ALCTS Web Publications Editor Appointed

Margaret Rohdy of the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt Library has just assumed her duties as the new Web publications editor at ALCTS. Fresh from a stint as book review editor for LRTS, Rohdy is beginning a two-year appointment.

The ALCTS board has charged the Web publications editor with the following assignments:

• define and establish guidelines for the association’s formal Web publications;
• solicit Web publications;
• facilitate the development and publishing of Web publications across the division;
• formulate criteria for determining what publications are consistent with Web publishing;
• work with the various publications editors and committees to identify viable Web publications from forthcoming or existing publications or older and out-of-print publications that are candidates for revision or updating; and
• conduct a survey of what other organizations publish on the Web and any applicability to the ALCTS publishing business plan.

Rohdy serves as an ex-officio member of the ALCTS Publications Committee, reporting to and working with that group on issues related to Web publishing. The position is a trial one that the Publications Committee will review at 2004 Annual Conference to recommend either a permanent position or its discontinuance.

Even before her position officially began, Rohdy met with the ALCTS Publications Committee at the 2002 Annual Meeting and reported on “Best Practices in Web Publishing: A Stanford Workshop for Nonprofits,” an event she attended on the association’s behalf in May. Rohdy notes that she is “organizing my work around the parts of my charge—that means a focus on content and on the editorial process that moves content from an idea to a publication on the Web.” To share thoughts on Web publishing with Rohdy, e-mail her at rohdy@pobox.upenn.edu.