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Bernie and all, I've been subscribing to listservs as long as most, and wish to express a fact that listservs while they exist across the board, are not always a good "snapshot" as they may have been 10 years ago. That's the short answer. cheers, Karen Weaver On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 8:57 PM, B.G. Sloan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > I'm not quite sure what Karen Weaver's question is, but if she's suggesting > that library-related e-mail lists are passe that's not a good assumption. > (Note: I say "e-mail lists" instead of "listservs" because "Listserv" is a > registered trademark of one company that provides list management software). > > I've seen people "dis" e-mail lists as old-school, an anachronism that's > been replaced by social software. I think that's especially ironic, since > e-mail lists are one of the original "social software" applications. There > are quite a few vibrant library-related e-mail lists out there. Web4Lib > recently logged its 5,000th subscriber, and discussions there are active. > Another list I'm on discusses a relatively narrow topic (the future of > library catalogs), but has 2,000 members and frequently features heated > discussion. And there are other similar examples. > > And then there's what I call the "hidden reach" of library e-mail lists. > I've recently been experimenting with bit.ly to track the number of clicks > on URLs in e-mails that I post to library e-mail lists. I'd say, on the > average, that around 2,000 people click on the unique bit.ly URLs in > most e-mails that I post to these lists. For one posting, 4,373 people > clicked on my unique bit.ly URL. I think that's evidence that people rely > on library e-mail lists for information. > > Bernie Sloan > > --- On *Sat, 4/24/10, Karen Weaver <[log in to unmask]>* wrote: > > > From: Karen Weaver <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Listservs and what they reflect--or not > > To: [log in to unmask] > Date: Saturday, April 24, 2010, 11:17 PM > > > Do listservs actually help others become better professionals or learn > about the profession? > > Or do they act as simply channels of certain types of communication and > discussions, that is delivered to an inbox? > > Similarly, we should ask, if social media such as Facebook, Twitter, > Academia.edu etc provide something else or not? > > While many lists exist, I do not believe that today's librarians or others > on listservs are actually using them like they did 10 years ago. > > If a new LIS graduate goes no a job interview today and the interviewer > asks how they are active professionally, and what do they read online etc > do you think that it is going to benefit them always to mention listservs > from the early 1990s ? to some degree but it will also indicate that they > are not aware of current channels and trends. Just some thoughts. / kw > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Karen Weaver, MLS, Adjunct Faculty, Cataloging & Classification, The > iSchool at Drexel University, Philadelphia PA email: > [log in to unmask]<http:[log in to unmask]>/ Electronic Resources Statistician, Duquesne University, Gumberg Library, > Pittsburgh PA email: [log in to unmask]<http:[log in to unmask]> > * > * > *"It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, * > *through understanding."--Kahlil Gibran* > > >