''Florida Libraries'' began publication in July, 1949. It is the official journal of the

Florida Library Association The Florida Library Association (FLA) is a regional, non-profit organization that promotes professional discourse and opportunities for the library community in Florida. The FLA publishes the Florida Libraries Journal. The organization's missio ...

and is published bi-annually. The journal publishes articles related to librarianship in Florida, and while some of them are scholarly, others will are informal in tone and content. The journal has an open access policy, meaning that it is available freely upon publication. Past issues are archived on their website, and they are available in pdf format. The journal accepts manuscripts from librarians throughout the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

, but gives preference to submissions from librarians affiliated with Florida libraries and institutions. Part of the journal's mission is to create a space for Florida librarians to be published, as well as to provide support for the region's professionals with its content. Articles include "original research, case studies, literature reviews, reflective essays, conference reports, student scholarship, and book reviews." Articles cover challenges and ideas regarding librarianship in public, academic, and special collections settings. Articles also cover archival resources in Florida.

History

Prior to the ''Florida Libraries'' publication, the Florida Library Association first published the ''Florida Library Bulletin'' from 1927 through 1935. ''Florida Libraries'' became the successor to this initial publication, arising 14 years afterward. Though F''lorida Libraries'' began its run in July of 1949, the journal suspended publication between October 1949 and June 1951 for reasons that are unclear. Regular publication of ''Florida Libraries'' began in the later 20th century, with the earliest available digital copy of the journal being from 1998. Marcia Gebhardt was editor for 2013- 2018. Karen Urbec was editor from 2019-2022. Archives of the journal are held at the

University of South Florida Tampa Library The University of South Florida Tampa Library is the main research library for the University of South Florida. Housing over 1.3 million books, academic journals and electronic resources, including 52,000 e-journal subscriptions, 443,000 e-books, ...

. Vanessa Reyes was editor-in-chief in 2023. She announced the journal would begin a formal approach to content publication with goals of bringing forth timely refereed articles and news, alongside notes from Florida libraries, increasing the journal's subject coverage and open-access nature to expand on the work performed by the previous editor-in-chief. In 2024, Mary Daniels became editor-in-chief of ''Florida Libraries'' and noted that the goals and content of the publication would remain in line with previous goals and content published in the journal.

References

Biannual journals English-language journals Library science journals {{library-journal-stub