10 Years: SERIALST's Anniversary Birdie MacLennan 18 Oct 2000 21:05 UTC
An editorial of sorts ... Dear SERIALSTers, As of about noon today, Oct. 18, SERIALST turned 10 years old! As I recall, the list was born out of a sense of need to have other librarians and serials specialists around to ask questions, give advice, exchange information. Since not everyone with something to say about serials could (or would want to) be in Vermont, it seemed the next best thing was the virtual computer connection ... once BITNET (the old academic network), now Internet. I've always been grateful to those who developed early electronic communications models in the late 1980's and early 1990's, such as the Newsletter on Serial Pricing Issues, edited by Marcia Tuttle, (http://www.lib.unc.edu/prices/ or http://www-mathdoc.ujf-grenoble.fr/NSPI/NSPIe.html) and PACS-L (Public Access Computer Systems list, pacs-l@listserv.uh.edu), which was started by Charles Bailey. These resources and a handful of others served as early models for the style and format of SERIALST. I am grateful to co-moderators, Marcia Tuttle, Ann Ercelawn, and Stephen Clark, for their support and collaboration over the years. It's a significant time commitment to vet incoming mail, answer questions about how the list works, sort through mail that bounces back or doesn't get delivered to subscribers because of network problems, screen out commercial postings and spams, etc., etc. It's been wonderful having the opportunity to work with dedicated colleagues who have helped share the load. I would like to send a huge debt of gratitude to John Ryder, our Systems Programmer and the Listserv Manager at the University of Vermont, who has given us excellent technical support through all the list management updates and changes during the past 10 years. I'd also like to thank the library administration here at the University of Vermont, who see SERIALST as a worthwhile professional contribution and who have been happy to support us. SERIALST's subscriber base remains at ~2,650 subscriber in 40 countries (the subscriber base has stayed at this level for the past five years or so) Special thanks to all of you -- the subscribers who contribute messages on a daily basis and give all of us food for thought. SERIALST, for me, has been a long and ongoing continuing education experience. And yet, it doesn't feel like 10 years already!! What once was a baby is now approaching adolescence! Sheesh, if this baby was a dog, it would already be a senior citizen!! ;-) Are we showing signs of age? Metaphor aside, I hope others who have followed this list for a while have had some interesting, maybe even some humourous moments in reading along. Maybe a few of you have had some angst and dread in reading some perspectives about difficult or controversial issues. Given that SERIALST was set up to be a tool for learning, "talking" (albeit virtually), exchanging information, I certainly hope that readers have had the occasion to be enlightened about some aspect of the serials profession and the vitality of its presence in libraries around the world. If anyone had asked 10 years ago if I'd still have a hand in working with SERIALST today, I would have laughed and said "who knows?" Doris Day might have sung, "Que sera, sera ... whatever will be, will be ..." What seems most important is just to take one day at a time and have faith that those involved with serials will always find a way to keep talking, interacting, exchanging ideas and information. Who knows what the years ahead will bring? Only change is certain. So much for reflection. So much for the first decade of this forum. Happy birthday SERIALST!! -- Birdie Birdie MacLennan SERIALST Listowner/Moderator University of Vermont bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu