BUSLIB-L's FAQ / Frequently Asked Questions
for BUSLIB-L:
The Business Librarians' E-mail Discussion Group
last updated on 10 March 2008


BUSLIB-L moved in July 2007 and now has a web based interface located at:

http://list1.ucc.nau.edu/archives/buslib-l.html


BUSLIB-L's address for posting to the worldwide BUSLIB-L list is:
mailto:BUSLIB-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU

BUSLIB-L's editor is Tina Adams, and she can be reached by email at:
mailto:tina.adams@NAU.EDU


The operation of this list is made possible by the generous support of

Northern Arizona University



If you are uncertain of your subscription status with BUSLIB-L, then you need to send the following post, to determine your subscription status:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: QUERY BUSLIB-L



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This FAQ / Frequently Asked Questions for BUSLIB-L was authored by GARY KLEIN, who was the editor of BUSLIB-L from 1996 to 2000, and is employed as the Management & Economics Librarian at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, USA.
<gklein@willamette.edu>
Office phone #503-370-6743

BUSLIB-L relies upon on LISTSERV brand software. Since July 2007, BUSLIB-L operates on computers owned by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.

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FOCUS OF THE LIST "BUSLIB-L":

BUSLIB-L is an electronic forum that addresses all issues relating to: the collection, storage, and dissemination of Business Information within a library setting, regardless of format.

Topics of discussion often include:

BUSLIB-L will accept announcements of upcoming conferences, and calls to authors, if they are pertinent to business librarianship.

BUSLIB-L will also accept submissions of job vacancy notices if they are relevant to audience of this list. If you are submitting an advertisement for a job vacancy, please be sure to check the separate requirements for this type of specialized posting to BUSLIB-L.

BUSLIB-L can also serve as a forum for librarians to locate reference materials that are not readily available in your nearby region.

To minimize duplication of efforts, please state what sources you have already exhausted that did not answer the reference question at hand. Please do not say things such as "I've checked all of the standard reference sources," since what is standard for the UNDERFUNDED PODUNK LIBRARY is not the same as the "standard sources" at SILVER LINING MEMORIAL LIBRARY.

BUSLIB-L should not be use to bypass document delivery services that are available in your region.

Requests for locating materials can be posted to BUSLIB-L, only if each requester specifies what tools they have used to locate the materials in question. Individual BUSLIB-L readers might be able to verify a fractured citation, or identify reasons why a journal is difficult to locate. But there is no assurance that any request will generate a satisfactory response.

Each person or organization requesting assistance is responsible for adhering to their local Copyright Laws and Regulations. Although BUSLIB-L is free, use of this service does not waive any legal obligation for paying royalty fees on copyrighted materials.

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Section #2: --LIST ETIQUETTE AS IT PERTAINS TO "BUSLIB-L":

BUSLIB-L's readers are more likely to respond to calls for assistance if each query states what tools have already been consulted to no avail, before asking BUSLIB-L subscribers to lend a hand.

Approximately 31% of our subscribers choose to receive BUSLIB-L as a once-a-day digest. This will substantially slow down the number of people who read your message shortly after you hit the send button. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND when you are coping with projects that have short deadlines.

BUSLIB-L is read by librarians who work with business information sources in all types of libraries (i.e., public, academic, corporate, government, nonprofit and consortiums) across the globe.

BUSLIB-L is useful to simultaneously reach thousands of business librarians. If you want to respond to ONE PERSON who said something on the list, then you should respond with a PRIVATE MESSAGE to that person's e-mail address.
Private correspondence does not belong on this list!

When you submit a question, you are expected to summarize the results for all subscribers to see. If you want to know the results of a recently posted question, YOU SHOULD SEND A PRIVATE NOTE to the person who posted that particular call for help.

BUSLIB-L is a list that receives wide distribution (over 1,900 subscribers from 37 countries as of 2000/04/12). Messages are distributed to all subscribers automatically within moments of being received by the Listserv(R) software. Once you hit the TRANSMIT button, it is physically impossible for anyone to cancel a posting!

Any opinions expressed on BUSLIB-L belong to the respective message senders. The views expressed in any post are not necessarily those of the List Owner, the Editor, their employers, nor any organization that provides computing or software support to BUSLIB-L.

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Section #3: --SUBMITTING JOB POSTINGS TO BUSLIB-L:

All job postings must include a SUBJECT HEADING describing the job, and the location of the job (such as JOB: Economics Librarian, Washington DC, USA).

You do not have to subscribe to BUSLIB-L in order to submit a job posting notice to BUSLIB-L.

Job postings sent to BUSLIB-L can NOT include any of the following items:

Just create your job posting notice as an ordinary, everyday ASCII email, addressed as follows:

mailto:BUSLIB-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU

BUSLIB-L's Owner & Editor do not tolerate any attempts to bypass the requirement that all job postings must contain numerical salary information.

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Section #4: --A FEW ITEMS TO CONSIDER REGARDING BUSLIB-L's AUDIENCE:

Traffic on BUSLIB-L is very cyclical, tending to be in synchronization with the activity levels of North American businesses & colleges, since these groups comprise more than 85% of BUSLIB-L's subscribers.

