You do not have to be a "LIBRARIAN" to subscribe to most  lists, but you should have an interest in the topics/subject matter of the group or list. Be willing to take part in the discussions. 
Some lists get alot of traffic and postings - make sure you can handle the traffic on your email server.
Also - if your place of employment limits your ability to subscribe to lists, 
Consider signing up for a free internet email account such as yahoo mail.
(Yahoo offers free scanning of attachments and spam mail filters)
and use those email accounts for your subscription list activities.
(you can sign up for more than one account at yahoo or other email sites, using different
login/user names)
MyRealBox.com offers a free email account "10mg" of space with NO Ads.

Once you decide to subscribe to a online discussion list these are the:
**Most Important things to do**
For Your Individual  discussion mailing list - Subscription Management 
MANAGEMENT:

SAVE THE WELCOME MESSAGE!
or any information that you receive in response to your subscribing to a discussion list!! If you subscribed directly from a website, print out that page and make note of the url of the discussion list website. And note anything at all that will help you in the future with regard to this subscription.

PRINT IT OUT!!
File in a file or 3 ring notebook, that you should be keeping, for ALL of your internet, or subscription list accounts, or anything you have signed up for or were required to enter email addresses, logins or passwords for. 

WRITE/MAKE NOTES ON THE SHEET YOU PRINTED, 
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU USED TO SUBSCRIBE WITH, AND ANY LOGINS, PASSWORDS, ACCT. NO'S, ETC. THAT MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SUBSCRIPTION.

FILE THE INFORMATION
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER, BY THE NAME OF THE LIST(S), NEWLETTERS, OR GROUPS, YOU HAVE JOINED.

WELCOME MESSAGES USUALLY CONTAIN, IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR MANAGING YOUR LIST SUBSCRIPTION.
IT WILL TELL YOU HOW TO UN-SUBSCRIBE, HOLD MAIL, ACCESS THE ARCHIVES, WHAT THE LIST ACCEPTS OR DOES NOT ACCEPT RE: TOPICS OR MESSAGES.

BEFORE WRITING TO THE ENTIRE GROUP WITH A CONCERN OR QUESTION ABOUT MANAGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION - REFER TO THIS PRINT OUT FIRST. 
THE PRINT OUT, MAY ALSO CONTAIN, THE EMAIL ADDRESS /CONTACT INFO, OF THE LISTS OWNER. IF THE PRINT OUT DOES NOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS,
WRITE TO THE LIST OWNER WITH CONCERNS/QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR SUBSCRIPTION, NOT TO THE ENTIRE LIST.

YOU CAN ALSO SAVE IT (WELCOME MESSAGE) ONLINE IN YOUR EMAIL INBOX (try to make subfolders within your inbox, to help keep and organize messages from the list that you intend to keep or feel you will want to refer back to) 
BUT ALWAYS, ALWAYS - PRINT A COPY AND SAVE / KEEP ON FILE!

IF you don't receive a welcome message, then print out any information from the list's website, or anything that pertains to the list - such as the information on the 4subscribe.html page, and make all the necessary notations regarding your signing up for the list.

Addressing problems with your individual email accounts:
If ever you should experience an email related problem with a particular list you have subscribed to, or you wish to discontinue or stop your subscription - Please follow the instructions contained
in the printout you saved. Or send an email to the list owner, or moderator and ask for
instructions or ask for help with a problem you are experiencing. DO NOT Write to the entire
list,  asking how to unsubcribe or tell them you are having a problem or ask if others are having
a problem too.
When in doubt - it is best to "unsubscribe" from the list you are experiencing a problem with. If you cannot do that - contact whatever administrator or customer technical service associated with the email account itself.

If you are subscribed to a list, using your work email account, please contact your own IS & T dept. first if you are experiencing problems with your email account. The problem could be on "your end" and have nothing to do with the list itself. If you are using an ISP's email account (AOL or any provider that you have from your home computer), check with them first as well, to see if there are network problems. 
**Remember if you sign up "for anything" online - PRINT OUT ANY INFORMATION RELATED TO YOUR SIGN UP, TO HAVE ON HAND FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. MAKE NOTE ON THE PRINTOUT RE: ADDITIONAL INFO THAT WILL BE USEFUL FOR YOU, IN MANAGING THESE ACCOUNTS!!

