Source for subject-area listservs

[Melissa Davis <mbdavis@TENET.EDU>]

During the past couple of months we've had quite a few requests for
discussions groups or listserv addresses for specific subject areas. In
response I offer the following.

The University of Western Ontario FTP archive is a great source for
bibliographies of online information in specific subject areas. A casual
look at their directory shows bibliographies on: agriculture, law,
religious studies, networking, internet training, biology, fine arts,
business research, government info, medicine, journalism, environment,
film/video, personal finance, music, and theater. Each of these
bibliographies contain info in listservs and discussion groups as well as
others. (_MAGGIE_: While I didn't list a math bib., I could easily have
missed it.)

This archive is truly a treasure for librarians and internet trainers.

For those of you on TENET, refer to your _Tenet_User_Training_Guide_,
chapt 10 page 6, and appendix 17, for instructions on how to use ftp. If
you don't already have a copy you can download it from:

   -> Main Menu Option 4: File Transfer
      -> #5 Public Files Transfer Area
         -> #4 Tenet Users Manual

You can view it online thru the TENET gopher by choosing:
   -> Main Menu Option 3: Internet Resources
      -> #8 Gopher
         -> #3 Tenet Information
            -> #6 Tenet Users Manual

(I've put copies of this manual in binders that I check-out to teachers
just signing up. They were out most of the year! I highly recommend it.)

For those of you without the manual, ftp instructions follow:

  -> Main Menu Option #6: Using UNIX commands
     -> #6 UNIX command line
you will see a prompt that looks like this:
       Tenet>
type:
       ftp hydra.uwo.ca   (to take you to that university's system)
you will see something like this:
          Connected to hydra.uwo.ca
          Name (hydra.uwo.ca:youruserid):
type:
       anonymous     (that's why it's called anonymous ftp (:>   )
when it asks for a password type your complete userid, like:
       librarian@tenet.edu
because it's a password entry, you won't actually see the letters as you
type them. You should then see a message that says "Guest login ok, access
restrictions apply" and you're in! The prompt line changes to:

Ftp>

Now you want to change to the LIBSOFT directory, so type:
       cd libsoft

I recommend that you get the following as your 1st two files:
     00-ABSTRACT.TXT   and   00-INDEX.TXT
The "Abstract" file is an alphabetical list of the files in the directory
as of May 12, 1993, and the "Index" file updates the "abstract" to June 8,
1994 (but it's not in alphabetical order).

To send these to your TENET file area type:
    get 00-abstract.txt
after it is sent, type
    get 00-index.txt
and it will be sent also. (Upper or lower case doesn't _seem_ to matter
here, but if you have trouble, check your spelling and maybe change case.
Be sure you're using zeros and not the letter "O".)

After you've "gotten" both files, to exit type:
    bye

and you'll be returned to the TENET> prompt. Press CTRL-D and you'll
return to the regular menu structure, where you can use your normal method
to download the files to your local computer.

Then print out the abstract and index files so you can look at all the
goodies that are available in this archive. I highlight the ones I want to
go back to "get" and write in the date when I "get" them.

There are program files here as well. They usually end in .EXE, .COM, or
.ZIP. If you want to get any of these, be sure you tell the computer to
send a BINARY file by typing:

ftp> binary

before you give any "get" commands. And be sure you use the BINARY
download menu choice to send them to your local computer.

Enjoy.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Melissa Davis                   Librarian
        Splendora Middle School         Splendora I.S.D.
        P O Box 168                     Splendora, TX 77372
        Internet: mbdavis@tenet.edu     PHONE: (713)689-2853
        CompuServe: 75146,771
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~