I. The H-HistBibl Network: Scope, Content, Purpose.

H-HistBibl is an international network for librarians, archivists, curators, and scholars interested in the practice and study of bibliographic and library services in support of historical study and teaching. We seek to provide the first discipline-wide electronic forum for the sharing of questions relating to history librarianship. We want to facilitate collaboration among history bibliographers, across institutions and countries, in collection development and in the more effective dissemination of information about history resources. Finally, we seek to enhance liaison within H-Net between history librarians, archivists, curators, and teaching historians through the sharing of information and the reviewing of historical reference works and of lists and websites inside H-Net and beyond it.

H-HistBibl is affiliated with the History Section (HS) of the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, and Association for the Bibliography of History (ABH). The HS has six committees: the Executive Committee, Bibliography and Indexes Committee, Genealogy Committee, Historical Events Committee, Instruction & Research Services Committee, Local History Committee, and Genealogical Publishing Company Award Committee. The ABH is an affiliated society of the American Historical Association (AHA), and organizes business meetings and sessions at the annual meeting of the AHA.

II. Editors

The editors serve two-year renewable terms, with the approval of the H-Net Executive Committee and rotate their duties. The current editor will be identified in all messages coming from the list. The editors will solicit postings (by email, phone and even by regular mail), will assist people in managing subscriptions and setting up options, will handle routine inquiries, and will consolidate some postings. Anyone with suggestions about what H-HistBibl can and might do is invited to send in ideas. The editors will solicit and post newsletter-type information (calls for conferences, for example, or listings of sessions at conventions.) They will also commission book and article reviews, and post book announcements from publishers. H-HistBibl will be moderated to filter out extraneous messages (like requests for subscription) and items that do not belong on H-HistBibl. They may belong somewhere else, or in the judgment of the editors they do not aid the scholarly dialogue. The editors will not alter the meaning of messages without the author's permission.

III. Communicating through the List

A. Copyright notice.
All contributions to H-HistBibl fall under the H-Net Charter's sections covering copyright: "[Art. VI,Secs. G and H]: "H-Net respects the copyrights of authors whose material is posted on its lists and/or stored in its logs, fileservers, and gopher. Authors who post items to H-Net lists convey to H-Net only the right to electronically reproduce their work on H-Net lists and in H-Net files. H-Net owns the name of each subject-area list, its roster of subscribers, its on-line files, and its gopher and related files. All funds raised by advertisements and fees charged by the subject-area lists belong to H-Net and are under the control of the treasurer. H-Net's assertion of ownership is meant only to protect the rights of H-Net and shall not infringe on the copyrights of authors regarding any files or documents they may have made available to H-Net." In general, the author retains copyright rights to publication of any submission to the list, and H-HistBibl and H-Net retain the right to store, disseminate with full attribution, and make available to subscribers such submissions. Postings (such as H-Net book reviews) that are commissioned by H-HistBibl or H-Net are copyrighted by H-Net and available for redistribution under "fair use" provisions of applicable United States copyright law. A full copy of the H-Net charter and other important information may be found on the World Wide Web at: http://h-net.msu.edu/about/.

B. Technical Information.
When you subscribe, LISTSERV will send you a confirmation message containing important information about managing your subscription. You are encouraged to save this message as a text file for future reference. ALL changes to your subscription must be addressed to listserv@h-net.msu.edu, the software that manages the distribution and archiving of list electronic mail.

