ResPool Research Network Public Notice

[Robert Tiess]

This is a public notice to all those linking to or
using the ResPool Research Network service.

ResPool has relocated from Listbot.com to Yahoo Groups.
This change was prompted by Microsoft Listbot's
announcement that their free list hosting will end in
August 2001 so they can focus on premium list services
for businesses.  Current ResPool members must subscribe
to the new list to continue receiving this service.
The old list ceases to exist as of now, June 27, 2001.

For those curious what ResPool is, it's a free public
research service established in February 1999 in the
hope of helping to meet the demand for information
on the Internet.  ResPool was first announced on
Web4Lib and other major library lists due to its
potential value to librarians, their patrons, library
webmasters, and educators.  The need for this service
came about as it became widely realized that search
engines and major web directories could no longer
keep pace with the growing amount of data online.

In this service, users either post links to useful
reference sites, request sites on certain topics,
or reply to other user requests.  One of the earliest
global e-mail reference services available, ResPool
continues to be a useful electronic resource
discovery tool for libraries, universities and
researchers around the world, as well as a model of
how effective e-mail research and resource pooling
can be.  Membership is free, and the research service
is conducted entirely by e-mail.  As always, ResPool
urges its members to consult their local libraries
before conducting any research on the Internet.

Today, only a small percentage of the web can be
mined by search engines, while web directories
suffer from broken links or annotations rendered
inaccurate because remote resources have moved
or changed.  The need for human services like
ResPool has not dwindled, as we can see with
announcements of new research initiatives such
as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/) and many other
digital reference services out there.  Members of
all such services are also welcome to join ResPool
as either participants, list lurkers (gleaning
new resources for themselves or their patrons),
or researchers with questions unanswered elsewhere.

For more information on ResPool and related updates
please go to http://rtiess.tripod.com/respool.htm

Thank you all who have expressed interest in ResPool.
I look forward to seeing you at the new list location.

Robert J. Tiess
ResPool Research Network
rjtiess at warwick.net
http://rtiess.tripod.com