Hello all,

Just though I'd have my say before I take a week off for Easter.

Tom says: "In my opinion, the Society is in danger of losing touch with its members, but then, many of its members are just not interested enough in the archival world at large to care what the Society's stance is on anything."

I am committed to the Society and profession and do care sincerely about the new plan but feel that the Society is incredibly short sighted in requiring all comments to be passed to them in a very short amount of time. Especially when nobody will actually be given an oportunity to comment on the draft plan itself. I feel that the Society is trying to get this review completed unnecessarily quickly to the detriment of the membership's views.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a lovely break.

Regards
Matthew

Matthew Stephenson
Records Manager
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
     
Tel: 020 7955 6481
Fax: 020 7852 3646




-----Original Message-----
From: Townsend, Tom [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 March 2002 16:11
To:
Subject: Re: Recent Debate


I, too, have to admit that I was, to some extent, enjoying the recent
debate concerning the stategic review but I also suspect that
participating is an activity engaged in by those of strong opinions with
(dare I say it?)enough time on their hands to think of and 'pen' a
coherent contribution. Perhaps coffee breaks are longer elsewhere.
Seriously though, of course this debate should be happening somewhere,
and if not here, then where? In my opinion, the Society is in danger of
losing touch with its members, but then, many of its members are just
not interested enough in the archival world at large to care what the
Society's stance is on anything. (I'm not being too harsh, am I?) Many
of us are only members because we think that it will be of use to us in
our careers. Unfortunately, the bodyblow concerning our inability to
achieve chartered status has lessened members' commitment to the
Society, as has its recent admission that it can no longer sustain a
role in training diploma candidates. To many, training without some form
of assessment ultimately lacks credibility. How many attendence
certificates to training events have you binned recently?
So, in summary, what am I saying? I think that the Society does have a
broad educative role both to its members and to those in the wider
world, but, more importantly for its future continued existence, that
its key function should be that of providing authoritative training and
other work-based benefits to its members. It's a sad old world, but I'm
afraid that, at present, too many archivists are asking themselves
exactly what do they get for their membership fees and coming up with
the answer that they don't know.
Tom Townsend