CALL-L (listserv)

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Link to CALL-L Archives (University of New Brunswick) :
https://listserv.unb.ca/archives/call-l.html

Welcome to CALL-L (version 1.0, August 1997)

Introduction

The following text introduces newcomers to the aim and scope of CALL-L and provides current subscribers with information on basic and advanced functions, troubleshooting, the archives and how to use the list most effectively. You may wish to save this message for future reference. In addition, it will be reposted on CALL-L periodically.

Aim and Scope of CALL-L

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries List (CALL-L) is an Internet discussion list focusing on law librarianship in Canada. A wide range of law library topics is discussed, including reference questions, online databases, World Wide Web sites, interlibrary loan, materials selection, cataloguing and classification, technical services, position announcements and law library administration. Anyone with an interest in law librarianship is welcome to join the list. All types of law librarians - academic, law firm, courthouse, government and corporate law librarians - are represented on the list. Most of the 450 subscribers reside in Canada but many hail from the United States and overseas. The volume of traffic on CALL-L could be characterized as light but steady. In an average week about 13 messages are posted to the list.

Using CALL-L for vendor issues

CALL-L is an un-moderated independent networking tool to share information, resources, strategies and tap into the knowledge and expertise of colleagues. Members include library professionals and our colleagues in the vendor sector. We are responsible for the collegiality of CALL-L.

The Vendor Liaison Committee is prompted to act on issues at the request of members and may not necessarily respond to issues posted through CALL-L. We recommend that you use the checklist Librarian – Vendor Relations – Best Practices as a guide to resolving issues.

The listserv is a good vehicle:

to determine the value of an enhancement or a new product
to mobilize the community to support an enhancement
to alert the membership to an issue of general interest such as an outdated tool
determining whether and unresolved issue is a unique situation or whether it is occurring in other libraries
to share a good news story when an issue is resolved

Be professional in your posting, the message is a reflection of you and your employer. Use your best judgment about whether you are indulging in a vendor rant or highlighting a broader issue. Remember that the list is not confidential.

Disclaimer

CALL-L is an unmoderated, independent discussion list based at the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is provided as a public sevice by the University of New Brunswick. There are no charges of any kind to subscribe. Authors of CALL-L messages are solely responsible for the content of their messages. The administration does not verify the accuracy of submitted messages nor does it endorse the opinions expressed by message authors. The listowner is Darren Furey of the University of New Brunswick Law Library, dfurey@unb.ca.

Status Vis-a-Vis Canadian Association of Law Libraries

CALL-L has no official status with, nor connection to, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries / Association Canadienne des Bibliotheques de Droit. However, many CALL-L subscribers are also members of CALL/ACBD.

Basic Functions

1. Subscribing to the List

Joining CALL-L is a simple, two-step process. First, send an e-mail message in the following format to call-l-server@unb.ca.

subscribe call-l First_Name Last_Name

For example:subscribe call-l Wayne Gretzky

Then in a few minutes (sometimes longer depending on network conditions) you will receive an acknowledgement from the CALL-L Server. To complete the subscription process you have to reply to this message. Select the reply function on your mail program, type "ok" (without the quotation marks) and send the message. That's it. You will then receive another message from the CALL-L Server saying your subscription has been confirmed.

2. Getting Off the List

To cancel your subscription to CALL-L, send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca:

signoff call-l

3. Finding Out Your Current Subscription Options

To find out what your personal settings are (e.g. whether you are set to receive mail or not because you're on vacation, whether you receive a copy of your own postings, etc.) send the following e-mail to call-l-server@unb.ca:

4. Sending a Message to All CALL-L Subscribers

To post a message on CALL-L, send your e-mail message to call-l@unb.ca.

List Address versus LISTSERV Address

Newcomers to discussion lists, note well. There are TWO e-mail addresses associated with CALL-L. They serve different functions and should not be confused.

The "list address" is call-l@unb.ca.
The "LISTSERV" address is call-l-server@unb.ca.

To contribute to the discussions on CALL-L, send your message to the list address, call-l@unb.ca.

To send commands, e.g. subscribing, signing off the list, getting a list of subscribers, send the message to the LISTSERV address, call-l-server@unb.ca.

Replying to Messages

Caution. Be careful when replying to CALL-L messages that you don't accidentally send a sensitive or personal message to the whole list when you had intended to communicate only with the person posting the original message. The reply function on CALL-L is set up so that when you press the reply button on your e-mail program your response goes to EVERYONE on the list. In general that's a convenient and useful feature. As soon as you reply to a CALL-L posting we all gain the benefit of your insights. If, however, you wish to communicate privately, note the sender's e-mail address and send that person a separate message.

Troubleshooting

You say you've stopped receiving CALL-L messages? Your postings are rejected? The system says you are not a member of the list but you've been a subscriber for months?

Thankfully the solution to these and other problems is usually simple, even if the explanation for why they occur is not. There are at least a couple of troubleshooting tricks you can try yourself. If they don't work then report the problem to the listowner, dfurey@unb.ca, who will take care of it.

Probably more than ninety per cent of the problems experienced by CALL-L users stem from changes in the delivery of e-mail at their end. When a mismatch occurs between a subcriber's current e-mail address and the address he or she used to subscribe to CALL-L then difficulties result -- messages not received, postings rejected, etc. Sometimes the changes in the e-mail system are minute and sometimes they occur without the user's knowledge.

Here's typically what happens. Say there's a Jennifer White from a Regent University and her e-mail address happens to be jwhite@lan.regentu.ca. She subscribes to CALL-L and the system recognizes her as jwhite@lan.regentu.ca. Then a month later the systems department at Regent University switches the routing of her e-mail, dropping the "lan" part of her address. To the CALL-L Server "jwhite@lan.regentu.ca" and "jwhite@regentu.ca" are considered two completely different persons. The first is a bonafide subscriber, the second an unrecognized interloper. Before executing many commands the CALL-L server verifies the requester is a member of the list. If he or she is not a subscriber then the request is rejected.

