MSL Home > For Librarians > Montana Shared Catalog > Discussion Groups
Discussion Groups
Introduction
The Montana Shared Catalog discussion groups can be used in two different ways. First, they can be used in the traditional way with an email client (i.e. Microsoft Outlook or Eudora), and secondly they can be used through a web site using a web browser (i.e. Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox).
We use Google Groups 
to manage our discussion groups. There are eleven (11) discussion groups used by the Montana Shared Catalog
(MSC). The groups are:
| Group Name | Description |
| msc-4rivers | 4 Rivers Discussion Group |
| msc-discuss | General Discussion Group |
| msc-exec | Executive Committee Discussion Group |
| msc-hiline | Hi-Line Discussion Group |
| msc-largepublic | Large Public Library Discussion Group |
| msc-partners | Partners Discussion Group |
| msc-schools | Schools Discussion Group |
| msc-smallpublic | Small Public Library Discussion Group |
| msc-special | Special Library Discussion Group |
| msc-techservices | Technical Services Discussion Group |
| msc-training | Training Discussion Group |
| msc-userservices | User Services Discussion Group |
Discussion Group Etiquette Guidelines
Note #1: To use these instructions with a discussion group other than the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group, simply replace the "msc-discuss" with the discussion group name you are interested in. For example, in the URL below to access the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group web site with your web browser, replace the word "msc-discuss" with the word "msc-exec" if you want to visit the Executive Committee Discussion Group web site instead of the General Discussion Group web site.
Not #2: If you are only interested in sending and recieving emails to and from the discussion group, and you NEVER want to access the discussion group via your web browser, then it is not necessary to create a Google account. Please ignore the "Web Browser" instructions, and only use the "Email Client" instructions.
To join the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group using an email client, send an email to Michael Price requesting you be added to the discussion group. There is no automated method available to join a discussion group. It is structured this way to prevent spammers from joining our groups. All users are managed through the MSC Administration Team.
To leave the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group using an email client, send an email to:
msc-discuss+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To send a new message to the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group using your email client, send a message with the following email address
typed in the To: field… and enter your text in the body of
the message. Please be sure your Subject: field... is populated also.
msc-discuss@googlegroups.com
To access the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group web site with your web browser, go to this URL:
http://groups.google.com/group/msc-discuss?hl=en
Note: Please bookmark this URL in your web browser for easy and convenient access to this site in the future!
I. If you are logged into a Google account registered with this discussion group, you will have full access to this discussion group and the yellow "Welcome" screen will look like this:
II. If you are not logged into any Google account, the screen will look like this:
Go ahead and click either the "Sign in to Google Groups" link or the "Sign in" link (located in the upper right hand corner of the screen) to access the Google account log in screen which looks like this:
Enter your Google account email address and password. If you have multiple Google accounts (which is entirely possible), please log in with the Google account that is registered with the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group. Once you are logged in you will see the yellow "Welcome" screen referenced above and have full access to the discussion group.
III. If you are already logged into a Google account, but are NOT logged into a Google account with an email address that is registered with the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group, you will get the following screen:
Go ahead and click the "Sign out" link in the upper right hand corner of the screen to log in with a Google account that IS registered with the email address used by the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group. Your screen will now look like this:
Go ahead and click either the "Sign in to Google Groups" link or the "Sign in" link (located in the upper right hand corner of the screen) to access the Google account log in screen which looks like this:
Enter your Google account email address and password. If you have multiple Google accounts (which is entirely possible), please log in with the Google account that is registered with the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group. Once you are logged in you will see the yellow "Welcome" screen referenced above and have full access to the discussion group.
IV. If you do NOT have a Google account with an email address registered in the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group, then create one now. Click on the blue "Create an account" button and the following screen appears:
Go ahead and create a Google account using the email address with which you are registerd in the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group. If you are not sure which email address you are registered in the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group, please contact Michael Price. Once you have created a Google account using the email address with which you are registerd in the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group and have logged into that Google account, you will see the yellow "Welcome" screen referenced above and have full access to the "msc-discuss" General Discussion Group through your web browser.
