PUBLIB Electronic Discussion List

PUBLIB Electronic Discussion List:
General Information

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PUBLIB: An electronic discussion list for public librarians and those interested in public libraries.

List Instructions (Subscribe, Sign off, Suspend, Etc.)

See the Publib list instructions to subscribe, sign off, suspend mail, change from digest to individual messages, and more. You will need to request a password in order to change existing subscription settings. By default, list settings are digest.

Purpose

The PUBLIB electronic discussion list is for the discussion of issues relating to public librarianship. Particularly appropriate issues for discussion on PUBLIB include, but are not limited to:

Collection development, acquisitions, management and weeding, including traditional and new media
Reference services
Issues related to library facilities--security, new buildings, renovations
Policy and guidance
Trustee relationships
Internet access for staff and public
Intellectual freedom
Library administration
Sundry library "how-tos" and queries for equipment
Personnel issues
Public library jobs and related conferences

History and Current Membership

PUBLIB was founded in December, 1992, by Jean Armour Polly (then of NYSERNET, Inc., now a librarian in upstate NY) and John Iliff, now in Alaska. PUBLIB is now managed by volunteers Sara Weissman and Karen G. Schneider. Housed on the NYSERNET server until March, 1997, and then on UC Berkeley SunSITE until May 2005, PUBLIB is now hosted by Webjunction.

For several years, PUBLIB had a subset, PUBLIB-Net, focused on the Internet. The original purpose of PUBLIB-Net has gone, now that the Internet is well-integrated into library services, and support for PUBLIB-Net ended in 2000.

Audience

PUBLIB is specifically oriented toward public librarians. Other subscribers include library trustees, friends of libraries, library students and faculty, library journalists, and advocates of librarianship.

Posting Policy

PUBLIB is an unmoderated list, but posts must follow list guidelines. Failure to follow guidelines will result in warnings or removal. The following policy governs all postings to PUBLIB:

All messages must relate, however tangentially, to the general topicof public libraries. Messages that are clearly off-topic will not be posted.
Advertisements will be labeled, "AD." Only advertisements of interest to the PUBLIB community should be posted.
Posters are strongly encouraged to post summaries and direct readers to websites or similar external sources in lieu of posting entire resources verbatim to the list. Responses to messages should, whenever possible, include only enough of the previous post to continue the thread of the discussion.
Because PUBLIB is a heavy-traffic list, the moderators strongly encourage you to suspend mail if you go on vacation and resume it on your return. The archive for PUBLIB makes it very easy to view earlier messages, so you will not lose information by signing off.
Addresses that bounce nuisance messages to the entire list (vacation reminders, for example) will be set to no-mail or if necessary deleted.
No four-letter words or ad hominem attacks. You may criticize a policy or a point of view, but you must substantiate your comments. In other words, you may not say, "you stink," but you may say, "your library policy stinks because..."
The moderators are not responsible for copyright violations. It is the responsibility of the poster to ensure that his or her post does not violate copyright law.
Threads that have run their course but refuse to die may be terminated by the moderators.
Virus warnings: ONLY official CERT advisories are acceptable.

PUBLIB mascots, mottos and social activities

One proposed PUBLIB mascot is the gadfly. Another proposed mascot is the garlic clove. PUBLIB does not have a proposed motto. PUBLIBers often gather informally off the list, either online through personal email messages, through personal visits while traveling, or at library conferences such as those held by PLA and ALA.

Administration

The PUBLIB list is hosted by Webjunction. Only subscribers may post messages. Questions about PUBLIB may be directed to Sara Weissman or Karen Schneider.