Editorial: Charting the Course of <i>Partnership</i>

Abstract

Partnership launched in 2006 as an outlet for sharing innovations in the workplace and one of a very few Canadian venues for the much desired peer review.... [However, it is] in no way meant exclusively for academics: this is a journal for everyone (Richard, 2006).A decade into this project, we wanted to know: What does Partnership mean to the Canadian LIS community today?Last year we circulated a survey to try to find out. We asked a range of questions about respondents' reading and publishing habits in general, and about their perceptions of our journal in particular.We had over 400 responses from librarians, technicians, administrators, board members, academics, and students across Canada. Almost half of the respondents work in academic libraries, but we also heard from the public, health, college, school, and government library sectors. Approximately half of the respondents have been working in libraries for over 11 years. The other half divided about equally between 0-5 and 6-10 years into their careers. We heard equally from respondents who were very familiar with the journal, somewhat familiar, or not familiar at all.Here we present some of the major findings from this survey, as well as some of the Editorial Team's initial actions in response to these findings. The full data set is also available for curious readers.A Canadian voice is very importantRespondents told us that the Canadian angle of our journal means something to them. They also value the variety and open access nature of the content. Other dissenting voices told us that the journal was too generic and added nothing to the already fragmented LIS publishing scene. Overall, we were surprised by how much Canadian content and context is meaningful in a globalized information world. Readers similarly value that Partnership is open access, which is not taken for granted in LIS publishing.In response, we have clarified the mandate of the journal in this vision statement:Partnership is the journal of Canada's national network of provincial and territorial library associations.Partnership promotes the exchange of ideas about libraries, librarianship, and information science among practitioners across all library sectors. We are a Canadian, open access journal publishing double-blind peer-reviewed research and editorially-reviewed articles and opinion pieces.What kind of journal title is Partnership?While many respondents liked the friendly, collaborative, community-oriented connotations of partnership, many others told us the name is banal (vague nearly to the point of meaninglessness), confusing (I did not know it was a library journal), or misleading (sounds like a trade magazine for wedding officiants). Several said the title does not connote a serious peer-reviewed journal.The journal, as many do not realize, is named for The Partnership, a network of the provincial and territorial library associations. We have decided to retain the journal's title to preserve its ties with The Partnership and to maintain continuity in the cataloguing and indexing of the journal. …