Deciding on using either your at work email or at home / or online accounts when signing up for discussion lists, or newsletters:

If you are using your work (on the job) email account or internet connection, Please adhere to all of your workplace rules with regard to using these accounts. 
Your work email is NOT Private and your online activities using the internet are NOT PRIVATE!
Your employer Does Have the Right to monitor your use of "their" systems.
Many employers are now posting (inserting automatically), outgoing disclaimer messages, on anything sent from your work email accounts.
Please note:
Be very careful when going onto discussion lists and writing about co-workers, bosses, etc. You have no idea who has joined a list, or group, or who may be reading posts. Do not post "company" information, or talk about "rumors" or anything that you personally do not have permission to discuss or don't have the complete story or real facts, with others. 
Remember when you post a message to any discussion list - it becomes public for the "entire" list. 
Your message may also live on in the "online archives" of the list and live on the
internet for years to come!! 
Almost Anyone can subscribe to a list, and spend time searching the archives, to see what others have posted. There are also many lists, where the archives are open and searchable, by anyone "without" a subscription to the list itself. Be very sure when you post a message that you understand it has the potential of being on public record and accessible by a larger audience than you may have realized.

If you want to talk to "one" or "more" individual list members - write directly to "them", using their personal email addresses.

If you want to join discussion lists using your home or online email and your home internet connection, do not use signature files in your postings that use or contain your "work" information. You need only to sign your posting with your name and the email address that you want others to use to respond to you personally.

IT IS YOUR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY , when using your HOME OR WORK Internet / Intranet  and/or Email Accounts, TO KNOW THE RULES OF THE ROAD. 

Spam and Viruses, and Internet/Intranet, Internal and Internet Network connectivity problems are a part of internet and email participation. Everyone should be aware and stay informed about email and internet security, spam, and virus issues. 

To find out more about Spam, Viruses, Forwarding email messages, or Chainletters visit:
this page on LibrarySupportStaff.com
http://librarysupportstaff.com/4emailthinking.html

Try to limit the amount of lists that you subscribe to, 1 or 2 are usualy enough to keep you in the information loop of the topic you are most interested in.
Using free online email accounts, can help you manage subscriptions.
You can have more than one internet email account. 
Related: to stay informed check out the
Latest Library Related News & Commentary online resources.

If using free internet email accounts:
Make your login, a name that is associated with a particular list.
Example: if Jane Doe joins Serials-L, a serials listserv, which discusses "serials" issues for Library Serial Specialists - she could use her initials and combine with a descriptive name of list: 
Jane Doe could have a login and/or email address of " jd4serials at yahoo.com"
and that email box would only be used for receiving/sending Jane's Serials-L list messages. 
Jane should not use that email account for anything else, no other lists or for writing about any other topic than serials.

Also limit your newsletter subscriptions as well. Many newsletters are available online and you can keep current by reading the latest issues, and avoid loading your email with older issues.

Always write short "descriptive" subject lines, *and always be sure to include a "subject" on the line. Many people will not open a message that has "no" subject line.

Do NOT write anything that refers to a Virus or an "Attachment". Some email systems will automatically filter them out., and not allow them through the list. There are also some systems that will not allow them to "leave" your own system, at work or from your home ISP.
Some email programs also know to filter out current subject lines that spammers or virus messages use. But NOT ALL do, so if you open a message in your email box from work, that contains a virus and you infect your own work or home system, some viruses will trigger sending the same message to everyone in your email address book, including everyone you work with. When in doubt, don't open it.  Just delete it.  If you recognize the sender, "phone them" or send a separate email asking what was in the "email" in question. 
Do NOT FORWARD messages that state within the body of the message "FORWARD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW" or words to that effect. Find out more about "forwarding these types of email messages"

Many lists provide access to their archives, and most are searchable by thread and/or date. Because people do search by "thread" or "topic" - it makes it very important that list subscribers stay on topic, within a certain subject line thread. And it also is even more important that subject lines be short, yet descriptive of what "you" are discussing or asking a question about. 
When people write "need help", or "need video" or anything so generic - it makes it difficult for subscribers to even wonder if they should bother opening up the message, and equally difficult to "search" what the person needed help with originally.
Keep subject lines, short, descriptive, and when responding - stay on the topic of original post.

Most list subscribers become very annoyed by "me too" messages, or "I'm interested in same topic", please send me all your responses, messages. If you don't have a constructive comment or answer to another subscribers posting, then do not respond to the entire list. If you want to tell someone you agree with them, or if you want similar information - then write to the "original" poster, "off the list". 
When someone writes - mail me "off the list", that means, write to them at that persons individual email address. 

When you first open your email box and see several messages that have become a "thread" with a certain subject line, BE SURE TO READ "ALL" THE MESSAGES, BEFORE RESPONDING ON YOUR OWN. Many times people respond and send the same information that has already been sent to the list. 

