Frame of Reference

An Editor's Plea!

David Beagley

Next year, The Looking Glass turns 20. It has come a long, long way from the first collection of webpages put together by Annette Goldsmith and her team in 1997 under the auspices of the Toronto Centre for the Study of Children's Literature. It is now published as an open access online journal, it is indexed in major databases such as Google Scholar and EbscoHost, and it has a world-wide readership.

But some things have stayed the same - it still aims to offer a challenging range of views and opinions on Children's and Young Adult Literature, it still offers new voices in the arena the opportunity to publish alongside more established names (and under the same criteria) and it still presents different columns with different foci.

Probably the major thing to stay the same is now also our biggest challenge - it is put together by a small band of dedicated volunteers who do all the work because it is important that the work is done.

I have been General Editor for the decade since 2007; Caroline Jones has been involved even longer as the editor, first of The Mentor (Forerunner to Emerging Voices), then of Alice's Academy - our lead peer-reviewed academic column - since 2003. Jill May joined us in 2012 to oversee The Tortoise's Tale. Along with technical support from Simon Huggard and the La Trobe University Library team, that is it, at the moment, for the active regulars!

We run a tight ship! But, as proud as we are of how The Looking Glass has travelled over the past 20 years, we would actually be very happy for some other enthusiasts to share in the journey!

For instance…

• The peer-reviewers that we use are mostly personal and professional contacts of ours. Do you feel that this might be an area that could engage you?
• We have a number of columns that have been "rested" for while, particularly Picture Window - a forum for text illustration and visual story-telling topics. Have you an interest here?
• Story-telling is changing rapidly, especially in digital and online formats. Could you see a new column develop for this direction?

A key aspect of The Looking Glass is that it is driven by enthusiasts - I am afraid that no monetary compensation awaits contributors. Indeed, while many open-access journals charge authors to be published, we do not because we have no money to change hands! And anyway, this is scholarship, just the honest and open exchange of views; it has never been commerce.

So, could you be interested? Please get in touch with us - email to editor@the-looking-glass.net with your thoughts and ideas. All offers will be considered!

David Beagley
General Editor - The Looking Glass

Volume 19, Issue 1, The Looking Glass, August 2016

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"Frame of Reference - Introduction" © David Beagley, 2016
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