Here is a geographic breakdown of where BUSLIB-L subscribers were domiciled as of 12 April 2000:

Usually there are only a handful of messages on Saturdays or Sundays. From mid-January to May, and from September to mid-December, message volume is typically 20-40 posts per North American work day. If your e-mail software cannot handle that amount of email, then you ought to seek help from your Internet service provider.

If your posting is specific to a certain area of geography or type of library, then please state that requirement in your post.

If you want something faxed to you, it is suggested that you ask people to first contact you PRIVATELY by email or phone to obtain your fax number. That way, only one person has to pay for a fax, and you reduce any duplication of effort by your colleagues from around the world.

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Section #5: --DIGEST versus the MAIL version of the BUSLIB-L list:

On a typical business day, participants submit 20-40 postings for distribution to all BUSLIB-L subscribers.

The "default" setting for a subscription, is for each person to receive a separate email document, for all of that day's postings. Postings are distributed the instant that they are received by BUSLIB-L's computer at Northern Arizona University.

Some folks prefer to receive their BUSLIB-L postings just once a day, in what the software calls a "DIGEST". These once-a-day distributions can be rather large in size (30-55 kilobytes each), and are issued just after the stroke of midnight, on the Northern Arizona University campus. On the weekends or on North American holidays, the digests are very small.

To switch to the once-per-day DIGEST version of BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SET BUSLIB-L DIGEST

To switch to the individual MAIL version of BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SET BUSLIB-L MAIL

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Section #6: --OTHER THINGS TO BE AWARE OF REGARDING "BUSLIB-L":

BUSLIB-L subscribers reside in all corners of the globe, but the Listserv brand software can only process posts written with the Roman alphabet.

BUSLIB-L does NOT handle:

Just create your postings as ordinary, everyday ASCII text. How you create it internally is up to you, but you must convert it to ASCII text, as your entire e-mail posting, rather than attaching it as a file.

BUSLIB-L is a closed list: you must be a confirmed subscriber in order to successfully forward a note to all other subscribers. The List Owner or Editor can manually approve any posting coming from a non-subscriber.

BUSLIB-L's List Owner and Editor each have the right to reject any posting that is not within the scope of this list's focus. They also have the discretion to distribute a posting when they feel that it is warranted.

BUSLIB-L's List Owner and Editor each have the discretionary authority to reject any subscriber who does not comply with these guidelines.

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Section #7: EXPRESSING GRATITUDE TO THE FOLKS WHO HOST BUSLIB-L:

BUSLIB-L is offered for free by volunteers at Northern Arizona University and Boise State University.

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Section #8: --A BRIEF HISTORY OF BUSLIB-L:

Two people at the University of Nevada at Reno initiated BUSLIB-L in September 1990. At some point in 1991, Boise State University in Idaho became the new host for the list, where it has resided to this date.

Daniel Lester hosted the list as BUSLIB-L's owner since it moved to BSU in 1991. Dan Lester is employed as a network specialist & librarian on the BSU campus. Dan also owns about 10 other discussion groups that run through the courtesy of BSU's computer systems.

From May 1996 to May 2000, BUSLIB-L was edited by Gary Klein at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, while Dan Lester still owned the list. During that time, Gary created a Frequently Asked Questions web page, and also helped to finetune the web based interface for BUSLIB-L's archives.

In May 2000, Dan Lester became editor once again, after some policy changes at Boise State University. Gary Klein has graciously offered to continue hosting the FAQ web pages for BUSLIB-L even though the FAQ now resides on Willamette University's computers.

Then in July 2007, the list changed hands, and is now run by Tina Adams, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.

No one has received any remuneration for lending their time and energy to the maintenance of BUSLIB-L. It is offered as a free service.

If you abuse it, you will be ejected!

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Section #9: --GAINING ACCESS TO BUSLIB-L:

There are now THREE possible format for viewing messages posted to BUSLIB-L:

You can switch between the first two formats at anytime, by issuing commands directly to the LISTSERV (a registered trademark) software at Northern Arizona University.

Archived copies of BUSLIB-L are stored in batches, with 7 days of postings in a single ASCII file. In addition to browsing the archives in date sequence, you can also perform keyword searches of the BUSLIB-L archives.

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Section #10: --ACCESSING ARCHIVED COPIES OF BUSLIB-L

In addition to our own archives that are maintained by Northern Arizona University, we currently are aware of one independently produced archives of BUSLIB-L's postings:

- - - ARCHIVAL OPTION #1 maintained by Northern Arizona Univeristy - - -
"LISTS at NAU" = Searchable archives of BUSLIB-L are maintained by BUSLIB-L and housed on the same computers at Northern Arizona University where BUSLIB-L is located.
LISTS at NAU provides easy to use software, searchable by dates and/or keywords. You can also search by fragments of phrases that are imbedded inside a word.
http://lists.nau.edu/archives

LISTSERV's archives of BUSLIB-L run from February 1998 forward.


