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Code4Lib Journal LaunchesJuly 6, 2007 Code4lib is many things. It is an ad hoc group of library coders. It is a chatroom. It is an email list. It is a conference. And now, thanks to the grassroots efforts of the code4lib community, it is now also a journal.This latest addition to the code4lib brand is a logical extension of the movement that began several years ago with a small group of tech-savvy librarians wanting to have a spot to call their own. Growing from that small start to a chatroom that often attracts over 50 people at a time and a conference that has grown from 80-plus attendees in 2006 to over 50 percent more in 2007 is no small feat. It has seen such growth because it fills a need. As the profession requires more tech-savvy librarians (and I mean those who write software), tech-savvy librarians have become an audience in search of a venue and voice. If you write code in a library environment, code4lib is for you. You will find people there who share your challenges and who will share their code and their solutions with you, as you will with them. So this launch of a journal to serve as a more formal voice for this community is yet another sign of its maturity into a full-featured community that fosters collective communication, learning, and social interaction in both new ways and some traditional ones. But it's very much worth noting that even when using traditional methods of communication, code4lib does it in untraditional ways. The journal is being produced by a loose coalition of volunteers. If you want to help, then do. The editorial board is simply made up of those who volunteered to participate. This is the hallmark of everything code4lib does. If you want to participate, just do it. If you want to lead, just do it. Don't expect anyone to appoint you to anything, because we won't. If you see something that should be done, simply step forward and do it. That alone will instantly make you a full-fledged member of this community. Meanwhile, for those who may not be able or willing to contribute, the journal will be an excellent way to learn about some of the latest, cutting edge projects. It will serve to broaden the impact of this small group of hard-core techies into the broader world of less hard-core librarians who nonetheless can benefit from the knowledge this group has to share. Happy Birthday, Code4lib Journal, may you live long and prosper. Posted by Roy Tennant on July 6, 2007 | Comments (0)
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