Among the many changes planned for the AALL Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, is the standardization of SIS business meetings. This year at the Annual Meeting all SIS business meetings are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, July 15, 1998. The TS-SIS will conduct its business meeting from 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. on July 15, 1998. I wanted the TS-SIS membership to be aware of this change early in the year to help you plan your time at the Annual Meeting. Many people leave the Annual Meeting on Wednesday; perhaps knowing that the business meetings will be held on Wednesday afternoon will entice some people to depart the Annual Meeting at a later time in order to attend the SIS business meeting.

Current TS-SIS activities involve nominations, the membership survey, the Award Committee, the Education Committee, the Exchange of Duplicates Committee, the Ad Hoc Committee and the AALL Mentor Project. Jack Montgomery, University of Missouri-Columbia, is serving as the Chair of the TS-SIS Nominations Committee. Jack has been hard at work developing a slate of candidates for office. Shortly you will receive information on the candidates and a voting ballot. Please take the time to review the candidates' statements and vote for the candidates of your choice to represent you and lead the TS-SIS.

Our Chair-Elect, Joe Thomas, Notre Dame University, shared with me the status of the 1998 TS-SIS membership survey. Approximately 150 people responded to the membership survey. Joe is tallying the results and plans on releasing a summary of the survey in the next issue of TSLL. As I was interested in the response to the question on the survey concerning attendance at the AALL Annual Meeting, Joe informed me that the question received a split response. Many TS-SIS members base their attendance at the Annual Meeting on the presence of programs which address technical services issues. However, for an equal number of members the decision whether or not to attend the Annual Meeting does not depend on the presence of programs addressing technical services issues. Keep in mind that the actual results to the question of attendance at the Annual Meeting will be discussed more thoroughly by Joe in his summary of the survey.

Melody Lembke, Los Angeles County Law Library, has agreed to Chair the Renee D. Chapman Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions in Technical Services. Please contact Melody with your nominations for individuals to be considered for this award.

In the last issue of TSLL, Regina Wallen, Program/Education Committee Chair, described her intent to finalize TS-SIS program recommendations for the 1999 AALL Annual Meeting before the 1998 Annual Meeting in Anaheim. It would be advantageous for us to meet Regina's request. The greater the lead time in developing well thought-out and engaging programs, the greater our chances of the AALL Education Committee accepting our programs. Please consider the programs you would like to attend at the Annual Meeting and share your expertise in leading and/or developing a program beneficial to technical services librarians.

The format of the Exchange of Duplicates listings has changed. Melinda Davis, University of Tennessee, has taken the first steps towards an online Exchange. The 1997-98 List was created from a Microsoft Access database with subscribers listing their duplicates on a disk. I'm anxious to see how this new format will effect the List. Please contact Melinda if you are interested in subscribing.

The work of the Ad Hoc Committee studying the provision of regional educational programs for technical services librarians has a long way to go. We need many, many more volunteers. This study is a large project which will take a commitment of time and effort by a group of dedicated technical services librarians. Although I had hoped that the Committee would have something to report to us at the business meeting, it is apparent that more time is required for study. The work of the Ad Hoc Committee will need to continue not only this year but also into next year. Please let me know if you would like to serve on this Committee.

We also need volunteers to host the TS-SIS table at the Annual Meeting in Anaheim. Even if you can only spare an hour or two, we need you to volunteer. This is an easy assignment; you just need to talk to people who approach the table about TS-SIS and related technical services questions. As an incentive, candy will be available to give away to those who stop by or for those working at the table!

I'd like to encourage you to participate in the AALL Mentor Project. Mentors are an important support for new librarians trying to find their way in the association and at the annual meeting. Mentors help promote our SIS. Information will appear in Spectrum on the Mentor Project. The following notice is provided by the project:

The purpose of the Mentor Project is three-fold: to provide an informal, personal source of information for newer librarians; to provide an avenue by which experienced law librarians may meet promising new members of the profession; and to provide a network for members who are contemplating a move to another type of library.

For copies of the application form, contact Kate Kasprzyk, Coordinator of Membership and Information Services at AALL Headquarters or visit the AALL website http://www.aallnet.org.