Conservation DistList

The following was recently posted on the Conservation DistList and Conservation OnLine website:

Special Announcement
Important News about CoOL and the Conservation DistList

Date: 10 Jun 2009
From: Catherine Tierney
Subject: CoOL and the Conservation DistList
Dear Colleagues,
This is a difficult posting to write. For twenty two years, it has been Stanford University Libraries' great pleasure to serve and support the conservation community by hosting Conservation OnLine. Sadly, Stanford---like so many other institutions---has been hurt by the economy. As a result, we have had to make difficult choices. It is with deep regret that I inform you that we are no longer able to support CoOL. We feel it is important to alert you to this change as we are aware that so many of you rely on the distribution list as a medium of communication; there are still a number of things to be worked out.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/june17/layoffs-061709.html

Catherine Tierney
Associate University Librarian for Technical Services
Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources

Date: 10 Jun 2009
From: Walter Henry
Subject: CoOL and the Conservation DistList

It has been a great pleasure and privilege to work with this community and I look forward to finding ways to continue to do so. I've always held that conservation professionals were, as a class, unusually committed to the cause they serve; we really do care deeply about the cultural materials we are lucky enough to work with, and that care takes form in a remarkable dedication to the profession, to the ethical foundations upon which it is built, and to the community of practitioners from whatever discipline or specialty.

So, at the beginning of what would have been the DistList's twenty third year it is with great sadness, but also with some sense of pride, that I finally give up this enterprise and that of Conservation OnLine as a whole. I don't know exactly what will happen to the resources here but I have every faith that their fate will be in good hands.

I would like to thank, with all sincerity, Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources, my own department, the systems and IT staff, and most of all the directorate, who have been unfalteringly supportive of my work all these years, and I know would continue to be so were the world in just a little better shape than it is now.

As DistList tradition demands, I leave you a final accounting: As of this day, the Conservation DistList comprises 9696 people from at least 91 countries. Conservation OnLine contains, at a very rough guess, 120,000 documents, possibly quite a few more. I hope they have been useful to you all, and I hope to be of service to you as we move into the future.

onward,
walter

The final instance of the Conservation DistList, as it was distributed may be found at
http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/instances/2009/2009-06-11.dst
or in its archive (HTML) at
http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/instances/2009/2009-06-11.dst


And this email was sent to AIC members shortly after:

Thursday, June 11, 2009
Dear AIC Members,
You may have seen today’s issue of the ConsDistList, which announced the news that Stanford University Libraries can no long support CoOL. The resources on CoOL, including the ConsDistList, have been major assets for the conservation community over many years.

http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/2009/0656.html
http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/2009/0655.html
Press release: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/june17/layoffs-061709.html

The AIC board and key staff have met by phone conference call to discuss the implications. CoOL is an important resource for the conservation community internationally, and it must be preserved and maintained. AIC is committed to do all we can to ensure that CoOL is not lost.

AIC has benefited greatly from CoOL in many ways. Many of our internal listservs and specialty group websites, for example, are hosted by Stanford. If you are responsible for a specialty group website, please keep in mind it can be migrated easily to the new AIC website. Contact Brett Rodgers (brodgers@conservation-us.org) to discuss this. JAIC, which is currently archived on the Stanford server, is also accessible online through JSTOR (www.jstor.org). AIC leadership is assessing all its assets currently hosted by CoOL and will devote itself to ensuring a smooth transition.

We thank Stanford University Libraries and Walter Henry for the invaluable service they have provided for 22 years. We are in full support of sustaining CoOL into the future.
- AIC Board and Staff