MONTANA LIBRARY FOCUS
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS
- Montana Library Focus is published by the Montana Library Association as its official
vehicle for communications. It is published four times a year in the months of March,
June, September, and December. The deadline for submission of material is the first week
prior to the month of publication.
- Send submissions of reports, news releases, or features to: Focus Editor
- Submissions in print copy and ASCII disk are preferred. (Disks will be returned after
publication). If no disk copy can be sent, please submit text in clean, scannable copy.
Use facsimile only upon request from the editor.
- Reports should cover the business of MLA committees, divisions, or interest groups; for
example, meetings, activities, announcements, upcoming events. As a general guideline,
keep reports to 700 words or less. Please contact the editor prior to submitting any
report significantly longer than this.
- News releases are brief announcements of interest to Montana librarians, but not related
to official MLA business; for example, personnel news, grants received, programs held, new
services offered. News releases should be 500 words or less.
- Features are any article-length (1000 plus words) essay, discussion, interview, research
paper, or other form of expository writhing. Please submit complete manuscript or contact
the editor for details.
- In general, writing in the third person is preferred for reports and news releases.
- All manuscripts must be double-spaced with wide margins. Indicate your name, address,
affiliation, and phone number. For other stylistic or formatting guidelines, refer to the
Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition.