vol. 15, no. 2
February 2001

I support the proposal to save mailing and printing costs by distributing the newsletter primarily in electronic format, but it will continue to be necessary to print a few copies to take to the AALL annual meeting for PR purposes in the Activities Area (especially for CONELL). We would also need to mail hard copies to the few members who will have difficulty accessing the newsletter online and to recipients designated by AALL requirements (see http://www.aallnet.org/sis/publications.asp). One suggestion for making the electronic copy accessible to more members is to provide both PDF and HTML versions. Thus, the editor would prepare a print copy and two electronic versions, but the money and time spent printing, labeling and mailing would be significantly reduced.

An alternate plan is to accept advertising as a means of offsetting printing and mailing costs. A recent survey posted to the Council of Newsletter Editors listserv indicated that several SISs either already do or are considering accepting advertising. Our newsletter has a focused readership, which should appeal to certain advertisers. This would require the editor to solicit ads and handle ad copy while the Secretary/Treasurer would take on the added tasks of invoicing and collecting payments.