1. TO SUBSCRIBE: send this email message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
   1. sub h-histbibl your name, institution Example: sub h-histbibl Jane Smith, Illinois State U.
   2. Follow the instructions in the reply that LISTSERV will send you in response to this command.
2. To unsubscribe, logon to the computer account from which you subscribed to the list, and send this message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
   1. signoff h-histbibl
   2. Please unsubscribe from H-HistBibl and all other mailing lists if you are terminating a particular computer account. You can then resubscribe from the new account.
3. To send your own message to all subscribers, send an email note directly to H-HISTBIBL@h-net.msu.edu. Please see "C." below on style and formatting of messages to the list.
4. To REPLY to a message so that all subscribers can read it, be sure that the outgoing reply is directed to H-HISTBIBL@h-net.msu.edu, and not to the original author or to the editor. Replies intended only for individual authors should be sent directly to the author.
5. If you are away for an extended period, suspend H-HistBibl email by sending this to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
   1. set h-histbibl nomail
6. After vacation, you can resume by sending to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
   1. set h-histbibl mail
7. If you prefer to receive one daily digest of all posts to H-HistBibl instead of various individual posts, you can do so by sending this to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
   1. set h-histbibl digest
   2. To return to individual messages, send the following message:
   3. set h-histbibl nodigest

C. Contributions: "Netiquette."
The tone and content of H-HistBibl depend directly on subscribers. The editors want to encourage lively, informal, productive discussion and exchange of information. To that end, we ask that contributions be considerate of the needs of a busy audience of professionals and scholars, some of whom must pay for their access to the internet. Please sign all mail to the list -- the editors will delay posting until authorship is confirmed. The list also strictly enforces a "no flame" rule: ad hominems, unattributed quotations or innuendo, or messages that violate the norms of civility and professional courtesy will be rejected. Persistent violators can be removed from the subscription list.

IV. The H-HistBibl Site on the World Wide Web

In addition to providing interactive communications via electronic mail, H-HistBibl also maintains a site on the World Wide Web. The site is located on the H-Net server at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. It may be located by following the hypertext links at http://h-net.msu.edu. The H-HistBibl web site contains the following information and services:

The archives of the H-HistBibl list, known as its "logs." They are in searchable and sortable format. The network's official documents: its welcome files, lists of board members and editors, contact information, and other founding and information documents. Hypertext links to resources in our subject: teaching materials, research archives, our affilated organizations, other lists.

V. Editorial Board.

H-HistBibl's daily activities are managed by the editors. Its long-term policies are developed by the board. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact the current editor. Board members may referee incoming articles, reviews, and teaching materials; establish basic subscription restrictions and policy; advise the editors on disputes among editors and subscribers; monitor the list and make active contributions to discussion; and serve as the subscribers' voice in H-Net affairs. You are encouraged to contact any or all of the editorial board members with ideas and concerns about H-HistBibl.

Current Editorial Board, H-HistBibl:
Ruth Carr, Chief Librarian, U.S. History, Local History & Genealogy Division, New York Public Library , Per Hansen, Associate Professor of History, Odense Universitet , Marilyn Levine, Professor of Asian History, Lewis-Clark State College , Cheryl Malone, Associate Professor of Library Science, University of Arizona , Lawrence J. McCrank, Director, Chicago State University Library .

VI. Our Parent Organization: H-Net

H-Net is an international consortium of scholars in the humanities and social sciences that creates and coordinates electronic networks, using a variety of media, and with a common objective of advancing humanities and social science teaching and research. H-Net was created to provide a positive, supportive, equalitarian environment for the friendly exchange of ideas and scholarly resources.

The goals of H-NET networks are to enable scholars to easily communicate current research and teaching interests; to discuss new approaches, methods and tools of analysis; to share information on electronic databases; and to test new ideas and share comments on the literature in their fields.

Among H-Net's many services are:
Book and software reviews: timely, detailed, authoritative, professional, fast. Mailed through our lists and stored in searchable, printable, retrievable format on our site at the World Wide Web.

Job guide postings: at regular intervals, H-Net offers employment information in a broad array of fields in the humanities and social sciences.

H-Net calendar: announcements of conferences, papers, and professional activities, archived and searchable at our web site. You can visit our site and sample these and other services, at: http://h-net.msu.edu

VII. Contacting H-Net For More Information

On the World Wide Web:
http://www.h-net.msu.edu

Electronic mail:
H-NET@H-NET.msu.edu

Postal mail:
H-Net 310 Auditorium Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1120
Phone: (517) 355-9300
FAX: (517) 355-8363