The year 2002 began the same way that 2001 ended, with a flurry activity for the TS-SIS. In November, Marla Schwartz asked to step down as the AALL representative to SISAC. AALL looks to the TS-SIS for a recommendation of a member to fill this position. In 1998, SISAC merged with BISAC to become BASIC. Although, BISAC and SISAC continue to maintain their original names in reference to the data interchange formats for both areas, the TS-SIS Executive Board decided to recommend to the AALL Executive Board a replacement for Marla to BASIC. We were looking for a librarian with a strong interest in metadata, EDI, serials, a love for standardized formats, and who could go to ALA meetings! With the help of the OBS-SIS Executive Board, three candidates were recommended for the position. Each was asked to submit a resume and a brief statement to the chair and vice-chairs of TS and OBS. After careful consideration, it was our recommendation to the AALL Executive Board that Ellen Rappaport be appointed to complete Marla's term. The AALL Executive Board quickly confirmed Ellen's appointment, and her first official outing was at mid-Winter ALA in January! I want to thank Christina Tarr, TS-SIS vice-chair/chair elect, Ismael Gullon, OBS-SIS chair, and Mary Jane Kelsey OBS-SIS vice-chair/chair elect, for their input and help in filling this vacancy. Marla is a dear friend, and replacing her was not easy.

By the time you read this column, Christina will have already notified the membership of the 2002 Technical Services Special Interest Section Annual Membership Survey and Volunteer Form. This year, the survey and volunteer form will be in electronic format only. We hope to cut postage and photocopy expenditures for the Section, as well as for your organization. Above all, we hope that the efficiency of electronic forms will encourage more members to respond to the survey. The membership's response to the new format will decide whether the survey and volunteer form will continue to be in electronic format only, or if there will be a return to the combination of mass mailing and electronic access. Please take the time to fill out the survey and the volunteer form. Remember, this is also your opportunity to become more involved in a SIS whose purpose is to promote the professional interests of its membership. The volunteer form is our principal means for selecting individual members for professional service within the Section. If you are a new member or have never volunteered in TS-SIS, I encourage you to step forward. Involvement on committees and within roundtables is an excellent way to become better acquainted with your peers, to develop lasting friendships, to develop your skills and professional interests, and to possibly pursue a leadership role in AALL. Your involvement ensures that the Section continues to move in the direction which best supports the professional goals and concerns of the membership.

The TS-SIS has a long history of collaborative partnerships with other SISs, most notably with the OBS-SIS. A new initiative is underway with the Legal History and Rare Book (LHRB) SIS regarding preservation of historical legal material. The AALL Preservation Policy identifies the TS-SIS Committee on Preservation, chaired by Will Meredith, as the primary preservation group in AALL. In an effort to address the preservation initiatives in the AALL Strategic Plan (Outcome 4C: Historical legal materials are preserved and accessible), Katherine Hedin, chair of the LHRB-SIS, will formally designate a liaison to sit on the TS-SIS Preservation Committee. The liaison will report on the work of the Committee in the LH&RB Newsletter and in other forums.

Last year, the TS-SIS Bylaws Committee, chaired by Eloise Vondruska, worked diligently on recommendations for proposed bylaw changes and changes to the TS-SIS Handbook. The proposed bylaw changes were approved by the membership during the 2001 TS-SIS Business Meeting in Minneapolis, and the AALL Bylaws Committee approved the changes. The revised bylaws can be found on the Section's webpage at http://www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/handbook/app-01bylaws.htm. This year Alva Stone, immediate past chair, has been busy updating the TS-SIS Handbook as a result of the changes in the bylaws. The handbook will be available on the TS-SIS webpage soon. The purpose of the handbook is to offer management guidelines to current and future officers, committee chairs, and the membership of the TS-SIS. I would to thank Alva for volunteering to review and update these guidelines. It has been eight years since the handbook's last revision!