What is a Listserv?

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Listserv provides members of the Dartmouth community with a high-performance mailing list management system. Listserv at Dartmouth runs on a dedicated host computer, "listserv.dartmouth.edu". Dartmouth College licenses the Listserv software from L-Soft Corporation.

Every Listserv list, hosted at Dartmouth, must have an owner with a valid Dartmouth account. Listserv is a mechanism for managing a list when any or all of the following characteristics are necessary:

  • World-wide advertisement of the topic.
  • Automatic processing of subscription and sign-off requests.
  • Automatic maintenance of archives of postings. These archives can be retrieved by email or searched and read via a Web interface.
  • Automatic formation of daily digests of postings.
  • Control of the posting process, including moderation, limitations on service area, or limiting the ability to post to subscribers or editors.
  • The number of subscribers is potentially large (over 1,000) or widely distributed geographically.
  • The subscribers of the list contains non-Dartmouth.edu addresses
  • Basic list management KBA.
  • Further information found in the following guide from Kansas State University.

If you would like to request a Listserv list, please submit the Mailing List request form.

Available to:

  • Active Dartmouth faculty, staff, students
  • List purpose and use must be in support of the mission of the college


Support is available to:

  • Create and delete lists
  • Update list owner if needed (self-serve for current owner)


List Owners responsibilities:

  • Add/Remove subscribers - as applicable
  • Moderate list - as applicable
  • Answer subscriber questions
  • Manage list configuration and settings
  • Share self-serve information for subscriber mail delivery issues
  • Inform ITC when list is no longer needed
  • Respond to ITC outreach regarding list status and use
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