Re-Introducing College & Research Libraries: Do We Still Need "Another Library Journal"?

3 In his editorial for the inaugural issue of this journal in 1939, A. F. Kuhlman explained the reasons behind the decision to launch College & Research Libraries and provided a pre-emptive response to anyone who might ask whether or not the profession really needed " another library journal. " Existing " general library journals, " he argued, could not meet the needs of " college, university, and reference librarians " because the challenges facing those librarians were " too numerous, too complex , and too specialized to be dealt with effectively … in a journal which seeks to address itself to the varied interests of all types of libraries. " Moreover, he noted (quoting Robert Maynard Hutchins), there was a general lack of research available on higher education and a need, given the central role of the library on campus, for a journal that would promote research into its unique challenges, its operations, and its contributions to teaching, learning, and scholarship. 1 Seventy-five years later, there are still concerns about the state of research in higher education, but there are now many venues for the dissemination of such research, including research into the academic and research library. 2 Indeed, the study of core journals in Library and Information Science available in this issue demonstrates how far we have come since Kuhlman surveyed a field providing few opportunities for the promotion and dissemination of research in academic librarianship. In light of our decision to cease the print publication of C&RL, and given the continued availability of more recently founded journals that also focus on the " numerous, complex, and specialized " concerns facing information ReIntroducing College & Research Libraries: Do We Still Need " Another Library Journal " ? professionals in the higher education and research enterprises, do we still need " another library journal " ? The scholarly communications environment of 2014 is certainly very different from that of 1939. Today, there are far more opportunities for academic and research librarians to present and publish the results of their research, and an increasingly broad array of media allowing them to do so outside the confines of the traditional journal. Also, the library literature is now far more effectively connected to the broader literature of higher education than was the case when Kuhlman observed (paraphrasing the results of a study by Harvie Branscomb) that academic librarians had largely " divorced …