A Message from the Editor in Chief

Dear Readers,

It is my pleasure to present to you the premier issue of the newly resurrected journal published by the Alabama Library Association. The A labam a Librarian is an open access journal that publishes peerreviewed articles and other scholarly information of relevance to Alabama’s library community twice per year. Of the 2 types of Open Access, we are a gold journal--meaning that articles are freely available from the moment of publication on ALLA’s website.

In this issue of The A labam a Librarian, you will find a guest editorial co-written by Sheila Snow-Croft, the Executive Director of the NAAL (the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries) and Nancy Pack, the Director of APLS (the Alabama Public Library Service). We are truly grateful to be able to feature this piece by two established leaders in librarianship in our state who have shared information on how Alabama’s libraries have persevered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other noteworthy articles in this issue cover makerspaces in libraries, design trends in academic library homepages, and an overview of Banned Books Week celebrations at one university in Alabama.

In an effort to eliminate the possibility of bias in reviews, all submissions to this journal undergo a double blind peer review process. Submissions may be written by librarians outside our state as long as they’re relevant to librarianship in AL.

We always accept submissions for publication consideration, so please feel free to submit at any time. Authors can expect for accepted submissions to be published within 6 months of the submission date. While ALLA membership is encouraged, it is not required at this time. I encourage you to read our Call for Articles on page 58 and to visit our website for more information (https://www.allanet.org/alabamalibrarian).

Thank you for reading this issue! Your interest is greatly appreciated. We hope to feature your work in a future issue and are thrilled to be able to highlight the work of librarians in our state in this peer-reviewed publication.

Jessica E. Platt Education Doctoral Librarian Alabama State University Editor-in-Chief, The A labam a Librarian

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