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Fellow G&M Division members:
 
As this year's Chair of the Geography and Map Division's membership
committee I received the "January 1996 Membership Chair's Update" yesterday,
along with a list of members who have been sent third invoices. Frankly, I
was a taken aback by the number of members who have not renewed membership
in the Division to date. Even though I am confident the majority of members
who fall into this category will be renewing shortly, if they haven't
already done so, the newsletter did include a reminder that if membership is
not renewed by February 15th then those members will be *deactivated*, or
dropped completely as SLA members.
 
I'd also like to report that as of the end of the calendar year 1995 the
Division's membership is down nearly 10%, from 229 at the end of 1994 to 209
at the end of 1995. This is disappointing news, although I realize that most
if not all of this difference is a reflection of folk who have not renewed
membership as opposed to choosing to drop membership. On a much happier note
I would like to report that from July 1st 1995 through Dec. 1995 we gained
16 new members!! I have sent welcome packets out to each of these new
members (the last six went out in the past couple of days, so those of you
who are brand new to the Division that have not received one yet, its
coming!) and look forward to meeting each one in Boston.
 
Please, I urge those G&M Division members who have intended to renew their
memberships, kindly do so before the 15th so that you can avoid being
dropped from SLA completely.
 
Finally, I look forward to seeing as many of my SLA friends and colleagues
as possible in Boston in June. Ellie has put together a fine program that
concludes with a whale-watching tour on Thursday of conference week!
 
Paige
Mr. Paige G. Andrew
Maps/Nonbook Cataloger
E506 Pattee Library
Pennsylvania State University Libraries
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
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phone: 814-865-1755
fax: 814-863-7293