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I am interested to see that Paul Gibbons has been thre first to pick up on
my suggestion that a smaller unit than the region might be useful in
invilving more members actively in the Society of Archivists.This type of
solution might well be useful in the regions with larger membership, while
others with a smaller membership and a wide geographical spread need the
larger area to get up to the critical mass of numbers to be self sustaining.

 
As Chairman of the newly established Regional Affairs Committee of the
Society, this is an issue which I view as of great importance for the future
vitality of the Society, and I hope that what we work towards is a situation
where each region evolves towards an internal organisation that best serves
its members, while still ensuring that the Society can respond to the
rapidly moving agenda on regional matters. This is after all what
"devolution" is meant to be about, and the ball is in the regions' court to
propose changes that they feel would best serve the members in their region.
I would not suggest a "one size fits all" solution, but foe each region to
consider what its members feel best for them, and for this then to be taken
forward theri their Regional Representatives to the next Regional Affairs
Committee.
 
This is an issue which obviously is generating a lot of genuine concern, so
lets address it.
 
Bruce Jackson 

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Gibbons [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 25 September 2000 21:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Regional Meetings


As a regular non-attender of most SoA gatherings (and other organisations,
so SoA shouldn't feel singled out), I felt I wanted to contribute to the
ongoing discussion. I sympathise with those like Alison and Elizabeth who
are 'doing their bit', but can also understand (all too well) the feelings
of Anne Locker.
>From my own point of view, the fact that most meetings seem so far away, and
are always held at weekend is a big issue. Whilst I understand the reasons
for this, I often want to switch off at weekends/and often have commitments
then anyway. I don't want to spend the day travelling to talk about subjects
which may or may not have relevance to me. It is also an issue that few of
the archivists who I know turn up to these meetings, so there is a sense of
being out on the fringes. 
Perhaps Bruce's suggestion of smaller 'regions' is a sensible response to
this.
I realise on reading this back that I sound terribly lazy and anti-social,
but perhaps I'm not alone - perhaps there are too many people like me in the
Society (a frightening thought).
Paul Gibbons
(Modern Records Archivist, Portsmouth City Council)



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