PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE

The WHSLA E-mail List is an electronic mail discussion list for Wisconsin Health Science Library Association (WHSLA) members and other medical/health sciences librarians/information professionals in Wisconsin. This forum focuses on ideas, questions, announcements and concerns specific to WHSLA members.

The WHSLA E-mail List (hereafter referred to as "the list") is not for:

1. Questions from the general public: The list is not a place for the general public/students to ask reference questions, to request assistance with library research or medical problems, or to request materials.

2. Advertisements: Advertisements should not be posted to the list. Persons who violate this guideline may be banned from submitting messages to the list. List members may send questions about a product.

3. Advocacy postings: Postings aimed at collecting mass or organized support for political and social causes are not appropriate unless it directly impacts health science librarianship in Wisconsin. Do not forward general Internet, warning, rumor, Good Samaritan, etc., postings to the list.

4. Items which are not of particular interest to health science library staff in Wisconsin: There are e-mail discussion lists for health science librarianship in general (MEDLIB-L) and for librarianship in Wisconsin (WISLIB-L). Please subscribe to these lists to begin discussions which are out of scope for the WHSLA E-mail List.

GUIDELINES FOR MESSAGES

1. Anyone may post a message to the list
To post a message to all the current list subscribers use the address: whsla@uic.edu

2. Keep postings within the scope of the list. The list should be used for MESSAGES OF INTEREST TO WHSLA MEMBERS. If your message is outside of the field of health science librarianship in Wisconsin, it probably doesn't belong on the WHSLA list. The list is not meant to replace or be an extension of other electronic discussion lists such as Medlib-L or Wislib-L. Messages or portions of messages from other electronic discussion lists which are of interest to WHSLA members can be forwarded.

3. Always use a descriptive subject line. If your message is of interest only to persons in a particular consortium (there are four consortia in Wisconsin: Northwestern, FRVLAC, South Central, SWHSL) include the name of the consortium in your subject line.

4. When replying to a message from the list, double check that your message is being sent to the appropriate place. Replies will only go to the original sender, not the entire list unless you use the “Reply All” feature in your mailing software.

5. Always give your postings a full signature. Include your name, e-mail address, title and institutional affiliation.

6. Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal material. Do not post any materials protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner.

7. The list is not a moderated list, and posts are not censored before they appear. This means that some errors or inappropriate posts will occasionally appear on the list, and some people will make mistakes. Please do not publicly chastise people who make mistakes.

8. WHSLA accepts no responsibility for the opinions and information posted by users.

9. WHSLA reserves the right to terminate access to the list and cancel the subscription of any user who does not abide by these guidelines.

10. If you have questions about the appropriateness of a post, contact the List Owner for information.

The policies are also available in Microsoft Word at: http://www.whsla.mcw.edu/listpolicies.doc