Investment Appraisal” exercise (PIA)
Involves analysing competing titles, readership, break-even point (how many copies need to be sold)
January 2010 – proposal accepted fully
Contract sent out – Chandos’ Standard Publishing Agreement
Manuscript submission deadline – January 1st 2011, minimum of 40k words, max. 75k
Rough division of workload
Six chapters; 40000 words minimum, 75000 max.
Approx. 8000 words per chapter,12500 max.
Remember also that references eat up a lot of the word count. Also, end of chapter exercises.
Approx 2 months per chapter max.
Aimed for faster completion time
Target: ca. 2000-3000 words per week
Started with Chap 1, wrote in sequence
Sub-headings already set out in proposal
Wrote steadily – eventually too extra day solely dedicated to book project
Did not stick rigidly to word lengths per chapter. Some chapters longer than others depending on content
Kept a rough tally of word length as I went along
Sent 2 completed chapters to publishers in June for approval
Tip – create bibliography as you go.
Submitted final manuscript in mid-December, after removing two sections to cut down the word count.
In early January, received email that manuscript was good to go, and was being sent to “RefineCatch”, a company which manages books through all stages of production
Manuscript sent to copy-editor, who looks for errors such as missing references, etc
Proofs being prepared
Proof-reading in March, plus compilation of index
Typesetting to be completed early May
Publication scheduled June 30th 2011
Thank you!