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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
What a difference a year makes…
Last year at this time we were making preparations
for the "American Mineral Treasures" show. Museums had an extra burden
of exhibiting their own specimens while simultaneously providing
specimens for the special cases. Many of us were also charged with
coordinating some of the American Treasure displays. Some say it was the
show of a lifetime. Perhaps that is a good thing, I don't think many of
us want to repeat the performance. More importantly, the economy was
still on two legs although they were starting to wobble.
This year we are preparing for "Mineral Oddities."
I found this year's topic much more challenging than last. Not with
respect to the work burden but with finding an interesting and diverse
display. Bringing out your best is easy, the "best odd thing" is hard!
Sadly, the economy is continuing downward and has yet to reach bottom. A
new president has been sworn in, just in time to face some of the
biggest problems since the 1930's. I've already heard of a number of
curators who will not be attending due to budget issues. My own
organization is facing some cutbacks, thankfully none slated for the
museum.
I'm looking forward to this year's program. Jaime
Newman, pursuing an excellent suggestion from Terry Huizing, has
arranged for Alan Hart to present a short talk on donating to museums.
Following the talk a panel discussion, open to all in attendance, will
be moderated by Gail Spann. This program should provide some very
practical information of importance to all museums.
Every year some of our members continue to support
SMMP not only with their dues, but also with their time. Thanks to Jean
DeMouthe for coordinating the SMMP educational display at Tucson and
Denver. Tony Kampf for his continued excellence in
"webmastering" and with the coordination of our listserver. And
don't forget our tireless treasurer, Anna Domitrovic who keeps the
financial wheels on the society.
Remember, the terms of three board members (myself
included) are up. If a regime change is what we need to get SMMP going
in the right direction, now is the time!
Looking forward to seeing you all in Tucson,Virgil Lueth, President
* * *
2009 Board of Directors election
Three board member terms will be expiring this year. Please
be prepared to nominate candidates and vote. Board members whose terms expire
this year are:
Anna Domitrovic
Virgil Lueth Jamie Newman
Note that the term expiration dates of the board members are provided in parentheses in the sidebar.
* * *
BEST PRACTICES PROJECT
"Best
Practices" documents are posted on the SMMP website at:
http://www.agiweb.org/smmp/rept-practices.htm
We are actively looking for more volunteers to
author other best practice documents.
* * *
SMMP RESEARCH STUDY
GRANTS
Awards are to support curatorial research and methodologies that address
one or more of the Society of Mineral Museum Professionals (SMMP)
mission statement goals: 1) foster recognition of mineral science
collections as essential scientific, educational and cultural resources,
2) promote support for growth, maintenance and use of collections and
exhibits and, 3) advance museum practice through cooperation in the
development, review and dissemination of information. Amounts vary up to
a maximum of $1000 per grant. Grant awards determined by SMMP Board of
Directors. Grant applications and more details are posted on our
website.
http://www.agiweb.org/smmp/support-SMMP.htm
Grant proposals are due: August 1, 2009.
* * *
MINUTES OF THE
DENVER MEETING
September 2008
Click on the link above to view the
minutes.
* * *
SMMP AFFILIATIONS
American Geological Institute (AGI)
Natural Science
Collections Alliance NSCA)
Although the Society of Mineral
Museum Professionals maintains no official ties with the
Commission on Museums
(CM) of the
International Mineralogical Association
(IMA), the Commission resolved at its December, 2000, meeting in Melbourne,
Australia, to support SMMP's efforts in uniting mineral museum professionals
worldwide.
* * *
SMMP LIST SERVER
You
are encouraged to interact with your fellow SMMP members via our list server:
smmp@listserv.nhm.org
Please
remember that
when you reply to an email sent via our list server,
you will be replying to the sender, although you have the option of copying the
membership.
Tony Kampf processes additions to and
deletions from the list server. That way we limit
the list to our membership and if a member decides that they want to be dropped
from the list, Tony will know whether to send them the
SMMP Newsletter by snail mail. Note that you are only able to
send via the list server from your email address that is on the list server.
This should be the same one that is used in our on-line roster.
* * *
PAYING DUES
SMMP dues
are $10.00 U.S., payable to Anna Domitrovic, treasurer,
6118 W. Lazy Heart Street,
Tucson, AZ 85713. Any directory changes or
additions should be sent to Tony Kampf. In Europe,
dues can be remitted to Peter Davidson, National Museums of Scotland,
Chambers Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1JF, SCOTLAND.
To
make paying your dues easier (especially for non-US members),
a PayPal account has been established and installed on our
website. You can use your credit card or your own personal PayPal
account. Just go to our
Dues webpage.
Note that you can check your dues
payment status on the SMMP on-line roster. The year shown in the last column indicates
the last year for which you have paid. If you are delinquent, please remit your
dues payment as soon as possible.
Remember to renew your membership.
If you are planning to pay dues at the Tucson
meeting, help Anna by filling out a membership application with your dues
payment. Do it beforehand and save time at the meeting! |
