ACRL announces the appointment of Wendi Arant Kaspar to the post of editor for College & Research Libraries (C&RL). Kaspar will serve a three-year term beginning July 1, 2016.
“Wendi brings a wealth of editorial and scholarly communication experience to the C&RL editorship” said ACRL President Karen A. Williams of the University of Arizona. “Having previously served as co-editor of two respected LIS journals, she will continue to lead ACRL’s flagship journal into the future, following in the tradition of innovation and experimentation exemplified by outgoing editor Scott Walter and his predecessors. I’m looking forward to watching the ongoing evolution of the journal under Wendi’s leadership.”
Kaspar will serve as editor designate from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, when she will assume full editorial responsibility. In the position of editor, Kaspar will also serve as chair of the C&RL Editorial Board. She succeeds Scott Walter, university librarian at DePaul University in Chicago, as C&RL editor. Walter will work closely with Kaspar over the next year to ensure a smooth transition.
“I’ve have watched C&RL’s evolution with interest, particularly as it provides a leadership model for open access and considers the opportunities that technology and new media bring to scholarly publishing,” Kaspar said. “I am excited at the prospect of being a part of this effort, contributing to the innovative voice of ACRL, and framing quality scholarship and best practices in academic librarianship.”
“Kaspar’s experience and energy will be a great asset in sustaining the momentum and reputation that C&RL has built as the premier open access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal for academic and research librarianship,” added Priscilla Finley, chair of the ACRL Publications Coordinating Committee.
Kaspar currently serves as policy sciences librarian at the Texas A&M University Policy Sciences and Economics Library, where her duties include working as liaison librarian and subject selector to the Departments of Economics and Political Science as well as the Bush School of Government including International Affairs and Homeland Security. Her extensive publishing experience includes serving as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Academic Librarianship (2012-2014) and co-editor-in-chief of Library Leadership & Management (2010-2012).
Published since 1939, C&RL is the open access, online-only scholarly research journal of ACRL.