FAQ: Writing for Computers in Libraries

• Who is eligible to write for CIL?

Any working library professional who has an article idea is welcome to query. Of course it helps if you are comfortable writing and if you have published previously. Vendors and PR contacts however are not eligible to write for CIL. We are exclusively “by librarians, for librarians.” 
 

• Do I need to have prior publishing experience?

Prior publishing experience is not a prerequisite for getting published in CIL. We are more concerned with the valuable experiences and information you have to share than we are with your past publishing record. 

We do have a very specific set of Writers’ Guidelines, though, which will guide both the experienced and the inexperienced writer, and will help to keep you on track. We require everyone who is chosen to write for CIL to pay close attention to our Guidelines. We send them to each author right after we accept his or her article, and then we discuss the upcoming article to make sure that the writer understands the nature of the assignment. 
 

• What is CIL all about? What does it cover?

You can easily understand the magazine by studying our mission statement: 

CIL’s mission is to provide librarians and other information professionals with useful and insightful information about all computer-related subjects that affect their jobs. 

CIL does this through articles that are written by library professionals for library professionals, with a friendly, personal voice. These general technical articles should be practical and helpful for the average librarian in any sort of environment — corporate, special, academic, public, and K-12. CIL aims to publish articles that are interesting to read and appealing to people in many aspects of the field. 

CIL does not include reviews of books or software and does not cover general computing news. 

• Well, that’s a nice mission statement. But what does it really mean?

Our message is that CIL is not an academic journal. It is a reader-friendly magazine. We try to ensure that our features are not academic, stuffy papers full of passive verbs and long sentences that are hard to slog through. We aim to publish a magazine where info pros can share their ideas and successes by writing casual articles that are enjoyable to read. We don’t mean that our articles are not serious—they are. We simply see no reason why technology articles need to be cumbersome to read. 
 

• OK, I understand the magazine and I want to write an article. What do I do?

Please, do not write and send in a finished article! We have a query process that we use to get all our feature articles. First, study this document and our list of themes to see what sort of articles we’re looking for, and when. Then, send us a formal query telling us who you are and what your article would be about. When the query deadline for a given month has passed, we editors get together, evaluate all the ideas on that related subject, choose the ones we want to print, and notify all authors.  When you’re ready to submit an idea, you can use our handy Online Query Form. 

• How long after sending my query will I have to wait to hear if my article idea has been accepted?

Allow 4 to 6 weeks after that issue’s query deadline (not after you send it in!) for a response. Don’t worry, we will make sure to leave you enough time to write the article before it's due! 
 

• Does my article idea have to fit one of your themes?

All articles in each issue do not have to fit that month’s theme, but those queries that fit the theme will be considered over those that don’t. Queries that don’t fit a theme will be reserved as extras and used when we have extra space. 
 

• Can I get a conference paper that I’ve presented published in CIL?

CIL does not accept conference papers. They are typically too lengthy and too “academic”; this is not the style/voice that CIL magazine publishes. See our mission statement for the proper content and voice. 

However, if you still want to publish on that topic, you could adapt your paper by rewriting it into a magazine article per our Guidelines. 
 

• I’m a vendor who wants to get my product written up. What should I do?

CIL does not accept features written by vendors. Alternatively, if a librarian that uses your product wants to write an article about how he used it in an interesting way to solve a problem, he is welcome to submit a query. You may not be involved in writing the article, however; it must be the librarian’s objective story. Please realize, however, that we don’t accept articles based on a single product; we do accept articles on a single project. 

If you would simply like to get product announcements published, just send us a press release for consideration for our Newsline section. Newsline is a regular monthly news section that has nothing to do with issue themes, so just send your news as it happens and we will use it in the next available issue if it is appropriate for our readers. 

Please direct your PRs to: News Editor, Computers in Libraries magazine, Information Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055 or e-mail them to cilnews@infotoday.com. 
 

• Can I submit a paper for the Computers in Libraries Conference here?

No, this is not the right place. The conference is organized by a related but separate group of people. All paper submissions should go to Jane I. Dysart, Program Chair, in Toronto, Canada: jane@dysartjones.com or 416/484-6129. For full information see our Computers in Libraries Conference home page at http://www.infotoday.com/cil2009. 
 

• Exactly who are the CIL readers that I’d be writing for?

CIL’s readers are just like its writers—librarians working with technology in any library environment. 
 

• Is CIL a peer-reviewed journal?

No, CIL is not a peer-reviewed journal. 
 

• Can I make simultaneous submissions to other magazines?

Please do not send simultaneous submissions to other magazines. We don’t want to take the time to review and evaluate your idea, only to find later that you have already committed to another publication. 
 

• I want to submit an article, and I looked at your theme list, but it’s summertime and all your query deadlines have passed for the rest of this year. What can I do?

We usually work about 3 to 4 months ahead, from query deadline to publication date. So usually, mid-July is the query deadline for the November/December issue. We decide on the next year’s themes over the summer and publish call for papers on our web site in August and in the magazine in September.
 

• How do you choose the articles you publish?

We choose the articles based on how well they relate to a given month’s theme, and how interesting we think they will be for our readers.

We also take into consideration the quality of the writing in the query, the submitter’s experience in the area they want to write about, and the type of library/work situation (trying to include articles about all types of libraries and information centers). We look for writers who demonstrate that they really know CIL magazine, what it’s about, and what our style is. 

As with any writing submission, the first rule of thumb is “Know your audience!” Your idea needs to be on target for our readers, our content, and our style. 
 

• How should I send my query?

You must send your query using our online form.
 

• Do you pay for articles?

CIL makes honorariums for most pieces. Features usually pay between $200 and $300 (when authors are allowed to be paid; some work situations do not allow this). Authors will receive payment around the middle of the month in which their articles are published. We also routinely send a few copies of the magazine to each feature author, so they can prove to everyone that they have become famous. 
 

• Can I share my work by putting it on my Web site?

We do give authors permission to post their articles on their own personal or organizational Web sites, 90 days after the article is published in the magazine.

• Wow, all of this sounds too good to be true! You mean you might really publish my article?

We can’t publish it if you don’t send it! So send us a query today!