Submissions for the OLAC Newsletter are accepted for their content and have very few restrictions with respect to an individual's writing style. Indeed, an individual contributor's writing style is both respected and encouraged, especially if it is well-articulated, logically presented and/or engagingly written. Even so, the Editor would appreciate contributors having a general understanding of the Newsletter's stylistic considerations. In general, these guidelines are intended for the Editor's expedience (to aid in consistency from issue to issue). However, contributors who wish to avoid "editorial intervention" as much as possible would also do well to be aware of them. The Editor reserves the right to re-word or re-phrase submissions according to the following guidelines. It should also be noted that the Editor might choose to overlook some of these guidelines every once in a while, if the situation warrants. The end goal is to have a professional publication that is both informative and readable.
Please note that this style sheet does not adhere to any one existing style manual. It is expected that contributors will have a working acquaintance with at least one of the recognized writing manuals, such as The Chicago Manual of Style (in any of the more recent editions), Turabian, Strunk and White, etc. Although this style-sheet generally aligns with the guidance found in the above-named manuals, it has further developed its guidelines to cover particular usages needed by OLAC's constituency.
The Editor has one general request about submissions: electronic submissions are preferred, but please do not use special formatting, headers or footers, or even page numbering with them. Even when using common word-processing software, please try to use as plain a text as possible. Special formatting sometimes has underlying (invisible) commands that can become problematic when the edited documents are copied into the final form of the publishing software; they also sometimes cause a different set of problems when the documents are prepared for the Web version. Thank you for you consideration of this request.
Since many OLAC catalogers work in institutions and attend professional meetings, much of our work is driven by seasonal considerations. Therefore, calendar designations will be capitalized (e.g., Fall, Spring, Tuesday, Friday, April, October, etc.), except for the seasons themselves, when they are used generically (e.g., "The manual should be finished by summer.").
More and more companies and initiatives are being named using constructions starting thus: lowercase letter(s) followed by capitalized letter(s) within the same word (e.g., eBooks, netLibrary, dBase, dTOC, etc.). If using one of these names at the start of a sentence, feel free to use these configurations as their constructors intended; however, it would be less jarring to readers if sentences could be formulated by avoiding placing these entities at the beginning.
Capitalize committee or organization position titles and job titles, especially when used to describe a specific person or position: Chair, Vice Chair, President, Vice President, President Elect, Funnel Coordinator, Chief, Treasurer, Liaison, Coordinator, Client Services Director, Representative, etc. These terms may be used without capitalization only if they are used generically (e.g., "The committee will elect a chair and other officers …")
Capitalize specific parts of AACR2: e.g., Chapter 9, Rule 1.0A, Area 6, etc. These terms may also be used without capitalization when used generically (e.g., "Use the rule for …", "In the chapters for non-book material…")
See also (6) below, about capitalizing the words in a title.
Avoid abbreviations in general, except for accepted acronyms. Spell out: cities, states (but here, if an abbreviation is needed for space considerations, do not use the USPO's 2-letter code, which may only be used in conjunction with an actual mailing address, use the accepted abbreviations), seasons, months, days, institution names and officers' positions.
For acronyms, no matter how familiar, spell out the first instance of the entity (e.g., book or group), followed by its acronym in parentheses; from that point onwards, the acronym may be used without qualification. Exceptions to this rule would be acronyms in common usage among OLAC's constituency: ALA , AACR, LCRI, LCSH, OLAC, CAPC, CD, DVD, AV, GMD, MLIS, FRBR . Render most acronyms without periods (e.g., ALA , not A.L.A.), but not necessarily all, such as most long-time abbreviations for degrees, such as: B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Please make every attempt to avoid splitting infinitives--it is almost always possible to re-state a sentence without them, even if this results in somewhat more stilted phrasing than desired (e.g., "to boldly go where no one has gone before" can be easily changed to: "to go boldly where…" without much change in meaning, except, of course, for the fact that it loses its intended stentorian ring).
Wherever possible please try not to end sentences with prepositions. In the famous phrase of Winston Churchill, in response to this same directive, he said: "That is something up with which I will not put!". In this comment, he took the more commonly phrased "That is something I will not put up with!" to its ridiculous extension. He was correct in his objection--sometimes it is better to phrase a sentence to make it glide smoothly or to be more reader-friendly; however, this is a professional publication and wherever possible, an attempt should be made to follow the general guidance to avoid terminal prepositions.
As all catalogers know, AACR2 does not allow for the marking off of a proper title within note text with anything more than a preceding comma and the capitalization of the first word (e.g., 500 A photo-novel of the movie, Four came home). However, in non-cataloging instances of a title, it is customary to capitalize all significant words of it (e.g., Four Came Home). Therefore, if cutting and pasting from a cataloging record, please remember to capitalize the words according to proper writing practice and to set if off either by italics (not underlining; see "Punctuation" above) or quote marks, depending on type of title. Also, please do not forget that ISBD punctuation is also not used in proper writing; for instance, "space colon space" should not be used between the title and subtitle (instead, just a "colon space" is used).
When giving guidance on cataloging and describing AACR2, ISBD and MARC (or OCLC/MARC) entities, set this text apart with quote marks, especially if they are lowercase or short; this helps the reader identify them as such more readily: e.g., MARC indicators ("blank", "0", "b"), ISBD punctuation ("space colon space", "/"), OCLC Fixed Field labels and code ("DtSt", "a"), AACR2 entities ("gmd" [this can also be capitalized without quote marks; see Abbreviations above]).
Within the context of a newsletter addressed to a collegial gathering of experts, it is fitting for a few of its columns to take a more personal tone (most notably the President's and Editor's columns). Otherwise, most submissions should aim for a professional tone. OLAC is a small enough organization that many of its members may know a majority of their fellow members, but it is still better to ensure that every potential reader is treated professionally. So, while an open and friendly tone is always encouraged, please make every attempt to accomplish this without appearing to be conversing only with a small circle of like-minded colleagues. One of the best ways to do this is to avoid the personal pronouns "I", "me", "you", "we" whenever possible. This is one good way to broaden the wording in order to be inclusive of all readers. As an example, instead of this construction: "Our work requires that we treat non-book material as …"; try to clarify and broaden the wording to something like: "A cataloger's work requires that non-book material be treated as …"
Finally, please note again the overall desirable attributes of good writing style, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this document: that submissions be well articulated, logically presented and/or engagingly written. Please re-read your contributions carefully--with "blue pencils" poised—to check presentation style; do not hesitate to edit and re-edit. In your review of your contribution, I would urge that you back away from your familiarity with the topic and try to imagine your non-librarian spouse, grandparent, or good friend reading it. If you think one of them could read it and come away with a glimmer of understanding of the content and the conclusion, then you have probably written something clear and readable for your colleagues.