buteo

In response to plans for a new society of ornithology, Dick Banks has eloquently expressed a number of serious concerns about the future of AOU and its publications, views which I ardently share. My perspective is somewhat different; as an amateur ornithologist, birdwatcher, bookseller/book collector of bird books and journals, and AOU member for nearly 30 years (dues were $16 in 1982). I can't imagine how anyone will find time and/or inclination to read four new journals especially monthly online versions. What we've seen in the past decade or two has been an extraordinary proliferation of easily accessible electronic information. While this has provided many positive benefits, serious challenges have emerged. Who of us has time to sift through this barrage of material or to remember and find an item of interest or importance in the future? And, are we really better off gazing at a monitor and clicking away on a keyboard for hours on end? If the AOU chooses to exist principally in cybespace, it will in my view, lead to a further decline in print publications and membership. One need only examine what has happened with the Ornithological Monographs. Beginning about 2005, the AOU decided to include copies of OMs free to members as benefit of membership with a consequent increase in dues. You received a copy of each new OM whether it was of interest to you or not. Then, with the journals division of UC Press at the helm, the AOU embarked upon an effort to persuade members to opt for electronic versions to save the planet. With OM 68, members were given the choice to opt out of print copies and most did. Now, an average of 450 members receive the print version; no one knows how many members access the online versions, but I have my suspicions. As far as after market sales are concerned, neither UC Press nor Buteo Books has sold more than a handful of OMs in recent years. Give it away and/or make it free online and both demand and desirability diminish. As to AOU membership, it declined substantially during this process. I say keep The Auk and save the AOU. Were it not raining, I'd prefer to be outside studying birds. And instead of poring over ephemeral comments and composing one, I'd find it more rewarding to pick up an old number of The Auk and actually learn something about birds. Allen Hale