It has been a year of major change for AARL since the new editorial team took up their roles for the third issue in 2012. Taylor & Francis began publishing the Journal in January, which has extended its exposure internationally and brought with it benefits for authors, such as the ‘author eprints’ opportunity to share free online access with up to 50 colleagues and friends. From this issue, the publishers have implemented the Online First facility. That is, all full articles accepted for publishing in the Journal will be available online before being allocated to an issue. It will mean that articles are accessible for all subscribers much earlier than in previous years and authors will be able to refer and direct interested readers to their work prior to official publication. Also announced earlier this year was the extension of the new author rights policy, first introduced in November 2011. Under this policy, Routledge/Taylor & Francis enables all authors publishing in Routledge's 35 Library & Information Science Journals (which includes AARL) to post the peer-reviewed version of their article (although not the published Version of Record) into their institutional repository immediately following publication. We encourage AARL authors to take advantage of this green open access policy to further improve the visibility of, and access to, their work. Details are available at: http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/preparation/lisrights.asp.
Another change that is occurring before the end of the year will be the establishment of a system to manage the submission, refereeing and production processes of manuscripts for AARL. We are anticipating that this new Editorial Manager system for the Journal will enhance the experience of authors and reviewers, as well as creating smoother processes for the editors.
The research articles in this issue are linked by their focus on developing skills in academic library users. The first, ‘Building Research Capacity of Medical Students and Health Professionals in Rural Communities’ by Kaye Lasserre and Jennifer Moffatt, evaluated research skills workshops for medical students and health professionals in rural Queensland. Based at the University of Queensland's Rural Clinical School, the workshops aimed to develop an understanding of research methods and the research process. Attracting highly positive evaluations, the interactive, skills-based workshop are considered an excellent approach to increase research capacity.
Co-authors Heather Hulett, Jenny Corbin, Sharon Karasmanis, Tracy Robertson, Fiona Salisbury, and Tai Peseta from La Trobe University also explored the potential for skills development in the area of information literacy. Their article ‘Information Literacy at University: A Toolkit for Readiness and Measuring Impact’ describes the development, implementation and evaluation of an information literacy skills quiz aimed at first year students and a series of information literacy modules. This initiative has drawn favourable responses from academics, who have noted improved student performance and academic research readiness.
The final full article is a review paper about MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses. Cameron Barnes' ‘MOOCs: The Challenges for Academic Librarians’ provides an excellent and timely discussion on the development and features of MOOCs and their potential impact on academic libraries. In particular, Barnes considers the role of librarians and the copyright and licensing implications of MOOCs.
We were saddened to hear of the death of Peter Biskup, earlier this year. A former editor of AARL, between 1990 and 1997, Peter Biskup would be remembered by many as the co-author of ‘Libraries in Australia’, an essential text in library and information courses throughout Australia. We are grateful to R.L. Cope who has written an appreciation of Biskup's contribution to our field, and to Peter Clayton, who succeeded Biskup as editor of AARL in 1997, for an obituary for this remarkable man.
Finally, eight books are reviewed in this issue. Ranging from library space through managing e-book collections to research methods, the reviews encompass topics that reflect the diversity of our profession and scholarly activities.
We hope the issue will stimulate discussion and ideas that can be taken into the workplace and that it will encourage our readers to embark on research projects that they will share with others in future issues.