The Rewards of Managing an Electronic Mailing List

Library Trends, Spring, 1999 by Karin Begg Borei

INTRODUCTION

The electronic mailing list is now ubiquitous, and there are few librarians who have not been involved with at least one. Lists for librarians are many, the use is extensive, and just keeping up with messages can (and has) become a significant part of many librarians' work day. There may be mixed feelings about the quantity of messages but, though the electronic deluge may aggravate us from time to time, we have come to appreciate what these lists can do for us both professionally and personally.

Electronic mailing lists are, of course, one example of how communication among library professionals and among academics generally has been enhanced through electronics. The communication itself is not new, but now it is accomplished faster, more easily, among more people, and certainly less expensively than was previously the case. In addition, electronic interactions can ease, and even promote, other forms of subsequent communication such as that of face to face. Further, an electronic list can lead to communication that would not have happened otherwise, such as this personal e-mail message which followed a posting on SWEDE-L. "You wrote: Though my brother Sven has moved back there as an adult ... he's a translator isn't he? i met him in malmo at a conference last spring, something kept ringing in my brain that i knew the name ..." (Larsson, personal communication, August 17, 1998).

LIST SERVER SOFTWARE: HOW IT WORKS

How, then, is a typical list managed? Fortunately, server software exists that handles most routine chores. "A mailing list server automatically manages subscriptions and broadcasts postings to all subscribers" (Shankar, 1998). ListProc by CREN, the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking, is one mailing listserv commonly used in academe (CREN, 1998). Another is LISTSERV[R] by L-Soft, software which was "originally introduced in 1986 ... [and] was the first mailing list manager" (L-Soft, 1998). However, even with server software in place, humans also are necessary in making a list work.

To begin with, someone (usually the list owner, although it could be someone else) must install and maintain the list server software itself on a computer system that can dedicate the necessary electronic space for handling and storing the list traffic. Not all academic or other institutions have a mailing list server, especially not smaller institutions such as Trinity College of Vermont (the author's former home institution). For this reason, a server does not manage the WALDEN (Women Academic Library Directors Engaged in Networking) list. SWEDE-L, on the other hand, is managed with ListProc software, and the commands which follow are in the ListProc format.

Generally, the list owner is the person with overall responsibility for the list. The list owner establishes and reviews operational rules for a list, sets up and maintains the server parameters that correspond to those rules, monitors traffic on a list, and does technical troubleshooting when needed, most commonly in conjunction with e-mail address problems. The list owner also monitors and enforces the participation rules for the list subscribers, particularly in terms of keeping discussions civil and on topic. A list owner may share these tasks with others as she or he determines and assigns.

Among the implementation decisions the list owner must make is if the list is to be open (anyone who wants to join may) or restricted (only a specified group of people may join). Another decision to be made is if the list is to be moderated (in which case someone reviews subscriber messages before forwarding these messages to all list subscribers) or unmoderated (messages that subscribers send are posted directly to the list by the server without human intervention). The WALDEN list, given the absence of list server software, is moderated while SWEDE-L is unmoderated.

A subscriber" (sometimes called a list `member') is someone who has [submitted her or his e-mail address] to a list and receives messages posted to the list. A subscriber may also post messages for distribution to other subscribers" (University of Washington Computing and Communications [University of Washington], 1998). Without an established subscription for a person, the list server will not post messages from that person.

Subscribers on library-related lists are rarely, if ever, anonymous to the rest of the list (WALDEN and SWEDE-L are not intended to be anonymous). This is in contrast to "lists" such as chat rooms on America Online (message poster anonymity is the norm).

List commands such as SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE are sent to the list server. Thus, to subscribe to the hypothetical TOPIC-L (assumed here to be managed with ListProc), you address a message to listproc@host.edu. Moreover, messages to the list server must be formatted in a specific way. For example, to subscribe to TOPIC-L, your message to the list server must be "subscribe TOPIC-L " for the server to correctly interpret the command. A polite "please enter a subscription for -- "will not work.