It seems to have been an inordinately busy week on SERIALST -- if not
so much from a subscriber perspective, than certainly from a listowner/
moderator perspective.  I wanted to take a few moments to note some
of the ways in which subscribers can help manage the influx of messages
and error messages (bounced returns) to UVMVM and make the job of
running the list and getting the mail out a little smoother on this end.

First of all, we have been seeing an inordinate amount of mail
that should be directed to authors of messages get directed back
to the SERIALST editors list.  Several of you responded to the
Ebsco newsletter announcement, as well as to some other requests
(none of which warranted a reply to the list) directly back to
SERIALST instead of to the appropriate addresses in the messages.
Please read the messages carefully for appropriate addresses
before automatically sending your responses to SERIALST.
Also, PLEASE NOTE WELL that when you "reply" directly to
a SERIALST message, you are usually replying back to the
list, and *not* to the individual who sent the message.
While we do screen these messages, we cannot take responsibility
for forwarding them to the appropriate person!  So please take
care in your responses!!  Re-direct your replies when necessary.

We have also been receiving an inordinate amount of mail with run-on
sentences.  Run-on sentences occur when folks have mailers that do not
have a word-wrap (or line-wrap) function, so rather than breaking up their sent
ences or words before the end of the line (as in this example) -- usually
by hitting their tab or carriage return key -- we are faced with long
messages that are often hard to read or decipher.  If your message
comes to us with lines that are not word-wrapped, it is up to the
moderator of the day to decide whether or not to edit your message
with appropriate line-breaks/spacing, or to return it to you for your
editorial re-write.  We currently don't have very many editorial guidelines
for SERIALST.  So long as your message falls loosely within the scope and
purpose of the list (which we post bi-monthly), we generally post it.
However, we won't post it if it is mostly illegible, or very difficult
to read, as we find most messages without line-breaks to be.
So please, if your mail system doesn't have word-wrap, use your
carriage return to break your lines in the appropriate places.
This small step will save everybody time in the long run.

Finally, SERIALST's policy toward cross-posting of messages from
other lists is that it's generally fine -- SO LONG AS THE CROSS-
POSTED MESSAGE IS FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR of the message!  However,
we will forward other people's messages ONLY if we have the permission
of the original author of the message -- unless the message is obviously
very public and intended for cross-posting (as in the Berkeley Lib. School
plea for support from the library community, which was begging to
be cross-posted).  If you want to post someone else's message
to SERIALST, please get their permission before you send it to us ...

Thanks for your interest and cooperation,

    Birdie MacLennan
    SERIALST Listowner/Moderator    bmaclenn@uvmvm.bitnet
    University of Vermont           bmaclenn@uvmvm.uvm.edu