As I write this, News & Clues has been in 'continuous' publication for a little over 40 years! To prove it, here are a few landmark issue covers from our past:
Note that I'm using the word 'continuous' instead of 'regular' -- in recent years our issue frequency has been gradually dropping, first from monthly to quarterly, then from quarterly to irregularly. The issue prior to this was printed back in December 1998.
The main purpose of News & Clues has been the timely exchange of reference-oriented library information. In 1960, a printed newsletter was a very practical, cost-effective approach; by the 1990s, the wide availability of online databases and electronic communication technology made postal distribution seem comparatively slow and expensive. For example, one of the regular newsletter features, the SJVLS Committee Meeting Calendar, was unreliable because changes and cancellations were often made after the newsletter had been printed. To address this problem, we moved this to the SJVLS website in 1998. Other timely information, such as announcements for training, planning or job opportunities, would arrive either too late or too early to fit into a monthly distribution schedule. Websites, fax and email do the job faster, cheaper and more conveniently. The online availability of Ben's Almanac and the SJVIS Song Index at our website provides access to specific reference information our staff has gathered -- the same kind of stuff that used to that used to fill the pages of News & Clues.
There remains a need to share information about the tools and techniques of library reference, so News & Clues was put into limbo for a couple years while we thought the matter over. Beginning with this issue, we are taking an evolutionary step forward by discarding paper in favor of hypertext markup language and the WWW.
Another improvement we've is shared editorial responsibility. Beginning with this issue, Natasha Kahn will co-ordinate editorial content, while I [Dave DeLaurant] will concentrate on presentation. Our official frequency will be quarterly, though we may slip in an update or two as circumstances require.
We hope that these changes will help make News & Clues a more useful publication, so we can still be around another 40 years from now!
Dave DeLaurant, SJVIS