Thanks to all who responded to my 'straw poll'.   26 said yes (to
occasional announcements by publishers of new books), but many
of these were qualified (if relevant; if brief; if less than 3/year etc).
12 said No, some fairly strongly.

One of the respondents was another publisher, who said:

> However, I wouldn't recommend only letting certain publishers post
> items, or limiting the number of announcements in total. Each post
> should be passed through the moderator and carefully checked to
> make sure that there are adequate contact details and that it isn't
> too long. Also the number of post per year from any one publisher
> should be checked, and also their relevance to the list. Open
> commercial posts direct to the list should be avoided at all costs.
> This is a question that is facing many commercial publishers - how
> to go about using email and the internet as a marketing tool? If
> you receive any helpful answers from academics, I would be glad to
> know of the results. The common feeling seems to be that anyone who
> is subscribed already to a Listserv is fair game for marketing
> purposes, and it can be a helpful way of  disseminating
> information. But - it has to be relevant and concise.

I am grateful to this publisher for giving such an honest response. It
has confirmed my fears that if we allow access to one publisher,
we may be inundated with many others.

Therefore I have decided that, although this list is not moderated,  I
will act as moderator for these publishers' announcements for a
trial period. (BTW, Blackwells have confirmed that they would only
wish to post 2 or 3 announcements per year).

Therefore will publishers wishing to post announcements to this list
please send them to [log in to unmask]

UTSG list owner

F O Montgomery
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
UK
Tel +44 113 233 5339
Fax +44 113 233 5334
email [log in to unmask]