The simplest solution to most problems is to signoff the list and then subscribe again (see above section "Basic Functions", Getting off the List, Subscribing to the List). However, in some cases you may be unable to signoff from your old account and you end up having two subscriptions. If you are unable to fix the problem yourself contact the listowner who will manually delete your old subscription.

A quick way to verifty whether you are still subcribed to CALL-L is to send a "query" message to the server (see above section "Basic Functions" Finding Out Your Current Subscription Options). If you are on the subcription list you will receive a message listing the various settings attached to your account. Again, if you continue to have problems, contact the listowner.

Suggestions for Using CALL-L Effectively

1. Include a subject line and provide sufficient detail for it to be meaningful. If only a vague subject line is provided, or worse, no subject at all, many subscribers will not bother to read the posting.

Examples

Poor subject line: reference question Better subject line: seeking Ontario wrongful dismissal case

2. Identify yourself. Not only is it courteous to take ownership of your coments by attaching your name, it provides context (type of library, location, jurisdiction) to people wishing to respond to a posting. In addition, readers preferring to reply privately will need your contact information. A standard signature is a convenient way to include one's name, position, organization, city, province/state, e-mail address and fax number.

3. Avoid accidentally sending personal messages to the list. Remember, when you reply to a CALL-L posting your response goes to everyone on the list, not just the originator of the message. Double check the "address line" and the "cc line" in your mail program to be certain where messages are destined.

4. Note whether a message requests you to reply to directly to the sender, rather than to the list. Most surveys will fall into this category.

5. After receiving requested information consider posting an acknowledgement. This serves at least two purposes. In addition to the thanking the contributors for their efforts, it tells others who might be working on the question that the information has been found already.

6. After receiving requested information consider posting the answer or a summary of the information for the benefit of others.

7. If you are posting a reference question indicate what sources have been tried already.

8. Post interlibrary loan requests to CALL-L only as a last resort, to be used only when traditional methods have failed to locate the required item, or if there is sufficient urgency that traditional methods are too slow. All requests should indicate the sources already tried and/or the reason for the urgency.

9. Anyone posting an ILL request should include their affiliation and, at the very least, telephone number. Providing the affiliation allows list subscribers to judge the bona fide nature of the request. The telephone number allows someone to check that the requested item is still required.

10. Interlibrary loans requests should contain the annotation "ILL request" in the Subject line, e.g. "ILL Request: Article by D. Poulin". This would allow anyone not wishing to answer ILL requests to easily delete all such messages without having to view the text of the message.

11. Anyone making an ILL request on the list should immediately send a message to the list as soon as the request has been answered, letting others know that they do not need to duplicate the effort. Again, this should be clear in the Subject line, e.g. "Poulin article - Rec'd" so that it is not necessary to view the text of the message.

12. If the person making the request wishes to follow up with a "Thank You" message, this again should be indicated in the Subject line, e.g. "Poulin article - Thanks"

13. If you see an ILL request to which you think you might respond, call or email the requester first to see if the item is still needed. Say that you are prepared to provide the material requested but want to be sure that somebody else hasn't already done so.

14. If you are going to be out of the office, and you set up an autoresponder (e.g. Hi, I'm going to be out of the office for the next few days ...) on your e-mail account, remember to halt your mail from the list before you leave. If you don't everyone who posts a message to the list will get your autoresponse.

15. If your e-mail address is going to change, remember to signoff the list before the change. If you forget to do this ahead of time, you may not be able to do so once your address has changed.

16. If you are about to post a strongly worded message, or a reply to a message with which you disagree, consider postponing it overnight. You may reconsider your response after having time to reflect upon it.

Advanced Functions

1. Getting a List of Subscribers (and their e-mail addresses)

To obtain a list of CALL subscribers (by default, sorted by subscriber's e-mail address) send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca

review call-l

2. Getting a Subscriber List (in surname order)

To obtain a list of CALL subscribers (in alphabetical order by subscriber's last name) send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca

review call-l by name

3. Halting Messages When You Go on Vacation

To stop CALL-L mail when you go on vacation, send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca

set call-l nomail

4. Resuming Delivery

To resume CALL-L mail delivery, send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca.

set call-l mail

For Further Information

Several guides to the LISTSERV program are available for free on the Internet. Some are basic, others more detailed:

1. Reference Card. To receive a four-page reference card listing the key LISTSERV commands send the following e-mail message to call-l-server@unb.ca.

info refcard

2. General User's Guide for LISTSERV, version 1.8c (approximately 48 pages). This guide, intended for the average user, is available by anonymous ftp from:

ftp.lsoft.com

Change directory to the "Documents" subdirectory. Select the desired format. Several formats are provided including, Word for Windows, MacIntosh, Postcript and plain ASCII. The filename begins with "user" while the extension varies depending on the format. For example, the Word for Windows filename is "user.doc".

3. List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV, version 1.8c (approximately 136 pages). Intended primarily for individuals who manage a discussion list, this guide is available by anonymous ftp from:

ftp.lsoft.com

Change direcory to the "Documents" subdirectory. Select the desired format. Several formats are provided including, Word for Windows, MacIntosh, Postcript and plain ASCII. The filename begins with "owner" and the extension varies depending on the format. For example, the Word for Windows filename is "owner.doc".

Acknowledgments

The listowner gratefully acknowledges Christoper Noe of the University of Mississippi Law Library and Judith Bird of inTeger* acTif for permission to incorporate portions of their materials in this document.