- - - ARCHIVAL OPTION #2 - - -
"BEST OF BUSLIB-L" = Compiled by the MONTAGUE INSTITUTE REVIEW contains over 40 postings from BUSLIB-L that provide informative responses to frequently recurring questions. Best of BUSLIB-L is available from:

http://www.montague.com/review/buslibbest.html


This last archival option was independently developed. If you have any problems or questions with those archives, you need to contact the owners of those web sites.

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Section #11: --VACATIONS / HOLIDAYS / AWAY FROM COMPUTER / TEMPORARILY STOPPING BUSLIB-L POSTINGS:

If you know in advance that you will be unable to read your email on a timely basis, then you ought to be a responsible citizen and adjust your BUSLIB-L options, before your collection of unread email creates havoc for your computer system.

Although various options exist, the best way to handle this, is to utilize the UNSUBSCRIBE command to sign off from the list. Later, when you are back up on your feet at your favorite computer, then you can send in the SUBSCRIBE command.


To sign-off / unsubscribe from BUSLIB-L before going on Vacation / Holiday / Away from your computer, you need to send the following message:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SIGNOFF BUSLIB-L
or you can use: UNSUBSCRIBE BUSLIB-L


To re-subscribe to BUSLIB-L when you are able to access your computer again, send this message:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SUBSCRIBE BUSLIB-L Your COMPLETE Name


There have been many cases of people who were away from their machines when their Internet service providers changed email protocols, creating problems for subscribers and the list.

By going through the UNSUBSCRIBE and SUBSCRIBE process, we are all assured that your email address is accurate. And you receive a current copy of BUSLIB-L's Welcome message and FAQ file each time you do this.

You also have the option of switching over to the DIGEST version of BUSLIB-L, but that is not always the best option for everyone.

If you are away from your computer, and your email system has overflowed beyond capacity with unread email messages, your Internet sevice provider may ask us to remove you from BUSLIB-L. When this type of request is received from a service provider, your subscription will be terminated. You can reactivate your subscription after you clear up your backlog of unread email.

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Section #12: --EDITORIAL DECISIONS & CANCELLATION OF SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Please note that it is impossible for a message to be cancelled after you have transmitted it to BUSLIB-L.

BUSLIB-L's List Owner and Editor each have the ability & authority to cancel a subscription. If your participation on BUSLIB-L has been abusive, disruptive or dangerous with respect to other subscribers or against the integrity of the facilities & services that BUSLIB-L relies upon, then your subscription will be terminated.

Instances that have triggered the manual removal of accounts include:

The List Owner and Editor have the right to delete subscribers who repeatedly send posts that have nothing to do with the published focus of this list.

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Section #13: --BASIC COMMANDS FOR POSTING, SIGNING OFF, OR CHANGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION:

You can now process any of these commands on your BUSLIB-L subscription by using a web browser, and get instant confirmation of the changes.

This is a new user friendly web based system, available at:

http://LISTS.NAU.EDU/archives

In addition to the web interface, you can also use email based commands to modify your BUSLIB-L subscription at any time.

However, if your email address has changed,
you need to contact the List Editor or List Owner
in order for them to manually process your Change of Address.
mailto:BUSLIB-L-REQUEST@LISTS.NAU.EDU

To determine your subscription status and delivery options for BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: QUERY BUSLIB-L


To switch to the once-per-day digest version of BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SET BUSLIB-L DIGEST


To switch to the individual mail version of BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SET BUSLIB-L MAIL


To subscribe to BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SUBSCRIBE BUSLIB-L Your COMPLETE Name


To sign-off / unsubscribe from BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: SIGNOFF BUSLIB-L
or you can use: UNSUBSCRIBE BUSLIB-L


To post discussion items to BUSLIB-L:


To see what files are available regarding BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: INDEX BUSLIB-L


To retrieve a specific file regarding BUSLIB-L:

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: GET BUSLIB-L filetype


No one can determine who is subscribed to this list, other than the List Owner & List Editor.

We have permanently disabled the "review" option for BUSLIB-L.

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Section #14: --WHAT TO DO IN CASE "BUSLIB-L" MAIL STOPS ARRIVING:

First, use your web browser and check BUSLIB-L's archives to see when the most recent postings were distributed:

http://LISTS.NAU.EDU/archives

You may be cancelled from BUSLIB-L without notification if various network/computer complications arise.

If you fail to receive BUSLIB-L messages for more than 48 hours, use the QUERY command to find out if your name is present on the distribution list.

mailto:LISTSERV@LISTS.NAU.EDU
text: QUERY BUSLIB-L

- - -

Section #15: --WHO TO CONTACT, IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WACKY WITH "BUSLIB-L":

If you have a problem with the list, please contact either the List Editor or the List Owner.

When you do contact them, please include the details of the problem.

If you are receiving an error message, then please include a COMPLETE COPY of the posting, with ALL OF THE MESSAGE HEADERS INTACT. Although those code numbers may look like gibberish, they are the keys to resolving most Internet delivery problems!




This web page is Copyrighted by Gary Klein 1998-2008 on behalf of BUSLIB-L.
(WELCOME/FAQ revised 2008/03/10 gmk)