Comparative Analysis of Professional Journals

The American Archivist

• Intended audience: The main audience for the journal is any person interested in the theoretical and practical approaches and advancements of being a professional archivist. It also caters to people seeking information to bridge the gap between archivists and the users. It indulges any audience reader that wants to know about the social and cultural developments that affect preserved information and recorded knowledge and how best to maintain and create it all.
• Kinds of materials it publishes: The journal publishes research articles, book reviews, editorials, essays, in-depth perspective pieces, and case studies.
• Peer-reviewed and why this is important: Yes it is peer-reviewed. Peer review is important because it helps quality control the articles that are to be published in professional journals. Peer reviews help find errors or factually incorrect data and fix them before they are released to the public. Credible, impartial reviewers who have experience on the subject are the ones who do the reviews of the articles.
• Any characteristics I find of particular interest: I like that the online publications (except for the three most recent ones) are free to the public. It’s great that the information is not guarded or in need of a membership to explore the knowledge. I also really like how involved they are with maintaining knowledge and managing it in a way that allows others to participate in adding their own ideas, information, and suggestions. The publication is really focused on figuring out ways to make the future of archiving resourceful for students and the general population.

Information and Culture

• Intended audience: For scholars and professionals interested in the how information is used in our culture.
• Kinds of materials it publishes: It publishes peer-reviewed articles on the history of information on areas such as library, museum, and information science. They work to publish on a wide range of topics to help foster connections between historians, scholars, and theorists.  
• Peer-reviewed and why this is important: Yes it is peer-reviewed. Peer review is important because it helps quality control the articles that are to be published in professional journals. Peer reviews help find errors or factually incorrect data and fix them before they are released to the public. Credible, impartial reviewers who have experience on the subject are the ones who do the reviews of the articles.
• Any characteristics I find of particular interest: I found the articles in this journal’s various publications really interesting. There were more than a handful of titles that got my attention. This journal seems to be focused on the impacts of information in our culture. I love the sociology and psychology of human behavior, so seeing how information affects and shapes our culture is fascinating to me.

The similarities between these two journals had to do a lot with information. American Archivists dealt more with how to preserve and manage the information we already have while Information and Culture focuses more on that information informs and directs our culture. They both are peer-reviewed which I think is great. Peer review leads to actuate and non-biased pieces that help non-professionals and professionals obtain accurate information to further the study of LIS and related fields. The differences between the two were more to do with what was published. American Archivists had a variety of different kinds of posts and book reviews, where as Information and Culture seemed to rely heavily on printing articles and studies. I thought the American Archivists had a more user-friendly journal and main website. They seemed to be really in-depth about their mission and all their articles are very specific and detailed. I like that they allow anyone to read their back issues at no cost. That type of free information is what I think journals will eventually all roll over to, with a cost only for the several latest editions.

The similarities and differences tell me a few things about the LIS field. One is that information is the core of all specialty areas and the main reason for the industry. Everything that has to do with library and information has to do with the creating, recording, monitoring, maintaining, and disseminating of knowledge. It excites me that no matter what branch of this industry I end up in, the main goal is the same, protect and maintain information to best serve the community.