On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Lauren Corbett wrote:

> First, I support the switch to the private mode if that's the best way
> for the wonderful people monitoring this list and protecting us to carry
> out the work

Thanks for the kind words, Lauren.  It looks like this is the direction we
will be taking.  Preliminary tests have shown that restricting the list to
subscribers-only has significantly reduced unsolicited mail from non
subscribers (a.k.a., "spam").

> But I have to disagree with the broad sweep of Anna's statement.  For
> example, members of search committees trying to fill a vacant serials
> position may not have someone subscribed to the list, but would like to
> post the position advertisement.

The SERIALST moderators have maintained an open, flexible policy
concerning position announcements, and we will continue to do so.  The
idea of posting job announcements was written into SERIALST's Scope and
Purpose Statement when the list started (almost 12 years ago).  To quote
the Scope and Purpose Statement :

"SERIALST (Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum) was established in
October 1990 ... in order to serve as an informal electronic forum for
most aspects of serials processing in libraries. Appropriate topics
include (but are not limited to):  cataloging, acquisitions, collection
management, serials budgets and pricing concerns, binding, preservation,
microfilm and other non print serials media, union list activities,
announcements, news, and job postings that are of interest to the serials
community ..."  (cf., http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/serialst.html)

>>From a philosophical list management perspective, as well as from a
personal point of view, I consider job announcements to be an important
public service provided by SERIALST.  The job announcements, IMHO, help
serials professionals make the connections as far as those seeking and
offering employment are concerned.  I think it is also important to read
about what positions are open, how employers are describing the work that
serialists do, and what kinds of salaries are being offered to do it!
Job announcements are a way of keeping up with current trends and what is
going on in our world; what is needed from us, on the local, economic and
global scale.  Yes, there are other "job" services that are set up to do
this, but why send subscribers elsewhere for serials jobs when SERIALST
was designed as a discussion and announcement list that is specifically
about "serials in libraries" ...?

My other concern about the "private" settings, as I stated earlier, is
that there are many current and valid subscribers of SERIALST who have
minor discrepancies or changes of address than the address that they are
subscribed under.  These folks may have problems posting to the list and
will need to sign off and resubscribe, or ask the moderators (at the
serialst-request address) to sign them off, so you can resubscribe under
your current address.

Ciao,
        Birdie MacLennan
        SERIALST Listowner/Moderator
        Coordinator, Serials & Cataloging
        University of Vermont
        bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu