ASIS is ASIS&T (fwd)

[Gretchen Whitney]

Many sigmetricians are not members of ASIS; I thought this might be of
interest.
  --gw

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 16:18:00 -0500
From: Richard Hill <rhill at asis.org>
To: all mbrs aug 23 <rhill at asis.org>
Subject: ASIS is ASIS&T

        The ASIS Board of Directors voted at its May meeting to change
the name of our Society to the American Society for Information
Science and  Technology (ASIS&T). This action follows over a year of
discussion among the membership in many forums. The new name better
reflects the professional interests of the membership and positions the
Society to compete and thrive in the future.
        There has been a debate for many years over the best way to
expand the reach of this information science society in response to the
dramatic advances in information technology over the past decade. We
should view these rapid advances in computer and communications
technology and the coming ubiquity of information technology as an
important opportunity for us. We have been talking about the
"information society" since 1970 but now it is upon us.
        One way to view recent developments is that a distributed tele-computing infrastructure
has been put into place.  But there are
significant information management challenges that need to be solved
before this dazzling new structure can function as a global library.
Guiding this next generation of information technology is part of the
mission of our society.
        We must define a new information professionalism--
 *  By providing analysis of practices and technologies, and
 *  By nurturing new perspectives, interests, and ideas
 --in a world where creating and communicating information is of central
economic, social, and political importance.
       This spring, a mail ballot of the membership resulted in
approximately 70% approval to change the name of the society. With this
direction from the membership, the Board at its May meeting approved
amending the ASIS Charter to change the name of the Society to the
American Society for Information Science and Technology.
         This change is an important opportunity for us to take advantage of
the new value being placed on information science, technology, and their
applications. Anyone who attended our Spring summit on Information
Architecture was struck by the large number of new faces and the energy
they generated. While change can be jarring, this is a time for us to
reaffirm the core values of our Society--theory, research, applications, and
service.
         We hope to capture more of this energy in our 2000 Annual Meeting
November 13 - 16 in Chicago, and in an expanded Summit meeting next Spring. Headquarters,
under the Board's direction, is  making special efforts to recruit individual
and institutional members, particularly from the information technology sector.
         Our change of name (but not our soul) provides us an opportunity to
revise our mission and goals, focus on  making sure that  we are provide
unique services that meet members needs.
         We are very excited about the opportunities and  challenges to be
faced as the  American Society for Information Science and Technology
(ASIS&T). We count on you to help us achieve our objectives in the
coming year.  Let us know you thoughts about how we can work with you
to accomplish our mission and your goals.


American Society for Information Science and Technology
ASIS&T
8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 501
Silver Spring, MD  20910
(301) 495-0900
FAX: (301) 495-0810
http://www.asis.org