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Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 16:57:11 -0600
From: Mary McInroy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Joined MAGERT yet???  Read on
Sender: Mary McInroy <[log in to unmask]>



As Membership Chair of MAGERT (the Map and Geography Round Table of ALA), I
want to encourage you Maps-L readers who are in ALA (or plan to be) to join
MAGERT in 2000, either as a first-timer, a member in long standing, or as
someone who hasn't been a MAGERT member for a while and wants to get back
into it.  The map world is a small one, and most of us MAGERT types are not
full-time map librarians.  Many, like myself, handle both maps and
documents; some balance map and general reference duties; and some probably
do maps and everything else in their library.  But all MAGERT members enjoy
learning and talking about maps and cartographic materials,  e.g., how to
find and purchase them, how to handle them once they arrive, how to use
them .......   You get the picture.

What's in it for you?  For your $15 personal membership, you will receive
"base line," our nuts-and-bolts newsletter that covers MAGERT activities,
reviews new maps, atlases and electronic spatial products, and helps us
keep current in such areas as governmental spatial data (reports from CUAC,
the Cartographic Users Advisory Council) and developments in map cataloging
(information from the MAGERT/ALCTS jointly-sponsored Map Cataloging
Discussion Group).  In addition, you will receive "Meridian," a scholarly
semi-annual journal currently issued by MAGERT.

I encourage you to get involved in the organization after you join, by
attending MAGERT programs or functions at ALA conferences, by attending and
speaking up at committee meetings, and/or by volunteering to be on a
committee.  See the MAGERT web site at
http://www.sunysb.edu/libmap/magert1.htm for a listing and description of
existing committees.  At MAGERT events, you may hear a USGS representative
explain what all those dates on topographic maps really mean; you could
glimpse the future of cataloging geographic and spatial data; but most
importantly you will begin to make connections with others like yourself,
who enjoy maps, who work with maps, and who just need some support once in
a while.

When renewing ALA membership in 2000, or joining for the first time, if the
type of information outlined above appeals to you, please join MAGERT.  We
will welcome your presence.

Thanks.  Mary McInroy, MAGERT Membership Chair

Mary McInroy
Government Publications Department
and Map Collection
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA  52242-1420
(319)335-6247 or (319)335-5926
FAX:  (319)335-5900
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
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