Members' Mailing List

One of the major benefits of the Society of Archivists is that membership brings with it access to a wide network of fellow professionals, ready and willing to offer advice or to discuss the many subjects that affect us all during our working lives.

 

So what is the best way to seek advice from your fellow members and join discussions? The answer to that will vary depending on personal situation. The Society, of course, provides support for regional and special interest groups, and all hold regular meetings and training sessions throughout the year. However, through geographical location or pressures of business some members may have difficulty in attending these regularly and would benefit from alternative methods of staying in touch. The Society can provide this link through its online services.

 

There is now a new way of staying in touch with your fellow Society members. A mailing list has been created for members, to allow them to enter into discussion or simply to pass on information. Many of you will already be familiar with the operation of mailing lists so will quickly be able to make use of this new addition. The list address is soamembers@archives.org.uk and any message sent to that address will be sent out to all other list members. Any member can then reply directly to the list; the reply will be distributed in the same way as the original message so that all list members will be able to follow discussions as they happen. It is also possible to send a reply directly to the original sender, rather than to the whole list, simply by replacing the To: address in the reply.

 

Joining the list couldn’t be easier, just send an email to listadmin@archives.org.uk with the message “Subscribe soamembers” and your name and membership number (which is given on your membership card). You will then be added to the list and receive an email in confirmation. Should you wish to unsubscribe at any time then send an email to the same address with the message “Unsubscribe soamembers”. For institutional affiliates: the individual who receives Society mailings is welcome to join, and other employees of the institution may subscribe at the discretion of the list administrator.

 

There is also another way to stay in touch. The Society Forums, reached by a link from the Society’s website homepage <www.archives.org.uk>, provide an area where the archives, records management and conservation communities can discuss any topic they choose. In addition to public forums, which are viewable by all, it is possible to set up private forums which are only accessible by members of that particular forum. A number of regions and committees have already taken this opportunity but there is plenty of room for more and any group within the society, whether formal or informal, can start their own discussion group, publicly or privately. Posts can include attachments and a quick and easy method of setting up an online poll is provided. It is also possible to subscribe to forums so that the subscriber receives a daily or weekly report of any new posts. Forum membership is growing and, in addition to Society members, now includes archive professionals from both the USA and Australia.

 

The Society membership contains professionals from all levels of their respective areas so, whether an archivist, records manager or conservator, there is potentially a vast knowledge base available literally at your fingertips. Why delay, sign up today!