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Guidelines Website is at http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html

Guidelines for MedRef-L

MedRef-L is a discussion of health and medical reference issues. The
focus of this discussion is on reference services, marketing and
promoting library services and the role of the health/medical library
in the organization or in the community served, professional
continuing education and training, etc.

MedRef-L is primarily for librarians with responsibilities and interests in
medical information, reference and collection development. The list is
also intended for professionals who have an interest in medical research,
information sources or who need to learn how to expedite needs to find
medical or related resources for their information needs and
research. Anyone interested in news of interest to libraries,
regulations that effect Libraries (e.g., JCAHO, AOA or or regulatory
bodies).

MedRef-L is for sharing useful medical, biology, science,
organizational management, information science and general reference
resources either in the form of publications, electronic publications or
Internet resources. This is also a list for discussion of medical
reference and collection development issues as well as general library
issues faced by medical librarians. Medical librarians, for the purpose of
this discussion group, are not only those librarians who work in a medical
library, but this group also includes librarians in public, academic and
special libraries who have medical information or collection development
responsibilities as a part of their work. This list is also a place to
ask questions and get the thinking of ones peers regarding reference
sources, information sources useful for finding information on a topic, or
guidance in dealing with a reference question, a library problem or
situation.

Some Specific Guidelines: MedRef-L is open to both librarians and to
others working in health and medicine related fields who want to
learn about and discuss finding medical information and/or learning
to use information resources.

MedRef-L discussion will encourage humor and collegiality within the
essential core discussion of health and medical reference issues.

MedRef-L discussion will include assisting each other with reference
questions. Patrons will be referred to their own local library as
specifically as possible.

MedRef-L will encourage participants to review/cite/critique
medically valuable sources, reference tools and websites whether
these are commercial or non-commercial.

Book, article, conference, and product announcements that are related
to health and medicine reference are acceptable postings. If you are
unsure of the appropriateness ask a moderator.

Political and religious topics *unless* they are specifically in the
context of health or medicine libraries are not acceptable on
MedRef-L.

Individuals needing copies of articles or specific ILL requests will
be referred to MEDLIB-L

MedRef-L is not meant to replace MEDLIB-L
(http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/medlib-l.html ) but rather
to provide a forum specifically for the discussion of health and
medicine reference issues.

Message titles should be informative of content, although some humorous
message titles to catch interest and attention are also acceptable.
In every message the website name and URL should appear when web
sources are
provided along with at least a short description of its content.

Flaming and ad-hominem attacks are not appreciated on this list.
Disagreement and discussion of the issues should be focused on issues and
not the people writing in the debate. Courtesy should accompany any
disagreement. Building a case rather than ripping a colleague apart is
the goal of the polite discussion expected on this discussion group. The
ultimate goal is that all of the members learn from the content and
thinking shared by the members of this group.



Subscriber Information

To Subscribe to MedRef-L:

via the Listserv Web site: http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/medref-l.html

via e-mail:Send an email message to [log in to unmask]
The message must read only: subscribe MedRef-L Your Name
EXAMPLE: subscribe MedRef-L Jo Smith

To Unsubscribe from MedRef-L

Send an e-mail message to [log in to unmask]
The message must read only: unsub MedRef-L

To post to MedRef-L Send an e-mail message to [log in to unmask]


Archives of MedRef-L

The archives of MedRef-L are open to subscribers only. Follow
Listserv's instructions for acquiring a password:
http://listserv.kent.edu/archives/medref-l.html

Moderators of MedRef-L

MedRef-L will be moderated rather than edited. Only subscribers may
post. The moderators will provide gentle guidance to keep the
discussion on topic. The guidelines are clearly delineated above.
Subscribers who go too far off topic may be set to review - meaning
their posts will be reviewed by the moderator on duty before they are
posted to the list.

The Moderators are:

Judith E. Ziegler, Library Director
Crozer-Chester Medical Center
http://virtuallibrary.crozer.org
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David Dillard, Reference and Instructional Services
Temple University Library
http://library.temple.edu/ref/Ref.htm
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Diane K. Kovacs, Web Teacher
Kovacs Consulting
http://www.kovacs.com
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Contact Diane Kovacs, if you have technical questions about your
subscription or about the Listserv.

Kara L. Robinson, Associate Professor/Reference Librarian
Kent State University Libraries and Media Services.
http://library.kent.edu