[WEB4LIB] Decline in Web4Lib message volume

[Nancy Sosna Bohm]

Ditto with what everyone else has said. *Are you getting this all down, 
Bernie, for your next article?*

Also:
We Web4Libbers are so inundated with information and new ways to find and 
organize it, that we are just barely able to keep our heads above it as we 
tread deeper and deeper amounts of it.
Now, when someone posts a link on Web4Lib, it invariably results in dive 
into the Ocean of Information, clicking on each new promising link. In 
contrast, in the past, it seemed many links were here-today and 
porn-tomorrow--or at least 404.
So, I don't suppose there are many (if any) subscribers out there who have 2 
active accounts at any given moment at this time.
Rather, there are more of us who just get the Digest, which tends to inhibit 
spontaneous posting--which is generally a good thing with regards to 
personal embarrassment.

Nancy Sosna Bohm
Associate Librarian
Lake Forest College



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sloan, Bernie" <bernies at uillinois.edu>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 2:38 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Decline in Web4Lib message volume


> In case any of you are ever feeling swamped with the volume of postings 
> coming from Web4Lib, just be thankful it's not 1997 again. :-)
>
> Web4Lib message volume peaked in 1997, with 6,521 postings that year, an 
> average of 543 per month. Last year (2004) there were 2,919 postings, 
> which averages out to 300 fewer postings per month than in 1997. (Not that 
> there's anything inherently wrong with getting fewer e-mails).
>
> Seriously though, Web4Lib traffic has tapered off significantly over the 
> past few years...2004 may have been the lowest volume year ever. Just 
> curious if anyone has any theories about why this might be the case? Has 
> this happened with electronic discussion lists generally?
>
> In case you're curious, here are the year by year totals:
>
>> YEAR TOTALS
>> 2004 2919
>> 2003 3324
>> 2002 3892
>> 2001 4591
>> 2000 4645
>> 1999 4521
>> 1998 4566
>> 1997 6521
>> 1996 3648
>> 1995 2627 (total is for nine months)
>
> Bernie Sloan
> Senior Library Information Systems Consultant, ILCSO
> University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
> 616 E. Green Street, Suite 213
> Champaign, IL  61820
>
> Phone: (217) 333-4895
> Fax:   (217) 265-0454
> E-mail: bernies at uillinois.edu
>
>
>