Do NOT keep a long list of previous responses in your own response. Try to cut and paste, the areas of the original posters question or comment, or topic - that you are responding to. There is no need to make messages longer  by posting the same stuff over and over.
If you ask a question, be sure to post a summary in one single message. 
When doing so, truly summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you receive. 

Send subscribe and unsubscribe messages to the appropriate address.
Although some mailing list software is smart enough to catch these, not all can ferret these out.
**Refer to the printout that you saved and filed!!* Usually the same email address you used to "subscribe with" is the same one you will use to "unsubscribe". The only difference in the body of the message - you need only write: unsubscribe (then insert exact name of the list)
You do NOT need to Add your name as you did when you subscribed. The list software, understands that "you" and the email address you are sending message from are the same.
If your workplace changes your email account, usually you are notified in advance. You should "unsubscribe" from any/all lists that you are subscribed to (all that are outside of your own workplace's intranet system) and then re-subscribe once the changes are complete.
If you do not have a chance to do that, please contact the list administrator or owner ASAP, to notify them of the changed email address. Mention in your message to them, your previous email address, and then your new one. DO NOT WRITE SUCH A MESSAGE TO THE ADDRESS that is USED to SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE, or to the Entire List.
Refer to the printout you saved for that particular list account: for info on contacting the list administrator or owner.
It is your responsibility to learn how the lists work, and to send the correct mail to the correct place. 
 

Although many many mailing lists adhere to the convention of having a "-request" alias for sending subscribe and unsubscribe messages, not all do. 

Be sure you know the conventions used by the lists to which you subscribe. 
Save the subscription messages for any lists you join. These usually tell you how to unsubscribe as well. 

In general, it's not possible to retrieve messages once you have sent them.
Even your system administrator will not be able to get a message back once you have sent it. This means you must make sure you really want the message to go as you have written it. 

The auto-reply feature of many mailers is useful for in-house communication,
but quite annoying when sent to entire mailing lists.
Examine "Reply-To" addresses when replying to messages from lists. 
Most auto-replys will go to all members of the list. 
AUTO-REPLYS INCLUDE:
OUT OF OFFICE, EMAIL HAS CHANGED, ON VACATION.
This is another example of why you should use, separate email accounts for list or group subscriptions. 
If you do use only your work email account for lists, make sure you UNSUBSCRIBE to ALL lists, BEFORE you Create or Use a AUTO-REPLY message.
If you are going to be not reading from your email (online or inhouse) for more than a few days, it is best to "UNSUBSCRIBE" from your subscribed to lists, or if they have a "hold" or "stop" mail, command, use that. 
Unsubscribing will be just a simple matter of writing one email to the list address that you used when you originally signed up (it is the List Command address, not the address where you send/respond to your list messages), and you simply write in body of message:
unsubscribe  (then insert the name of list) - you do not need to add your name.
Many lists have a main website, where you can actually subscribe or unsubscribe directly from that page. **Remember that print-out, you saved, it should have the url of the page you used to sign up, with or the page that has information about the list, refer to it as needed.

Don't send large files or "attachments" to mailing lists when Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) or
pointers to ftp-able versions will do.
If you want to send it as multiple files, be sure to follow the culture of the group.
If you don't know what that is, ask or write the *List Owner/Moderator*, or refer to your print out about the list. 

When sending a message to more than one mailing list, 
especially if the lists are closely related, apologize for cross-posting. 

If you ask a question, be sure to post a summary. 
When doing so, truly summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you receive. 

Some mailing lists are private. Do not send mail to these lists uninvited. 
Do not report mail from these lists to a wider audience.

Never Quote or Send/Forward "Another" Persons: Comments or Messages to ANOTHER List, 
Without the Express Permission of the original poster / group member. Write directly to the "Individual", NOT the entire list, to request such permissions.

If you are caught in an argument, keep the discussion focused on issues rather than the personalities involved. 
**Note the above information is Adapted from Netiquette Guidelines:
http://www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.html

 32 most important email etiquette tips:
http://www.emailreplies.com/#rules

Get Netiquette
http://www.getnetiquette.com/

The Core Rules of Netiquette
excerpted from the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea.
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette - Index
By Arlene H. Rinaldi
http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/

See also:
Basic Mailing List Management Guidelines
for Preventing Abuse
http://www.mail-abuse.org/manage.html

Don't post or ask questions of a list if it does not pertain to the "purpose"  or subject matter, of the list.
If you don't find what you are looking for: 
Be sure to check a more complete listing at :
http://liblists.wrlc.org/home.htm
And : Diversity-Related Library Listservs.

To Contact, Mary
via e-mail, write to: mary at librarysupportstaff.com