Photo credit: Terry Johnston

For many years, Paul Gunther has been the caretaker of Orchestra-L, ICSOM’s established and official listserv. As the owner and chief moderator of the list, Paul led the four-member team that approved new subscribers as well as the news items and follow-up comments that appeared there. In addition, Paul became accustomed to the quirks of working with the Yahoo group list, and there were many.

Paul Gunther’s service to ICSOM was noted with a resolution at our 2017 conference in Buffalo, when he left his position of Member-at-Large on ICSOM’s Governing Board. Even after Paul retired as Principal Librarian of the Minnesota Orchestra, he was kind enough to continue this Orchestra-L work for ICSOM.

Last summer, Paul let ICSOM’s Governing Board know that it was time to find a replacement for his leadership of Orchestra‑L. Julie Edwards of the Utah Symphony agreed to take on these duties. Julie has served ICSOM in many ways, most recently as the Chair of our Nominating Committee. She has devoted much time representing Utah Symphony musicians on their committees, in addition to her leadership for the American Viola Society. ICSOM’s Governing Board is very pleased that Julie Edwards will be the co-owner and chief moderator for Orchestra-L.

However, when we attempted to transfer ownership of the listserv to Julie, we discovered that Yahoo had been sold. Requests that ICSOM was making, such as a transfer of ownership, became impossible to do on our own because of outdated technology from Yahoo, and a complete lack of customer support from them. Not only were our requests to Yahoo for assistance being ignored, but research led us to websites devoted to customer service concerns about the lack of response from Yahoo. It became apparent that we needed to have a new option for Orchestra-L.

Julie has been researching our options, which will be presented to the Governing Board for final decisions and approval. Her activities include the transfer of Orchestra-L’s archival material from Yahoo. Delegates at ICSOM’s 2018 conference in Cincinnati were informed of these updates, and they support the work that is being done to preserve our history.

Know that ICSOM will continue to have an official listserv, to which all AFM members can subscribe. Once the change is ready to implement, we will make sure all current Orchestra-L subscribers know what, if anything, they have to do to continue receiving posts.

Join me in thanking Paul Gunther for his dedicated work in this arena, as well as welcoming Julie Edwards to this important role for ICSOM. As noted at the end of all Orchestra‑L posts, and by virtue of my office, any questions or concerns about an Orchestra-L posting should be addressed to me at austinlpaul@gmail.com.