A recent call for volunteer peer reviewers for American Library Association Core division journals was incredibly successful—more than 170 answered the call and expressed their willingness to review. As we prepare to onboard and train the volunteers, we thought to share some of the highlights with you. As suggested by countless Reviewer 2 memes, peer review has been the scene of many battles—intellectual, petty, and anywhere in between. A peer reviewer once described a certain LRTS editor’s writing as “gauche” and “undisciplined,” to cite one painful example. On another occasion, peer reviewers failed to draw attention to an omission that continues to haunt this particular editor.
But we digress: in most cases, peer reviewers are constructive, helpful, and insightful. Even though it may not feel like it, the point of peer review isn’t to traumatize but rather to improve and strengthen manuscripts. It is in this spirit of constructive criticism that the LRTS editorial team onboards reviewers.