Titles for review
Library Journal Book Review is an adult book selection tool for public and academic libraries. Each year it provides some 6000 timely, professional evaluations written by carefully screened outside reviewers--public, academic, and special librarians, academic faculty members, and other subject specialists.
Books chosen by the editors for review, from about 40,000 received annually, range from the most popular to the scholarly, encompass all subject areas, and include original paperbacks as well as hardcover books. The books represent the output of publishers large and small, including trade, scholarly, and alternative presses. Our 'Classic Returns' column covers reissues of out-of-print titles, or special editions, in every issue.
Books are selected for their potential interest to a broad spectrum of libraries. About 50% of LJ's readers are in public libraries; another 21% are in academic libraries; about 13% are in special libraries; and about 6% are in school libraries. Our reviews are used primarily by librarians to make their purchasing decisions.
Only a few areas of publishing fall outside LJ's scope: textbooks, children's books, very technical or specialized works (particularly those directed at a professional audience), and books in languages other than English. We do, however, consider bilingual editions, and we have a quarterly review of Spanish-language books called Críticas. Books previously published abroad are eligible if they are being released here for the first time and have a U.S. distributor.
We prefer to receive materials three to four months in advance of publication date since our primary goal is prepublication review. We will accept galleys, page proofs, or manuscripts (only one copy is necessary). Those publishers (small houses) that cannot supply advance galleys may submit finished books, but these should be sent as early as possible with the words In lieu of galleys and the publication date affixed to the cover. We generally avoid reviewing books later than date of publication, though we do make exceptions for reference and heavily illustrated works. For such works, it is helpful to send F & Gs in advance, but please follow promptly with the finished book. If F & Gs are not available, send the finished book as early as possible; many publishers are able to supply advance copies, which helps the reviewing process enormously.
Address materials to:
Book Review Editor
Library Journal
360 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010.
Send Críticas submissions attention Carmen Ospina to the same address.
Include the following information: Author, title; name, address, and telephone number of publisher; date of publication; price; number of pages; and ISBN and LC numbers if available. Please indicate whether any illustrations, an index, or bibliography will be included; also include a brief description of the book, its intended audience, and information on the author's background.
Regarding review status: LJ does not enter submissions into the book review database upon arrival; galleys and books are entered only if they are assigned for review. If you are concerned about the receipt of a galley or book, please email Anna Katterjohn a week after your title is sent, at Anna.Katterjohn@reedbusiness.com. Please indicate author, title, and a brief description taken from the catalog or press release and also indicate whether your title was sent in lieu of galleys. Your email will then be forwarded to the relevant editor, who will contact you if he or she has not received your title. Given the volume of queries, please contact us about your most important books only.
For regular updates about our upcoming reviews, please subscribe to our LJ Review Alert service and a list of books to be reviewed in a given issue will be emailed to you a month in advance of issue date. To subscribe to this free service, please email us at subscribe@email.libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com from the account at which you wish to receive the alerts. Please note that this account will not accept any other inquiries.
Please follow up review galleys with a copy of the bound book. Neither books nor galleys can be returned.
Please submit materials to:
Ann Burns, Associate Editor
Library Journal
360 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010
Email: Burns@reedbusiness.com
Phone: 646-746-6800
Library Journal, the premier source for U.S. librarians, reviews over 300 audiobooks each year. Please submit audiotapes/CDs for review as soon as they are available. Timeliness is important to our selection process, and audiotapes must be current to be considered for review. Promotional material must accompany each audiobook, noting publication date, number of cassettes, number of hours, narrator, category, ISBN, and price.
Prepub Audio: Due to the demand for early notice regarding titles, LJ has launched a Prepub Audio column in each issue of the magazine. These brief alerts note titles that are forthcoming--ideally four months away from the magazine's pub date. Please submit information on forthcoming titles as soon as it is available. Include title, publication date, number of cassettes/CDs, number of hours, narrator, category, ISBN, and price. Also note if the audiobook is an exclusive. Email this information to Ann Kim at akim@reedbusiness.com
Videotapes and DVDs are eligible for review in Library Journal if they are designed for an adult audience (public and academic) and were produced no earlier than 2002. Complete editions of appropriate releases should be sent along with information on the program's running time, distribution (name, address, phone, URL), all price information (MSR, rental, shipping/handling, public performance, etc.), closed-captioning if available.
Send to:
Bette-Lee Fox
Video Reviews
Library Journal
360 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10010
646-746-6802
bl.fox@reedbusiness.com.