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Creating IFLA Mailing Lists

Spanish translation
Under most circumstances, IFLANET can provide IFLA members with mailing lists on topics related to the mandate of IFLA. Due to the potential for significant technical resource requirements posed by mailing lists, proposals for lists will have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the host of IFLANET, the Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST), France. The appropriateness of proposed topics will be evaluated by IFLA HQ.

1. Starting an IFLA mailing list

In general, small and closed lists pose few problems and have only marginal resource requirements.

Proposals for new lists should provide the following information:

  1. The short title (i.e., list name) of the proposed list, no more than 8 characters, (e.g., DIGLIB). When choosing a list title, avoid using the following reserved characters:        !  @  #  %  &  *  (  )  /  .
  2. A descriptive, long title of the list, up to 70 characters (e.g., Digital Libraries Research Mailing List)
  3. One or more individuals who will be responsible as list owner and moderator (see below for responsibilities of the list owner and moderator)
  4. The email addresses of list owner/moderator(s)
  5. A short paragraph describing the purpose of the list (the scope note). This note will be used in the welcome message that will be automatically sent to each subscriber.
  6. A statement whether the list is open to the public or closed
Note: All IFLA-sponsored lists must be moderated.

Please send the proposal to Sophie Felföldi, Web Manager IFLANET@ifla.org.

2. Responsibilities of the List Owner/Moderator

The list owner/moderator is responsible for the list, and each list must have an owner/moderator. Owner/moderators are typically someone from the community of users served by the list. The new list owner/moderator is expected to develop expertise with the Listserv software (Sympa) and is expected to deal with the routine technical considerations of list ownership, email management, and list moderation.

List ownership and the role of moderator confers certain responsibilities on individuals. These are:
  • to respond to subscriber requests for information
  • to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the mailing list
  • to subscribe, unsubscribe, and change the options for users as required
  • to deal with the email errors resulting from failures in transmission, inaccurate mailing list information, or other sources of mail interruption.
  • to approve postings and to ensure that posts are appropriate and on-topic.
Mailing list owners/moderators are expected to become self-sufficient. Management of mailing lists is strictly that of the list owner/moderator once the initial set-up occurs. They are also responsible for providing information beyond information to subscribers, such as questions about the list itself.

A manual for list owners is available at: http://listes.cru.fr/sympa/

3. Responsibilities of IFLANET Administration

IFLANET Administration will:
  • provide guidance and documentation for setting up lists;
  • provide a limited amount of continuing technical support;
  • will not act as list owners or moderators for any new lists.
Lists that are unused, dormant or poorly maintained, may be removed in consultation with the list owner and IFLANET.

4. Migration of existing lists to the IFLANET server

If a list is to be started with a pre-existing list of subscribers, the list must be supplied in the following format:
email@address firstname lastname

Examples:

joe.smith@library.ca Joe Smith
j.baker@stage.us Janet Baker
dewey@public.library.uk Melvyl Dewey
Note:
There can be only one space between each of the email address, first name and last name. Failure to do otherwise can have an impact upon the conversion of the addresses.

5. Discussion list archives

In general, list archives will not be maintained. Requests for exemptions will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.