On Fri, 14 Oct 1994 13:56:56 EST Tom DeLoughry said: > Dear List Owners: > > The Chronicle of Higher Education is planning an > article on the role that Internet mailings lists > are playing in scholarly communication. > > I would love to hear from some of you who can > report on the role you think your lists are > playing in your respective disciplines. > > Please write to me at the address below. > > I'm interested in knowing why people take > on the responsibilities of managing lists? I was a subscriber to the list when the announcement was made that the University of Vermont could no longer host it (it was the largest list they had) so that a new home and a new listowner were needed. I knew the Network Coordinator here at the University at Buffalo and knew that he provided a home to numerous lists so thought Buffalo might be willing to take over. As for myself, I had been a volunteer editor on DorothyL (the mystery lovers list hosted at KENTVM) so I had some idea of the work involved. It seemed a good way to expand my own horizons and to learn new skills. So I checked with the library administration and the computing center and offered to take over the list. There were about half a dozen offers from other sites but we got it and took over about a year and a half ago, in April 1993. > How do you find the time? While I do some of the work from home there is no getting away from the fact that management of a large list does require time that cuts into one's other activities. I have had to cut back on other activities. The first time I had to be away (to attend the American Library Association annual conference) I found myself a co-listowner. All I was looking for was someone who could watch over the list when I was away but I really lucked out and got much more. Douglas Winship, my co-owner, lives in Texas and we have never met in person. He is not a librarian but his wife is and he had been a long-time subscriber to Autocat to monitor it for his wife who did not have a connection at work. He is quite knowledgeable about the Internet (more so than I am) and shared his knowledge with the subscribers. Since he is not a librarian he doesn't go to library conferences and thus is available to manage the list when I am not. He has taken on the complete responsibility for the Filelist and has a knack for coming up with creative responses to changing network conditions. A jewel! > Do you get any professional rewards for doing it? Wider name recognition. Invitations to speak at meetings. > Do you include your role as a list owner on you CV? Yes. How much it counts I don't know. > Are your universities supportive or do they grouse > about the burden the listserv puts on their computers? > As I noted above it got to be too much for the University of Vermont. So far the University at Buffalo has been very supportive. The only thing the Computing Center asked is that we remove some of the earlier archives from online access so as to conserve disk space; that we did. > Be sure to let me know the name of your list, how > big it is, how long it has existed, etc. A brief history and description is attached below. > I'd also like to know your name, title, and a phone > number where I can call you. Judith Hopkins Technical Services Research and Analysis Officer Central Technical Services Lockwood Library Building State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260-2200 Phone: (716) 645-2796 FAX: (716) 645-5955 BITNET: [log in to unmask] INTERNET: [log in to unmask] Listowner: AUTOCAT@UBVM / [log in to unmask] > > I appreciate any input that folks can provide. > > Sincerely, > Thomas J. DeLoughry > Senior Editor for Information Technology > The Chronicle of Higher Education > [log in to unmask] > ph: 202-466-1061 > fax: 202-296-2691 List address: [log in to unmask] subscription address: [log in to unmask] Owners: Judith Hopkins ([log in to unmask]) Primary Douglas Winship ([log in to unmask]) Secondary Description: AUTOCAT (the library cataloging and authorities discussion group) began operation in October 1990. It was originally established at the University of Vermont by Nancy Keane; when she left Vermont in 1992 Brenda Hutchins took over as Listowner. It moved to the University at Buffalo in late April 1993; at that time time Judith Hopkins became Listowner. Its Bitnet address is @UBVM while subscribers with Internet access can access it at UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU The subscription base is still growing, having expanded from 1850 subscribers in April 1993 to over 2800 in 27 countries as of October 1994. The list is also available through the USENET newsreader as BIT.LISTSERV.AUTOCAT. Subscribers to the list have the choice of receiving messages as they are issued or in a daily digest. The list is an active one with about 20-50 messages distributed daily. Messages posted 1992 and later are available in the Autocat archives where they can be searched and retrieved. Messages for 1991 are available as monthly logs from either listowner, Judith Hopkins or Douglas Winship (WINSHIP@ TENET.EDU), the secondary listowner. There are no archives for 1990. The chief advantage of Autocat as of all such lists is that it expands the pool of knowledgeable people to whom an individual can turn for help, easily and quickly. The range of topics discussed extends from the very broad to the very specific. A cataloger faced with a publication in what to that library is a very exotic language for which it lacks adequate resources can get help; recently one library helped another in cataloging a work in Zulu while a bit earlier a library in Finland helped a library in Mississippi catalog a work in Estonian. Questions on interpretation of AACR2r, organization of technical services units, announcements of forthcoming meetings, reports of past meetings, announcements of job openings, the conditions under which Minimal Level Cataloging should be applied, how to describe the pagination of an unpaged volume, sexism in LC subject headings, these and other topics are all grist for Autocat's mill. Since AUTOCAT has subscribers at the Library of Congress and other national bibliographic centers as well as at the major utilities questions relating to the policies or practices of those institutions often generate official responses. Subscribers consist both of recognized cataloging experts and novices in their first job but all have something they can contribute. Archive availability: See par. 3 of Description List traffic: 20 - 50 plus messages a day Judith Hopkins, Listowner of [log in to unmask] Internet: [log in to unmask] Bitnet: ulcjh@ubvm