[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Acquisitions Interest Group meeting minutes & request for dedicated Acquisitions Listserv

Kathy Lussier klussier at masslnc.org
Wed Apr 26 13:31:23 EDT 2017


Hi all,

I'm just catching up to this email thread now. I also saw that there was 
a similar request for a circulation list that was briefly discussed in 
IRC last week.

There seems to be two schools of thought in the community about mailing 
lists. There are a lot of people who would like to see most of the 
discussions happening on just one or two lists so that nobody is missing 
out on information that may be important to them. The volume of 
discussion in the community is certainly small enough to support the 
idea of using just one or two lists for all of our communication.

We also have people who prefer to communicate on topical lists that 
pertain to their area of focus.

I'm one of those people who would prefer that all Evergreen discussions 
happen on the general list, but I'm also a person who feels comfortable 
posting to the general list. When the catalogers list was created a few 
years ago, I noticed a couple of people posting to the list who I had 
previously rarely seen posting on the general list. I think that's one 
value to creating these topical lists. No matter how much we tell people 
they should feel comfortable posting on any Evergreen-related topic to 
the general list, there will always be people who feel a little 
intimidated about posting to a list the goes out to the entire Evergreen 
community. If a new list gets more people comfortable with participating 
in the community, I consider it a win.

Although I also sometimes hear concerns that talking too much on a given 
topic might clog up another list, I've ever heard anyone complain about 
this issue. It would be good to know if there are people who do indeed 
think there is too much traffic coming from their Evergreen list 
discussions, but I personally find the volume very low.

Another factor to consider is that topical lists might give people a 
feeling that there is a place for them in the community. Since we have 
already created lists for reports and cataloging, I can see why 
community members might hope there is a similar communication platform 
for other topical areas.

What we seem to be lacking is any kind of process for requesting new 
lists or guidelines about when a new list is warranted. With no process, 
my concern is that this request and the circ request will just die with 
no definitive answer. A clear 'no' answer with reasons why the list will 
not be created is better than no answer at all.

I've looked around and found a couple of other communities that have 
some kind of language around new lists.

Debian - https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/HOWTO_start_list (very vague)
One Laptop Per Child - 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Mailing_lists#Starting_a_new_list

If you all think this is a good idea, I would be willing to work on 
coming up with some guidelines. Also, let me know if you are interested 
in helping out.

Kathy




On 04/21/2017 09:37 AM, Rogan Hamby wrote:
> My concern would be that we have already seen other lists (such as the 
> Sysadmin one) suffer from splintering as Jason pointed out.  People 
> may not sign up for a new list serv and less eyes on communication 
> ends up being a detriment.
>
> The cataloging list for example I don't think is suffering from such a 
> volume of messages that adding to it will create too many noise points 
> or disrupt it's existing communication. So far in the whole of 2017 to 
> date (109 days) we have had 23 messages on the cataloging list, so a 
> frequency of just over one every five days.  I think there's plenty of 
> room in there for focus to happen :)
>
> And I will also echo Jason's point about development input should 
> happen on the development list where possible. The dev list is not a 
> secret club for coders but for development.  Sometimes the lines blur 
> and discussion of features, bugs, etc... happens across lists (which 
> is healthy) but when things are clearly about specific development I 
> don't see how splintering the communication away from the people who 
> file bugs, test bugs, write patches, etc... benefits it.
>
>
>
>
>
> Rogan Hamby
>
> Data and Project Analyst
>
> Equinox Open Library Initiative
>
> phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>
> email:  rogan at EquinoxInitiative.org
>
> web: http://EquinoxInitiative.org
>
> On Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 9:03 AM, Tiffany Little 
> <tlittle at georgialibraries.org <mailto:tlittle at georgialibraries.org>> 
> wrote:
>
>     My vote would be "yes" for having a specific listserv for
>     Acquisitions. It would let the discussions be more Acq-specific
>     instead of clogging up the Catalogers' list with stuff they might
>     not care about, and could be a more focused discussion since it
>     wouldn't be mixed in with other areas of interest.
>
>     Tiffany
>
>     --
>     Tiffany Little
>     /PINES Services Specialist, Acquisitions/
>     Georgia Public Library Service
>     1800 Century Place, Suite 150
>     Atlanta, Georgia 30345
>     (404) 235-7160 <tel:%28404%29%20235-7160>
>     tlittle at georgialibraries.org <mailto:tlittle at georgialibraries.org>
>
>     On Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 8:41 AM, Jason Stephenson <jason at sigio.com
>     <mailto:jason at sigio.com>> wrote:
>
>         I'd argue for "No" on the creation of an acquisitions list.
>         Mainly for
>         the same reasons that the administrators' list was shut down
>         and that I
>         disagree with the creation of a circulation list.
>
>         I think the discussion of Angularization of acquisitions
>         interfaces
>         belongs on the development list and not on the catalogers,
>         general, or a
>         new list. If you want to discuss how the interface looks and
>         works,
>         you're a developer whether or not you write code, like it or not.
>
>         Just my opinion. Your mileage may vary, etc.
>
>         On 04/21/2017 08:27 AM, Elaine Hardy wrote:
>         > Christine,
>         >
>         > Works for me....
>         >
>         > Elaine
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         > J. Elaine Hardy
>         > PINES & Collaborative Projects Manager
>         > Georgia Public Library Service/PINES
>         > 1800 Century Place, Ste. 150
>         > Atlanta, GA 30045
>         >
>         > 404.235.7128 <tel:404.235.7128> Office
>         > 404.548.4241 <tel:404.548.4241> Cell
>         > 404.235.7201 <tel:404.235.7201> FAX
>         >
>         > On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 5:59 PM, Christine Burns
>         > <christine.burns at bc.libraries.coop
>         <mailto:christine.burns at bc.libraries.coop>
>         > <mailto:christine.burns at bc.libraries.coop
>         <mailto:christine.burns at bc.libraries.coop>>> wrote:
>         >
>         >     Hello
>         >
>         >     The Acquisitions Interest Group is requesting an
>         Acquisitions
>         >     specific listserv.  Currently Acquisitions falls under the
>         >     Cataloguers list with the rest of technicial services. 
>         During the
>         >     Acquisitions Interest Group meeting at the Evergreen
>         Conference this
>         >     month the group discussed the need for an Acquisitions
>         specific
>         >     listserv to facilitate AIG activity. We are anticipating an
>         >     increased amount of Acquisitions specific discussions
>         during the
>         >     Angularization of the Acquisitions module in the web client.
>         >
>         >     This topic is open for discussion please voice your
>         opinion by
>         >     *Friday May 5th*.
>         >
>         >     A copy of the meeting minutes can be found on the
>         Acquisitions
>         >     Interest Group wiki page here -
>         >
>         https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=acq:interest-group
>         <https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=acq:interest-group>
>         >   
>          <https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=acq:interest-group
>         <https://wiki.evergreen-ils.org/doku.php?id=acq:interest-group>>
>         >
>         >     Thank you
>         >     Christine
>         >
>         >
>         >     --
>         >     Christine Burns
>         >     Co-op Support
>         >     BC Libraries Cooperative
>         >     Ph: 1-888-848-9250 <tel:1-888-848-9250>
>         <tel:(888)%20848-9250>
>         > https://bc.libraries.coop
>         > https://status.libraries.coop/ <https://status.libraries.coop/>
>         >
>         >
>
>
>

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier

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