SERIALST SCOPE & PURPOSE
(INCLUDING SELECTED COMMAND OPTIONS)
(Revised June 1991)
SERIALST (Serials in Libraries -- a user discussion group) was established in
October 1990, with technical support from Computer Operations at the University
of Vermont, in order to serve as an informal electronic forum for most
aspects of serials processing in libraries. Topics may include such things
as: cataloging, acquisitions, collection management, binding, preservation,
microfilm, union list activities, announcements, news, & job postings that
may be of interest to the serials community. In order to avoid duplicate
news and information, the SERIALST discussion group should not deal with
serials pricing issues as this topic is already covered in: Newsletter
on Serials Pricing Issues (to subscribe, issue the command: Subscribe
Prices-L to the Listserv at uncvx1 -- or (if the subscribe doesn't work)
send a message to: TUTTLE AT UNC.BITNET).
SERIALST is not moderated. Mail that is sent to SERIALST is automatically
distributed by the listserver to all subscribers. No one reviews, edits, or
verifies the accuracy of the messages. Authors of the messages are solely
responsible for their content.
Selected Command Options:
SUBSCRIBE SERIALST - To sign on to the discussion forum.
SIGNOFF SERIALST - To signoff of (or unsubscribe from) the discussion forum.
SET SERIALST NOMAIL - Useful if you're going on vacation and don't want
to signoff the list altogether; the NOMAIL option tells the
listserver not to send mail to your address.
SET SERIALST MAIL - To begin receiving mail again (undoes the NOMAIL option).
REVIEW SERIALST - Sends you a list of all subscribers to SERIALST (name
and e-mail address).
All messages to SERIALST are automatically archived by month. You may
retrieve the monthly archives by issuing the command:
GET SERIALST LOGyymm (ex., get serialst log9105). The UVM
listserver will automatically send you the month's conversations.
The above commands can be sent either by (1) sending an interactive
message to: LISTSERV@UVMVM, or (2) by sending the command as a one line
message to: LISTSERV@UVMVM (don't send it to SERIALST@UVMVM !!)
NOTE: (paraphrased from a 6/1 NOTIS-L message from Ron Johnston, McGill
University, Montreal):
All mailing systems can "mail" commands to the listserv ... LISTSERV
will ignore the "subject" of your mailing. Many mailing systems can also
send interactive messages (eg., TELL on VM/CMS, XMIT on MVS, SEND on VAX)
These messages are equally valid ways of sending the commands.
You may be cancelled from SERIALST without notification if certain
network complications arise. If you fail to receive SERIALST messages
for an inordinate amount of time, use the REVIEW command to find out
if your name is present on the distribution list.
FINALLY: It is possible to search the entire SERIALST message database
by submitting batch search jobs to the listserv@uvmvm via e-mail messages.
You may search by BOOLEAN queries and/or search limitations by date.
Because of the involved set of search commands and space limitations of
this document, interested users are referred to two other documents for
the specifics of LISTSERV search commands:
Listserv Database Functions (available from LISTSERV@UVMVM by
issuing the command: GET LISTDB MEMO)
Bailey, Jr., Charles W., "How to Search the PACS-L Message
Database." This document gives a concise overview of
LISTSERV database functions as they relate to the
PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET forum, and is useful as a guide
for searching any LISTSERV discussion forum (including
SERIALST) that runs the database access program, LDBASE.
Mr. Bailey has been kind enough to give me permission
to redistribute this document for noncommercial,
educational use. If interested, send a request
directly to me (BMACLENN@UVMVM.BITNET or
BMACLENN@UVMVM.UVM.EDU - Internet). If there
is an abundance of interest, I will post it to
SERIALST.
Birdie MacLennan
SERIALST Listowner / Serials Cataloger
Bailey/Howe Library BMACLENN@UVMVM.BITNET
University of Vermont BMACLENN@UVMVM.UVM.EDU (Internet)
