The Evolution of ELIP, MLIS-Run Journal

As Western’s 2019 winter term draws to a close, MLIS students in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies are preparing for the publication of the second issue of the journal, Emerging Library & Information Perspectives (ELIP). A release party is scheduled for May 17, with publication set for early-to-mid May.

ELIP, an open access and peer-reviewed journal managed by the MLIS students, published its inaugural issue in spring 2018, with students enrolled in LIS 9376 - Special Topic: Scholarly Communications and Open Access serving as the editorial team. Any student enrolled in the MLIS program was eligible to submit original research, a book review or in-the-field reflections, all of which were peer-reviewed and edited before publication. That process has been repeated this year, with a new editorial team and managing editor.

As Madison Edgar (MLIS'18), last year’s managing editor explained, the journal is designed to work with the existing curriculum and was developed by instructor Melissa Seelye (MLIS'17). It is supported financially by the FIMS Grad Library. It gives students practical, hands-on experience in scholarly publishing, and as an open access publication, it also meets a high standard of accessibility and familiarizes students with one of the core foundations of academic librarianship.

“It’s important to teach those values to MLIS students because they’re going to be going into a career as a librarian or information professional where they’re going to encounter having to advocate for open access,” said Edgar. “Publishing is a big part of librarianship as well, and the circulation of research and scholarship, so I think it’s just giving them that hands-on space to get used to advocating for it and discovering why it’s important, and how a library could support publishing research so that they can carry that into their career.”

This year the So What? Why LIS research matters podcast, another student-run initiative, spoke with students and faculty involved in both the inaugural issue as well as the upcoming second issue. Hear from student authors on their experience, as well as from Meghan Kirkland, this year’s managing editor, and Melissa Seelye, course developer and instructor.


** The So What? Podcast is created and produced by student in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies. Launched in fall 2018, it broadly covers subjects related to LIS research and why it matters. Recent topics have included dementia and information, “Data Doubles,” inclusivity, social justice, and more. To listen to previous episodes, visit their website at https://sowhat.fims.uwo.ca

Appearing in this episode of the podcast:

Madison Edgar (2018 Managing Editor)
Sarah Glassford (Contributing Author)
Marni Harrington (Librarian, FIMS Grad Library)
Meghan Kirkland (2019 Managing Editor)
Nicole Schoenberger (Contributing Author)
Jim Seale (Contributing Author)
Melissa Seelye (LIS 9376 course developer and instructor)

Special thanks to LIS PhD students Alex Mayhew, kirstyn seanor and Michael Ridley for their work on this episode of the So What? podcast.