portal: Libraries and the Academy

When we think of feature articles, we often envision content that is engaging, accessible, and practical. Feature articles provide an alternative to traditional, research-focused, refereed journal content. Rather than reporting on original research, a feature article may help stimulate discussion and debate among scholars, leading to new research questions and lines of inquiry. Moreover, feature articles help bridge the gap between academic research and practitioners by presenting complex ideas and findings in an accessible and appealing manner. These articles are a rich part of portal: Libraries and the Academy’s history. In this editorial, we explore the history of portal’s feature articles and illuminate our current features and their specific areas of focus. portal currently publishes three regular feature articles in each issue: Global Perspectives (edited by Michelle Guittar), Reports from the Field (edited by Mark Lenker), and Worth Noting (edited by Maribeth Slebodnik).

Feature articles align perfectly with portal’s mission of supporting and providing opportunities to authors. They often focus on practice and provide insight into a project or initiative and its impact on librarianship. As noted in portal’s Author Guidelines, feature articles are “edited but typically not peer-reviewed.” They are generally shorter than portal research articles, with features being around 3,000 words and research articles around 10,000 words.

portal identifies and solicits feature articles for publication in various ways. Manuscripts considered in portal’s traditional peer review process are sometimes recommended as feature articles. In 2021, 28 percent of submitted articles were suggested by reviewers to appear as features. Feature articles proposed for publication often have a practice-focused approach, center on case studies, or share efforts or initiatives that align with one of our feature areas. Additionally, feature articles are solicited through targeted requests from prospective authors or by portal feature editors proactively recruiting content for the journal. Suggestions can come from different sources, such as conference presentations, social media posts, news articles, and more. portal feature editors are always interested in receiving new ideas for forthcoming feature articles. [End Page 407]

The first issue of portal, in January 2001, contained two feature articles. “Isn’t Life Great? A Dot Com Delivers Access to the Wealth of Human Knowledge” provided an overview of Questia, an early Web-based online digital library, while “The Search for New Measures: The ARL LibQUAL+ Project—A Preliminary Report” shared information on a new assessment response to academic libraries’ data-driven needs. With these initial feature articles, portal achieved its goal of covering a range of content of interest to its audience of academic librarians. By the second issue of portal (April 2001), the organization of feature articles began to take shape. The April issue included eight book reviews, which became a regular component of earlier portal issues. In addition to the book reviews, two new feature article areas of focus were launched: Research: Theory and Applications, and Strategic Visioning.

Research: Theory and Applications focused on current research projects in librarian-ship and shared strategies for utilizing their results in practice for improved services. The feature also included interviews with researchers about their current and past research initiatives and put forth needed research agendas for discussion. Strategic Visioning provided individual perspectives on critical issues in libraries and higher education. In 2002, two additional features appeared: Information Technology Perspectives, centered on emerging technologies and their impact on higher education, and Information Standards, highlighting new metrics in the field. In the following years, Strategic Visioning appeared most regularly in portal, and all of these features remained in place until the mid-2010s.

In 2011, then-portal Editor Sarah Pritchard introduced a new feature called Reports from the Field, which aimed to bring attention to important issues and projects requiring a rapid response. She explained that this feature could take a variety of formats, including research project summaries, conference presentation recaps, or sharing new guidelines and standards. The first Reports from the Field article, “Three Years and Counting—The Economic Crisis Is Still with Us” by Charles Lowry, provided a time-sensitive analysis of current Association...