Editor’s Welcome

Megan Lowe, University of Louisiana at Monroe

Welcome back to Codex! It’s a little “thinner” than our first two issues, but that’s the publishing business for you – feast and famine. 
We have quite the eclectic collection of topics in this issue. Continuing with the two new sections from the second issue, current ACRL-LA President Melissa Goldsmith has given us a thoughtful and rousing President’s Column. Beth West and Amy Baptist of Louisiana’s own Southeastern Louisiana University have created a concise bibliography of titles about Italians and Italian culture in Louisiana. 
The articles continue the diversity. Cecilia Iwala of Louisiana’s own Grambling State University describes her library’s experiences during ID conversion. Melinda Matthews of the University of Louisiana at Monroe discusses volunteerism and librarianship. My study examining how database publishers/vendors are using Facebook rounds out this issue’s collection of varied articles. 
There are several interesting reviews in this issue as well. Kelly Blessinger of Louisiana State University examines The ART of People Management in Libraries: Tips for Managing your Most Vital Resource. Van Viator of Nicholls State University reviews The A-Z of Horror Cinema. ACRL-LA Past President Tony Fonseca takes a look at Building Bridges: Connecting Faculty, Students, and the College Library. 
The assortment of topics covered in this issue’s columns, articles, and reviews is, I believe, pretty indicative of how myriad are the subjects and concerns of academic librarianship. It’s not just about research; it’s not just about cataloging; it’s not just about patrons. It’s about all those things and more together, how they interact and what kind of opportunities they afford us to learn, to help, and to reach out.
It’s also a reminder that we need to be careful about getting caught up in our own departments. It’s easy to get locked into the concerns and challenges of our individual areas of expertise. Reference can get overly focused on reference; technical services can get overly focused on technical services. It’s important to not get tunnel vision. Be curious about what goes on in other areas of your library. Not only is it important to maintain good working relationships with those areas, you might find solutions in these other departments for challenges you’re facing in your own department. In the same fashion, don’t hesitate to read an article that doesn’t pertain to your specialty. The more well-rounded we are in academic librarianship, the better able we are to help our patrons – and each other!
For the next issue, Codex will be doing its first theme issue, but don’t let that stop you from submitting articles not focused on that issue. We’ll need articles for the fifth issue as well, so go on and submit! And keep on reading!

Megan Lowe, Editor