All about underlib

Selected LISTSERV commands | Searching the underlib archive | More LISTSERV information

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Send email to underlib@mitvma.mit.edu. Remember, underlib is unmoderated; messages are sent immediately to the entire list.

About underlib

The Underground Libraries List (underlib) is a Bitnet computer conference managed by LISTSERV software. The current listowner is Theresa Tobin. This discussion is open to all the staff of the MIT's libraries and reading rooms. underlib is a place where you can ...

Learn how to use a LISTSERV list. Most library-topic mailing lists are LISTSERV lists. Underlib gives you a chance to learn how LISTSERV works while among friends. Take a chance, make mistakes, we will forgive you!
Ask questions about Athena or the libraries. Maybe someone else on the list will have an answer.
Spread the word about various happenings. A single message sent to the list will be distributed to everyone else who subscribes to the list. This makes it a good way to make announcements about events that would be of interest to library folk.

While many users are staff, underlib also serves management, administration, and others. Eric Celeste founded the conference in October 1991. Currently, there are over 130 subscribers from almost every part of the MIT Libraries system. Underlib is NOT an official activity of the MIT Libraries. It is an informal discussion group founded to foster free and open communication among all of us who work in the library system at MIT. The libraries' official mailing list is all-lib@mit.edu and all staff are automatically members of that list.

Underlib, as a free and open forum, will only survive if subscribers send messages to the list. If you have something to say about an issue being discussed, please post a message to the whole underlib list by sending it to underlib@mitvma.mit.edu. If you feel your response is not suitable for the whole list, or if the message is personal or private, make sure to send it to the appropriate individual and not to all of underlib. When replying to an underlib message, the list address, not the author's address, is automatically in the To: field -- so be extremely careful!

Messages sent to underlib are forwarded to all subscribers without any editorial intervention. Normally, underlib users receive 5-10 messages per week. Authors of underlib messages are solely responsible for the content of their messages.

All messages to the conference are also automatically archived. Users can search the message database using complex boolean queries. More about searching this database can be found below.

Again, to send a message to the underlib, send your e-mail message to underlib@mitvma.mit.edu. Make sure to include a subject on your messages to underlib, since that helps many people organize their e-mail.

Selected LISTSERV Commands

LISTSERV commands are sent as e-mail messages to the software that manages the list. These messages don't need a subject line (you can just leave it blank) and need to be sent to the LISTSERV software's address instead of the list address. This section shows some of the common commands you might want to know about.

To join underlib, send the following e-mail message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; subscribe underlib [your full name]
To sign off underlib, send the following e-mail message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; unsubscribe underlib
To stop underlib mail when you go on vacation, send:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; set underlib nomail
To resume underlib mail delivery, send:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; set underlib mail
To determine what your underlib distribution settings are (this is a useful command to try if you stop receiving underlib mail, since the systems office may have had to set you to NOMAIL because of problems with your e-mail account) send the following e-mail message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; query underlib
To see what files are available, send the following message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; index underlib
To retrieve a file, send the following message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; get underlib [filename]
To obtain a list of underlib users, send the following message:: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; review underlib
To send email to all of underlib, send a message with an appropriate subject line:: To: underlib@mitvma.mit.edu

Searching the underlib archive

To search the underlib database you must create a query message that you then send to the LISTSERV software via e-mail. Unfortunately, this query message is quite an ungainly and arcane beast. For a full set of instructions, send the message "info database" to listserv@mitvma.mit.edu.

Please note: the following instructions may be obsolete. [2001]

Eric Celeste created a small Unix tool that you can use to build these query messages. This tool is complete with some help screens that explain how to use it. To try it, do the following ...

at an "athena%" prompt add Eric's locker by typing "add efc" and hitting the return key;
at an "athena%" prompt type "efc-query" and hit return.

This is all it takes. Type "help" at any prompt to learn more about how the "efc-query" tool works. Note that this tool can be used to send queries to any list administered by LISTSERV software (such as PACS-L, for instance). If you plan to send more than one query, step (1) need only be done once during each session with Athena.

Again, to receive full documentation about searching the message database, send the following e-mail message ...: To: listserv@mitvma.mit.edu; info database

Revised 6/15/94

(Special thanks to Charles Bailey for writing the document that was the basis for this welcome message!)