STS Membership & Recruitment Committee [Conference   Report]

  	
  	
  	
  


	Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship  	Summer 1999  


	DOI:10.5062/F46M34S8


  

Conference Reports
     STS Membership and Recruitment Committee
      Nirmala Bangalore
  University of Illinois, Chicago
nbangalo@uic.edu    
    The Committee decided that holding the "Welcome to ALA" reception for new and  continuing STS members on Saturday morning at the Convention Center worked out  better than the previous Friday evening slot. The same day and time will be  requested for the 2000 ALA Chicago conference. Announcing the reception via  sci/tech related mailing lists reached many potential attendees.     A new brochure will be designed and printed. The Committee discussed ways of  recruiting more members to the section. Currently fourth largest in ACRL, STS had  1,926 members as of February 1999, with 144 new members and 118 drops. Thirty-five  people responded to a brief survey of reasons for dropping STS: 6: New ALA "2-sections  with paid division dues" rule. 11: My duties have changed. 2: My interests have  changed. 15: Other (various reasons, e.g., retired, financial problems, forgot to  renew). 1: Blank. 

    The survey yielded no data to assist the Committee in retaining STS members. The  Committee concluded that organizational membership is down across sections, but we  cannot do much for retention of this group. While 14 out of 17 ACRL sections show  negative membership figures, STS has a small increase (less than 1%). The  Committee will work on achieving a higher figure. 

    Letters will be sent to potential members (those attending STS functions and  signing in as "not a member"). Sending letters to renewing members was seen as  unnecessary at this time. 

    

  

  
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