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Dear Friends and Colleagues, At a recent event in New York an ARLIS/NA member I hadn't seen in a year told me she had been keeping up with my activities through ARLIS-L and was concerned because I had stopped posting. It was not my choice, but the management decision that Gregg wrote about yesterday. Under this new enforcement interpretation of an old rule they decided that my posts are commercial and I cannot include links to my art historical blog on The Art of American Book Covers, because on that site you might come across links to books on that subject that you could acquire. I was told that I cannot include links to my website, or the URL in my signature. This e-mail contains no links for that reason. As an independent bibliographer, educator, book artist and ARLIS/NA member whose roots go back to Judith Hoffberg in the mid 1970s, I have participated in many ARLIS discussions, presented papers at ARLIS/NA and for ARLIS/NA at CAA, and exhibited at ARLIS/NA conferences. I also have contributed thousands of dollars as a conference sponsor to support the organization. More than a hundred ARLIS/NA institutions have my work in their collections. The administration told me in November they were considering what the listserv guidelines should be going forward. In the last five months they have taken no action to remediate this situation. I am asking you to please support a policy that does not censor artists and scholars because a post may link to a site where you also may find an offering of relevant material. I think Gregg's idea of an ARLIS/NA Marketplace or something similar would be a valuable resource for everybody, and will talk with him about it in Washington, but that is not a substitute for a responsible policy on ARLIS-L. Other library-oriented lists have adopted reasonable guidelines. Exlibris-L, the rare book and special collections listserv, allows commercial posts on Tuesdays, for example, when booksellers post links to sales lists of rare books (the lists are not posted) and what they will be bringing to book fairs. Those who post non-commercial messages to Exlibris-L at any time include their URL in their signature. The Moderator of that list advised me years ago that posts of announcements about my books on the art of American book covers are always welcome. There is also an economic loss to ARLIS/NA members from this new enforcement interpretation. I used to post notices of pre-publication discounts here, saving many members important budget resources they could allocate to other items. That also helped me do the research and produce the books. We all lose under this arcane interpretation. Please tell our administration that you support a sensible posting policy on ARLIS-L. See you in Washington! Warm regards, Richard On 4/10/2014 2:22 PM, Most, Gregory P.J. wrote: > > Dear Colleagues; > > For the past several months, readers of ARLIS-L may have noticed that > there has been no mention of new book lists from dealers, or other > commercial announcements from vendors. The use of the listserv for > advertising or sales by individuals or organizations is prohibited > (see also Policy Manual section R-28). Many of you have received > individual e-mails from vendors in which they have been able to > advertise. These "E-Blasts" are directed only to members of the > Society, not the full list of subscribers to ARLIS-L. > > After an incident last fall, I decided that it was time to enforce > this policy, taking the moderator of ARLIS-L out of an uncomfortable > situation where she had to judge commercial and non-commercial content > as submitted for review. At the same time, the Executive Board felt > that there should be a mechanism for business members of the Society > who provide our libraries with books, images, and other products to > advertise electronically without violating Society policy. The Board > and TEI, our association management firm, have been trying to put > together an ARLIS/NA Marketplace that would be a component of the new > ARLIS/NA website. This is a complex matter that involves careful > research and thought. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~