Kent State University

Libraries & Media Services

1. What is LIBREF-L?

LIBREF-L is a moderated Internet discussion on topics relating to library reference and user services. Appropriate topics for this list include, but are not limited to:

• the impact of networked reference sources on type and level of reference service
• information literacy and library instructional programs
• staff training
• evaluating reference services
• print sources (versus or in complement to electronic sources)
• staff training
• fee vs. free services
• cataloging record content and retrieving information from the catalog
• Web access policies

2. How to Send Messages to LIBREF-L

Addresses to Know: There are two addresses used in conjunction with your LIBREF-L subscription. One is for sending messages to the list; the other is for managing your subscription:

• LIBREF-L@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU is the Internet address of the discussion list. bit.listserv.libref-l is the Usenet newsgroup name of this list. All messages sent to either address are forwarded to the listowners' account for review. Approved messages then get posted for distribution to subscribers by the listowner who is moderating the list . Not all messages sent to LIBREF-L will necessarily be approved for posting--see Section 4: Editorial Policy.
• LISTSERV@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU is the Internet address of the LISTSERV, the software program that runs the discussion list. Messages sent to the LISTSERV are read as commands by the program. If they make no sense, LISTSERV rejects them. When you subscribed to LIBREF-L, you sent a command to the LISTSERV.

Sending Your Message

To get a message posted to LIBREF-L, send an e-mail addressed to LIBREF-L@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU exactly as you would send an e-mail note to a person. The LISTSERV will "read" LIBREF-L's mail and send it to the listowners' account for possible distribution to everyone who is subscribed or reads the Usenet newsgroup. If you read bit.listserv.libref-l rather than being subscribed, follow the posting process for your local Usenet system. Contact your local systems people if you have questions about your Usenet reader.

Please include a descriptive phrase for your message in the subject line. At times, you may send a question to the list that you can anticipate will generate many responses. If you expect that the responses will be brief and/or you will get many of the same or similar answers, ask subscribers to respond to you directly instead of the list. You are encouraged to then summarize the responses you received and post the summary to the list.

NOTE: As a protection against viruses, LIBREF-L will not accept any posting that includes an attachment.

Specific Types of Messages

The listowners have made available a "topics=" option to LIBREF-L (for complete explanation, see LISTSERV Commands below.) This feature allows subscribers to customize their subscription to avoid receiving certain kinds of postings. For this option to work properly, postings of a particular type MUST include the EXACT subject from the "topics=" . At this time, the "topics=" options are HUMOR, POSITION, and REFQ. If you are posting any of those, you MUST include that term in your subject line. For example, if you are posting a question about where to find a quotation, the subject line should read something like this: REFQ: help with quotation needed.

3. When You Receive Mail from LIBREF-L

Feel free to answer people's questions or to provide clarification or comments directly to the list. Often, a subscriber will post a question expecting a short, factual answer. Replies to these questions should be sent privately to the person submitting the question, rather than being sent to the list. This prevents repetitious answers on the list. See Section 4: Editorial Policy for further information.

Subscribers may provide clarification of another's message and correct errors of fact for postings on the list. However, a copy of a portion of the text being clarified or corrected should be included in the response, to avoid confusion. Be certain to remove the original headers before sending the message to LIBREF-L.

Use the e-mail "REPLY" function ONLY if you wish your reply to be read by everyone who subscribes to the list. If you want to start a personal correspondence with the writer of a note from the list, look in the header of the note to find the "FROM:" field where you will see that person's e-mail address. Or, check at the end of the note for the possible listing of the individual's address so that you may send your note directly to that person. 

4. Editorial Policy

The purpose of LIBREF-L is to facilitate discussion of reference librarianship. Messages on this list should relate directly to library reference issues. Topics can include related issues such as the impact of electronic dissemination of information on reference activities and services. The LIBREF-L listowners reserve the right to reject any posting that they decide is inappropriate for LIBREF-L.

In ALL cases, the listowners of LIBREF-L are the final arbiters of what will and will not be posted to LIBREF-L. When the listowners decide not to post a message, they may opt to send an explanation to the sender. In some cases, the sender may be given the option of altering the message so that it will be appropriate for discussion. Personal messages, including those that offer criticism of a person instead of that person's statement, should not be sent to the list and will be rejected.

Reference Questions

While the purpose of the list is to facilitate discussion of reference librarianship, there may be times when professional librarians need to draw upon the expertise of LIBREF-L subscribers to answer reference questions. Reference questions may be posted to the list only by subscribers and only when other resources have been exhausted. Basic questions which do not require special expertise (such as "what is the address of this Internet resource?") are not encouraged and may not be posted.

Responses to reference questions should be sent to the person who asked the question and will not be posted to the list. When posting a reference question, preface the topic in the subject line of the email with REFQ. This identifies the type of posting for those subscribers who have elected not to receive reference queries using the TOPICS command (see Section 7: Subscriber Option Commands).

Surveys

Surveys submitted to LIBREF-L will not be posted. The listowners will accept and post requests for survey participants. Such requests must include the name of the surveyor, the purpose of the survey, information regarding what will be done with the survey results, and an address for interested persons to get in contact with the surveyor. Such requests should be kept to fifty lines or less. Also, if a surveyor is at an institution which requires human subjects approval prior to a survey, that information must also be included. The listowners strongly urge that all postings to LIBREF-L include the name, affiliation and e-mail address of the poster at the end of the message. Such information makes it easier to respond to specific postings.

