Re: paleonet Paleo Society Memberships

["Dr. Tim Palmer" <tjp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jere, and all,

Whatever model is built on the figures that you give below might like to 
include the information that Palaeontological Association membership has 
been climbing steadily over the last 5 years.  More international members 
(now in 49 countries); many more students in Europe and further afield; 
less employed academic and government service palaeontologists; more early 
retirees and avocational palaeontologists drawn by the fascination of the 
subject; paper copy and electronic copy available to all members, of both 
'Palaeontology' and the amazing 3 times-per-year Newsletter.  Basic 
individual subscription price (ignoring currency problems which USA members 
will have noticed) is unchanged for the last 15 years.

Maybe it's a slightly different cohort of people who are calling themselves 
palaeontologists since half a century ago, but there is nothing unhealthy 
about the subject.  I suspect the answers to some of your questions below 
should also consider the products that are being supplied by the membership 
societies, the costs of production, and their marketing.

best wishes to all, and new members always welcome...

Tim


At 22:01 23/11/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>PaleoNetters:
>
>While at GSA a couple of weeks ago, several (maybe a dozen) of us talked 
>about memberships in the societies.   Something is up and we did not have 
>a consensus on what is happening or whether it is good or bad for 
>paleontology.  Here's the scoop:
>
>Cushman Foundation for Foram Research has lost a huge number of members 
>and institutional subscriptions in the past few years.
>
>Paleo Society is down about 15% in the past 4-5 years.
>
>Micropaleontology subscriptions are down.
>
>Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is up some.
>
>And AAAS, the publisher of Science magazine, is down about 10-15% in the 
>last 3-4 years.
>
>
>PS and AAAS attribute this decline to going on-line with their 
>journals.   SVP went on-line but increased their membership.  Cushman and 
>other micropaleo groups are down but have not yet gone on-line.  Maybe the 
>decline of oil exploration affected the micropaleo memberships while the 
>on-line journals did cut into PS and AAAS.  SVP has a component of 
>amateurs that may contribute to an increase, but that won't account for 
>much of it, I am told.
>
>Several questions arise:
>
>What is causing this decline in all but SVP in North America?
>
>Are other journals elsewhere in the world declining in 
>subscriptions/memberships?
>
>Should struggling journals publish papers from non-members gratis or 
>charge for it since the members now pay?
>
>What will the impact of e-publication of our journals be?
>
>Does any of this matter?
>Here's my view on this last question.   If we look at the Paleo Soc, for 
>example, it has a membership of around 1800 or so.  Of those, maybe 350 
>vote in its elections for officers, by-law changes, etc.   Maybe 300- come 
>to the annual luncheon.   So clearly, about 1500 are members for the 
>single reason that they get the journal since they do not participate 
>otherwise.   While that is fine, it raises the question of whether or not 
>we need large memberships once our journal costs decline by going-on-line 
>(as we have been promised).  If they do, then we don't need large 
>memberships and we can concentrate our efforts and smaller income on 
>services and benefits to the "real members" while e-publication continues 
>to be supported by those fewer members and libraries.   Those who want 
>hard copies can pay for "on-demand" printing, and could or could not be 
>members, as we choose.
>
>Quite a few of us in the societies are trying to anticipate the new 
>future.  It will be very different from the past with e-publications, but 
>how?  And what impact will it have?   Can we modify the members benefits 
>sufficiently to maintain a large membership or should we go "smaller, 
>cheaper and more efficient"?
>
>This will have impact on all paleontologists and so should be worth some 
>discussion on PaleoNet.  So should e-publishing and the various business 
>models and publication modes.  Maybe we can discuss this one too.
>
>Jere
>

Dr Tim Palmer C.Geol., F.G.S.
Executive Officer, The Palaeontological Association
I.G.E.S., University of Wales
Aberystwyth SY23 3DB
Wales, U.K.

Phone/Answerphone: +44 (0) 1970 627107
Fax: +44 (0) 1970 622659
E-mail: palass@palass.org
Web: www.palass.org