by Edward M. Corrado

The abstract of the first Code4Lib Journal issue that was published over thirteen years ago read:

This mission of the Code4Lib Journal is to cover “the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future.” We hope that this journal can be one more contribution to the developing culture of collaboration around library technology, and we welcome you to join in our experiment [1].

As one of the founding editorial committee members back in 2007 when the Code4Lib Journal experiment was first launched, I believed the journal would fill an important niche in the library technology literature. However, I’m not sure I expected it to still be going at issue 51–closer to 100 than to 1. That doesn’t mean we do everything perfectly; from the beginning we have been “making it up as we go along,” [2] like the rest of the Code4Lib community. For an all-volunteer committee with basically no funding or direct institutional support I think the editorial committee members throughout the years should be proud of their contributions to our profession. I also would be remiss not to mention the numerous authors and, just as importantly, the readers of Code4Lib Journal because without them the journal would be nothing more than a distant memory.

Talking about things changing as we go along, the editorial committee is currently working on a name change policy. We don’t have the details completely figured out yet but, as some other publishers have done, we plan to base our policy on the “high level principles for name changes in publishing” described by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) [3]. As with other name change policies, such as SAGE Publishing’s policy, it is being created to help “address the needs of transgender (trans) and gender non-conforming people who, if unable to update their name, are at an increased risk of harassment and assault, as well as exposure to professional biases (e.g. relating to citation, tenure, and promotion)” [4]. This policy may also benefit authors who have name changes for any other reason including, but not limited to, divorce, marriage, religion, and indigeneity. If this is something that interests you for any reason, please contact the Editorial Committee or me directly.

Jonathan Rochkind wrote about the first issue saying “We think we’ve got a great first issue. This is due to the great work of our authors, and of the Editorial Committee” [5]. I believe the same is true of the fifty-first issue. Thank you everyone for joining in on the Code4Lib Journal experiment and making it the great success that it is.

About the author

Edward M. Corrado (ecorrado@ecorrado.us) is Associate University Librarian at the Naval Postgraduate School located in Monterey, California, USA. He is writing in his personal capacity; the views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect those of the U.S. Navy, Department of Defense, or any office of the U.S. government.

ORCID: 0000-0001-5561-346X.

References

[1] Rochkind, J. (2007). Editorial Introduction — Issue 1. Code4Lib Journal (1). https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/39

[2] Rochkind, J. (2007). Editorial Introduction — Issue 1. Code4Lib Journal (1). https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/39

[3] Tanenbaum, T., Rettig, I., Schwartz, H. M., Watson, B. M., Goetz, T. G., Spiel, K., & Hill, M. (2021, January 13). A vision for a more trans-inclusive publishing world: guest article. COPE. https://publicationethics.org/news/vision-more-trans-inclusive-publishing-world

[4] Perkins, S. (2021, May 17). Our Post-Publication Name Change Policy, Explained. Sage Perspectiveshttps://perspectivesblog.sagepub.com/blog/author-services/our-post-publication-name-change-policy-explained

[5] Rochkind, J. (2007). Editorial Introduction — Issue 1. Code4Lib Journal (1). https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/39