Publication Date: December 2025
Background
As libraries adapt to the continuously evolving information landscape, user needs, technological advancements, and funding challenges —as outlined in the most recent State of America’s Libraries Report in 2023 and 2024 (ALA, 2023; ALA, 2024) — effective assessment becomes crucial. It confirms the excellence of services, underscores the value of libraries, and informs strategic decision-making. This special issue of the International Journal of Librarianship (IJoL) seeks to explore the dynamic challenges in library assessment. It will provide a platform for disseminating research, insights, strategies, and best practices in both practical and theoretical aspects of library assessment, highlighting recent advancements and future directions.
Special Issue Topics
We'd like to invite submissions of original contributions in various suitable formats, such as research papers, field reports, case studies, literature reviews, and commentaries. These should address the challenges and opportunities libraries encounter when conducting assessments of projects, services, user communities, and overall operations. We encourage submissions that cover the following areas, including but not limited to:
- Innovative methods and tools for library assessment
- Case studies on practical assessment
- Metrics and data analytics for library assessment
- Assessing user satisfaction and outreach effectiveness
- Challenges and solutions in assessing digital library services
- Impact of library services on communities
- Techniques for measuring and demonstrating library value
- Best practices in assessment
About the Journal
The International Journal of Librarianship (IJoL), ISSN 2474-3542, is a leading double-anonymous peer-reviewed academic journal that highlights innovative research and developments across the global library and information science community. Published quarterly and available as a diamond open-access journal, IJoL is accessible through major databases like EBSCO and ProQuest, and registered with the Library of Congress and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The journal ensures the permanent preservation of all published articles through the Library of Congress and the LOCKSS/PKP PLN system. For more details on the types of manuscripts accepted, please refer to the Section Policies on the journal website: https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about
Submission Guidelines:
Please visit the Submissions section of the IJoL website for detailed submission guidelines, including instructions on manuscript preparation and formatting: https://journal.calaijol.org/index.php/ijol/about/submissions.
Deadline for Submissions:
We are distributing this call for proposals in February. Please submit a 500-800 word abstract via this online form by March 31, 2025. We aim to notify authors of abstract acceptance by April 15, 2025, and invite complete paper submission by May 31, 2025.
Timeline/important dates
- Call for Proposals: February 2025
- Abstract/Proposal due: March 31, 2025 (link to submission)
- Full paper submission: May 31, 2025
- Decisions after the first round of reviews: July 2025
- Final submission: September 15, 2025
- December 2025- expected publication
Questions:
Please send questions to Special Issue editors: Feng-Ru Sheu (fsheu@kent.edu), Yin Zhang (yzhang4@kent.edu) or the journal co-editors-in-chief: Yongming Wang (wangyo@tcnj.edu).