RE: paleonet Paleo Society Memberships

[Theresa Winchester-Seeto <twinches@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jere,

Andy hit the nail on the head!

I am a palaeontologist in my heart, but am currently unable to find 
employment in the sector. I now have a full professional life in science 
education, and this takes most of my time, and has its own inherent costs.

Due to the unfavourable exchange rate from Aussie dollars to US dollars, 
the cost of membership with the Paleo Soc became prohibitive, and I had to 
reluctantly let it lapse. From Australia I am really only able to 
participate in the journal and newsletter in any consistent way.

Maybe societies need to recognise the range of circumstances of its 
members, and set up ways of engaging people who are not fully employed in 
the sector, and are not residing in the US.

cheers
Theresa Winchester-Seeto




At 04:36 PM 11/24/2004 -0600, you wrote:
>Jere,
>
>Thanks for asking some good questions.
>
>If you really want to find out why membership is flagging, then why not ask
>people who are thinking of dropping their memberships? That is,
>paleontologists in marginalized circumstances. You won't find many of these
>demoralized people at national meetings (except at the job fair), but you
>can reach some of them on this very list. What can you do to help them enjoy
>paleontology again? That's the question.
>
>Andy
>
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>Coeditor, Ichnology Newsletter, 1997-2004
>Member, PS, GSA, SEPM, IPA, NAGT
>Chair, SE PS
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk [mailto:paleonet-owner@nhm.ac.uk] On Behalf
>Of Jere H. Lipps
>Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 12:02 AM
>To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
>Subject: paleonet Paleo Society Memberships
>
>
>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