Earlier this week I sent out an e-mail to the METRO Librarians listserv announcing the next meeting of the Science Librarians Special Interest Group. I assume that it goes out to hundreds of recipients. Yesterday I received a very insulting e-mail about my meetings being boring with some weird people attending. It was sent by an assistant library director at a small college in Brooklyn. I felt the need to confront this person with a phone call.
She said that she meant to send it to someone internally about an unrelated matter. She apologized profusely about this and I accepted the apology. There are a few “lessons” that can be learned from this incident.
Always be careful of whom you are sending an e-mail. She replied to the wrong e-mail.
Before you even send an e-mail, think if it is the right form of communication. Very often you must speak to a person face to face or phone them. Sometimes sending an e-mail can be cowardly and create misunderstandings that could lead to animosity.
If you do send an e-mail, please use the same language and tone as if the person were standing in front of you. E-mail does have its place in business and personal communication, but it should not be misused, abused, or overused. I must admit that there were times in the past that I used e-mail inappropriately, but I feel that I learned from my mistakes.
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