Ground Rules:
COLLIB-L is not a chat line. Personal messages should be addressed to individuals, not broadcast to all subscribers. Subscribers are asked to show courtesy and exercise tolerance in their postings.

Announcements and job postings are welcome; for-profit advertising is not. Job posters are asked to comply with the following ALA/ACRL policies:

"All job announcements should include a salary range...ALA policy requires that organizations recruiting through ALA publications or placement services comply with ALA anti-discriminatory policies. Policy 54.3 states that 'ALA is committed to equality of opportunity for all library employees or applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, age, physical or mental handicap, individual life-style, or national origin.' By advertising through ALA services [including COLLIB-L], the organization agrees to comply with this policy." (College & Research Libraries News, January 1999, p.44)

Discussion List Addresses:
COLLIB-L@ala.org
Use this address to post messages you wish all COLLIB-L subscribers to read. Note: In order to post messages to this discussion list, you MUST send them from the address recorded for you.

SYMPA@ala.org
Use this address when you wish to execute commands that allow you to cancel your subscription to the list, search the archives, review subscribers, etc. It is assumed that most subscribers will find the online interface (described below) more user friendly than the email commands, but the email interface is an option. To receive an electronic version of the help guide that covers how to run commands via email, send a message to sympa@ala.org with nothing in the body but the word HELP. For best results when executing email commands, please make sure that the messages are either formatted in plain-text or include minimal formatting (no special fonts or colors and no images).

Subscribing, unsubscribing, and other list business:
The American Library Association has recently upgraded its email discussion list software. COLLIB-L is now managed by Sympa rather than the Listproc software. Postings will continue to be distributed through the COLLIB-L@ala.org address, but subscribing/unsubscribing, searching archives, changing subscription options, etc. will require logging on to the Sympa interface.

List subscribers should follow the instructions listed below to have access to the Sympa interface:

1. Go to http://lists.ala.org and click on the "Send me a password" link near the bottom of the page.
2. After you have received your password, you can directly access the COLLIB-L section of the interface by going to the following URL: http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/collib-l. The "Login" button is located at the top left corner of the screen.
3. Once logged in, the interface will allow you to manage your subscription settings, search the list archives, etc.

Full documentation on how to use the interface can be found on the Sympa web site, at http://www.sympa.org/wiki/doc/user_documentation, which links to a variety of documents.

Note: The procedure for posting messages to COLLIB-L remains the same. Address your email to COLLIB-L@ala.org and it will be delivered to all subscribers.

Complaints, Problems, Comments:
Send complaints, problems, questions about COLLIB-L that cannot be answered by this information, and comments to the list manager.

List Manager:
J. Michael Thompson
University of Houston
114 University Libraries
Houston, Texas 77204-2000
(713) 743-9697
e-mail: JMThompson@uh.edu

Last Update: May 2007 Comments or questions? Contact the Web Editor