It's hard to believe that this is my last column as OBS chair. Everyone always says, but it's still true, that the time has flown by this year. There is still much to be done before we all arrive in Indianapolis, though. Mike Petit and I have made every effort to avoid major conflicts in scheduling SIS meetings, but some conflict is inevitable. I hope you'll bear with us and give next year's Chairs any advice on which meetings should never be scheduled at the same time.

A word about committee meetings. Actually, several words. First, all OBS SIS meetings are open to everyone. You don't have to be an appointed committee member to attend. In fact, you don't even have to be an OBS member. All are welcome, and we hope you'll find time to squeeze in the OCLC, RLIN, and Local Systems Committee Open Discussions, as they're being billed this year. [Education Committee, too, but more on that later.] The other big word about OBS morning meetings is that there will be food. Sally and I felt that it wasn't fair to ask our members to come to meetings at 7:00 a.m. without providing sustinence of some kind. Don't expect a lavish buffet -- but there will be coffee, bagels or muffins, and maybe even yogurt to tantalize your taste buds at those crack of dawn meetings.

The Education Committee Open Discussion will be held on Wednesday, July 24, 1996 at noon. All OBS members interested in working on programs for Baltimore should plan to attend; if that's not possible, please get your ideas and suggestions in to our newly elected Vice-Chair/Chair-elect. Since I don't know who that is yet, I'll also remind you that you can pass your thoughts on to Sally Wambold as well. She and the Education Committee worked hard on the programs being sponsored and co-sponsored this year. There will be a complete list available at the business meeting and at the OBS table in the activities area.

Ah, yes, the activities area. I hope all of you will take some time to stop by the OBS table during your stay in Indianapolis. And bring along that book you read on the plane on your way out to swap for another at the First Annual OBS Used Book Swap! We don't discriminate by literary genre or SIS membership, and hope this will be a way to meet some new people as well as get new reading material for the trip home. I'm also looking for volunteers to sit at the OBS table for an hour or two during the meeting. Let me know if you're interested in helping out.

I hope you'll make a special effort to attend the Joint Reception on Saturday, July 20, 1995. Traditionally sponsored by TS-SIS, OBS-SIS, RS-SIS, and Innovative Interfaces (a.k.a. III), we expanded to include the ASD-SIS in 1996; this is now truly the Alphabet Soup Reception! New SIS members sometimes feels a bit lost at this reception, and Vianne Tang Sha is working on a plan to help match them up with OBS mentors. Even if you're not a mentor, find someone you don't know and introduce yourself. We're a friendly group and this is a great place to network with new people, as well as meet up with old friends.