Dear list member,

Apologies for the length of this message, but please read to the end -
there are some questions below to which I would like comments or answers!

When I made the proposal to Mailbase to set up the
lis-tourism-and-hospitality list in June 1998, I had to estimate the number
of members who were likely to join.  I dithered over whether to put either
50 or 100.  In the end I said 100, and I am pleased that membership has
been hovering at just over 100 for several weeks now.  However, new members
are always welcome, so if you know any other librarians or related
information workers (eg publishers) who deal with tourism and hospitality
and who might benefit from joining the list or who might be able to make
useful contributions to the list, do please tell them about it.  I have
some publicity sheets available - just let me know if you could use some.

However, I am concerned at the small number of individuals contributing to
the list.  While I would not necessarily expect there to be heated
discussions (IS there anything controversial in tourism and hospitality
libraries?), I am slightly surprised that there aren't more questions and
answers.  On other lis lists that I have belonged to (lis-business,
lis-law, lis-link), there are steady streams of questions from librarians
asking colleagues for help with finding particular bits of information, or
asking if anyone else has had a trial of a particular database, and so on.
When I did a survey of list members last summer, those people who replied
(about a quarter) made generally favourable comments about the list and the
information to be gleaned from it.  While I have nothing against lurking on
lists (I admit I do it myself on other lists!), I am looking for ideas on
how to encourage more people to participate.  All suggestions welcome!

Now for the important question:  Is there anybody who is keen to become a
list owner or co-owner?  It would look good on your CV!!!  Mailbase
recommend that lists have at least two co-owners, to share the work and to
provide cover when one is on holiday.  I am particularly keen to hear from
someone who would be able to spend a bit of time "behind the scenes"
encouraging other people to participate.  (There is a Mailbase requirement
that owners have "ac.uk" addresses.)  I am happy to carry on doing the
routine administration (dealing with error messages and any problems people
have with joining or leaving the list), but I would be equally happy to
pass that on to someone else if anyone wants to do it.  If anyone wants to
volunteer, or has any queries about what might be involved, do please get
in touch.  Or have a look at http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/owner.html for
further information.  I look forward to getting lots of responses!

And finally, a note about the list archives.  Mailbase normally only keep 2
years of previous messages in the list archive.  This means that the June
1998 messages will be disappearing from
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/lis-tourism-and-hospitality/archive.html on
the first working day of July 2000.  Do let me know immediately if you can
think of any good reason why I should ask Mailbase to keep them for longer.
 Thank you.

Ruth.
List owner.


Ruth Mitchell
Tourism and Hospitality Librarian
George Edwards Library
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey
GU2 7XH
UK

Tel.      +44 (0)1483 873311
Fax.      +44 (0)1483 879500
E-mail  [log in to unmask]

Articles in Hospitality and Tourism
http://www.lib.surrey.ac.uk/aht2/

Mailbase discussion list for UK tourism and hospitality librarians
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/lis-tourism-and-hospitality/

SPRIG: Promoting Information in Leisure, Tourism and Sport
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/groups/sprig/sprig.html


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