----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I'd like to find out what anyone knows about the following form letter (text in full below) that we got from the National Ocean Service, in Riverdale, MD: Dear Sir or Madam: Due to fedreal budget restraints, the National Ocean Service has been forced to discontinue providing free charts and related publications. We have enclosed our catalog and ordering information for future orders. If you are a federal, state, or local govenment, you are enttled to a 40 percent discount. Educational facilities are entitled to a 10 percent discount. The National Ocean Service would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your past patronage and looks forward to serving you in the future. Sincerely, Henry L. Carter, Acting Chief, Distribution Branch Aeronautical Charting Division Coast and Geodetic Survey My questions: Has anyone else gotten this letter? Is it a joke? It looks fairly official, with a NOAA letterhead and arriving in a NOAA envelope (the catalog and ordering information was *not* enclosed, incidently, which would also be par for the course). The letter is xeroxed, but the date (Nov. 3) and our address are typed (!) or maybe printed with a daisy wheel printer. Shouldn't it have said "constraints" instead of "restraints"? :) I'd like to think that they got our address from some mailing list (for newsletters, product announcements, or left over from the NOAA depository program), and that the people in their office don't even know about the GPO depository program, that libraries select their material through GPO, or that GPO now distributes their charts to libraries. Is this a good theory? Might there actually be a connection between this and what GPO provides? Or are they just talking about charts obtained directly from the agency? Is it supposed to apply just to aeronautical charts, since that's the office mentioned at the bottom, or to all charts, since the specific kind isn't mentioned in the body of the letter? Can Ed Hall, the CUAC rep. who has NOS, give us any insight on this? Is Henry L. Carter a real person? I just wanted to see what others had to say before I contacted the agency. Thanks for any help, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mark Thomas | The train ... traditional, Evans Library, Texas A&M University | yet environmentally sound (409) 862-1052 / FAX (409) 845-6238 | mthomas@tamvenus / [log in to unmask] | --Lisa Simpson