In a recent posting Jim Gilmore asked
>
>Has any thought been given to the splintering of this list-serv into
>specific categories, i.e. collections, exhibits, administrative, etc.?


I would vote very strongly against splintering.

I am a member of a number of museum and computer professional lista and this
is among the lowest in activity (some of the lists I am on generate 500-1000
messages a day).

The universality of the list is very useful to me.  Since many issues are
cross-disciplinary (e.g., exhibit design and conservation are inextricably
linked, particularly in basically hostile environments such as exist at many
historic locations), it is useful to have a venue where one knows that
discussions can be cross-disciplinary without "thread drift".

And one does not have to guess where to look for the information you need.
Indeed some of the most useful tidbits of information I have garnered since
joining museum-l I have come across by chance when scanning subject lines.

You do not have to spend a lot of time on line or interacting with the list if
people follow good "netiquette", even if you do not choose to access the list
through a digest.  A lot of the suggestions made in this thread reflect basic
net protocol usage that can be forgotten by novices.  In another message I
have put together some tips for handling 100+ messages in about 5 minutes a
day (a bit more if you add in responding to them!)