PACS-L (The Public-Access Computer Systems Forum)

The Public-Access Computer Systems Forum (PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU) was a mailing list that dealt with end-user computer systems in libraries. Utilizing PACS-L, subscribers discussed topics such as digital libraries, digital media, electronic books, electronic journals, electronic publishing, Internet information resources, and online catalogs. PACS-L was published by the University of Houston Libraries. At its height, it had over 10,000 subscribers.

PACS-L was founded in June 1989 by Charles W. Bailey, Jr., who moderated the list until November 1991. The list ceased operation at the end of 2013. Digital Scholarship maintains a partial archive of e-mail files through 2010 and there is a searchable Google Groups partial archive of the Usenet version of the list.

The UH Libraries distributed The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, a refereed e-journal, Public-Access Computer Systems News, an e-serial, and the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, an e-book, on PACS-L

The PACS-L moderators were:

• Nicole Abbott
• Amelia Abreu
• Charles W. Bailey, Jr.
• Marianne Stowell Bracke
• Nancy Buchanan
• Diane Gwamanda
• Jill M. Hackenberg
• Jack Hall
• Gretchen McCord Hoffmann
• Sara Holland
• Rafal Kasprowski
• Anne Mitchell
• Joan O'Connor
• J. Michael Thompson
• Linda Thompson
• Dana C. Rooks

The following articles discuss PACS-L:

• Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "The Public-Access Computer Systems Forum: A Computer Conference on BITNET." Library Software Review 9 (March-April 1990): 71-74.
• ———. Interview by Michele Cloonan. Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture 44, no. 3 (2015): 136-142.
• Crawford, Walt. "Talking About Public Access-PACS-L's First Decade." Information Technology and Libraries 19 (September 2000): 112-115.
• DeLoughry, Thomas J. "The Latest Scoop on Internet Resources." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 November 1994, A28.
• Tennant, Roy. "Remembering PACS-L." The Digital Shift, 30 November 2015.

The following articles discuss The Public-Access Computer Systems Review:

• Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "Electronic (Online) Publishing in Action . . . The Public-Access Computer Systems Review and Other Electronic Serials." ONLINE 15 (January 1991): 28-35.
• Ensor, Pat, and Thomas Wilson. "Public-Access Computer Systems Review: Testing the Promise." The Journal of Electronic Publishing 3, no. 1 (1997).
• Moothart, Tom. "Charles W. Bailey, Jr.: Editor, Publisher, Innovator." Serials Review 23, no. 1 (1997): 59-62.

The following article discusses The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography:

Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "Evolution of an Electronic Book: The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography." The Journal of Electronic Publishing 7 (December 2001).

Copyright © 2023 by Charles W. Bailey, Jr.

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