Class Assignments

Instructors who use LIBREF-L in assignments are reminded that LIBREF-L is for professional discussion and that questions from students should be timely, on-topic, and of interest rather than of the "I was told I had to ask a question on the list" variety. As a courtesy, instructors are requested to notify the listowners in advance of class assignments using LIBREF-L. Instructors should also confirm that their students have signed off LIBREF-L at the completion of their assignment.

Rights and Responsibilities

Membership in LIBREF-L, as with most other e-conferences, is a privilege and not a right. As indicated above, LIBREF-L listowners determine appropriate list content and can opt not to post any message deemed off-topic or inappropriate for this forum. Listowners are within their rights and have the responsibility to manage the discussion and, by extension, deal with infractions or problems as deemed necessary--including the removal of an individual from LIBREF-L.

5. Etiquette

The listowners urge all subscribers to be courteous and reserve the right to reject any posting considered to be discourteous. Do not send messages that are over 200 lines long or that are more than 80 characters wide. Messages that are too long or too wide cause technical problems at various sites. Cross-posting is a normal procedure on discussion lists. If you are forwarding a message from another list, include a note "from" in the subject line. That way, it will be easier for people subscribed to several lists to delete duplicate messages from their readers.

The following is a guide to e-mail etiquette, extracted from: Howard Rosenbaum and Gregory B. Newby, "An Emerging Form of Human Communication: Computer Networking" In ASIS "90: Proceedings of the 53rd ASIS Annual Meeting 1990, V. 27, Toronto, Ontario November 4-8, 1990.

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"Points for Effective Computer Mediated Communication"

• Read carefully what you receive, to make sure that you are not misunderstanding the message.
• Read carefully what you send, to make sure that your message will not be misunderstood.
• If you are using humor or sarcasm, make sure it is clearly labeled as such.
• Remember that the absence of cues associated with face to face communication provide for an environment where it is easy to misunderstand what is being said.
• Know your audience. Make sure that the person or list of people you are sending your message to are the appropriate one(s) to communicate with.
• Be tolerant of newcomers. Do not abuse new users of computer networks for their ignorance -- be patient as they first learn to crawl, then to walk.
• Avoid cluttering your messages with excessive emphasis (such as stars, arrows and the like). It may make the message hard to follow.
• If you are responding to a message, either include part of the original message in your message, or make sure you unambiguously refer to the original message's contents. It is very possible that people will read your response to the message before they read the original. (A convention is to proceed each line of the original message you include with the ">" character.)
• Always include a descriptive subject line in your message. If you are responding to another message, your subject line should be the same, with "RE:" at the beginning. If you are going off track, change the subject line. For example, if the original subject was: "e-mail." the followup subject would be "RE: e-mail." A spin-off subject would be: "My view of the world (was RE: e-mail)."
• Keep messages to only one subject. This allows readers to quickly decide whether they need to read the message in full. Second subjects may be missed.

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6. Subscriber Option Commands

NOTE: Send commands to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU, not to LIBREF-L. Send commands as the text of an e-mail message. Do not include a subject line and do not add any other information except for the command in the text of the e-mail message.

LISTSERV commands are:

UNSUB LIBREF-L - will unsubscribe you from LIBREF-L.

SET LIBREF-L NOMAIL - will stop the distribution of mail to your email address without unsubscribing you from the list. This is useful when you go on vacation, etc. Send the command SET LIBREF-L MAIL when you are ready to receive mail again.

SET LIBREF-L DIGEST - will set your subscription so that you will receive one daily posting that contains all individual postings sent to LIBREF-L for the day. The composite posting will contain a table of contents.

SET LIBREF-L TOPICS= - will allow you to customize your subscription so that you can avoid posting with particular subjects. The moderators have designated the following topics at this time: HUMOR, POSITION, REFQ. Topics= has NO impact on subscriptions which have been set to Digest. Currently, the default setting for topics= is ALL.

To eliminate specific subjects, the command is: SET LIBREF-L TOPICS= -humor (The subject to be excluded MUST be preceded by a minus sign)

To exclude multiple subjects, the command is: SET LIBREF-L TOPICS= -humor,-position

SET LIBREF-L CONCEAL - will hide your name on the list. LISTSERV can still read your name, but other subscribers won't be able to see it when they use the REVIEW command. This is similar to having an unlisted phone number.

QUERY LIBREF-L - requests the LISTSERV program to check the list of subscribers for the email address from which the request was sent. If that address is found, LISTSERV will return a message indicating that you are subscribed. If that address does not EXACTLY match any address in the list of subscribers, LISTSERV will return a message indicating that you are not subscribed.

INDEX LIBREF-L - retrieves a list of the logs (back issues of LIBREF-L) which are available from the server. The command: GET (e.g., GET libref-l.log9603a) - retrieves the indicated file.

7. About the Archives

8. LIBREF-L Co-Listowners

Leela Balraj, Kent State University
Gladys Smiley Bell, Hampton University
Diane Kovacs, Kovacs Consulting
Erica Lilly, Kent State University
Joe Salem, Kent State University
Barbara Schloman, Kent State University

Co-Listowners' E-MAIL: librefed@kent.edu

7/6/2004