Volume 10, Number 2, May 1988, pp.25-26

From the Editor

ICOM Membership

WAAC members who belong to AIC perhaps noticed that the March issue of the AIC Newsletter sought members' interest in joining ICOM through AIC rather than AAM, as is now required. Hopefully, dear readers, you will also remember last issue's editorial about the importance of membership in ICOM, the influential role of the Committee on Conservation, and AAM's recent policy forcing private conservators to seek membership as corporate affiliate (at a hefty price tag).

In that spirit, consider the following letter:

Letter to the Membership

Dear Colleague:

You may have seen the notice in the recent AIC Newsletter regarding ICOM membership. If you have not already done so, I urge you to complete that form and return it to AIC immediately. There has been considerable discussion during the last year both within the ICOM Executive Council and the AAM/ICOM Board concerning the prerequisite of AAM membership for American conservators who wish to belong to ICOM. I am hopeful that this practice can be changed, but this only can be done if sufficient interest is demonstrated.

The official list of ICOM Conservation Committee members contains a relatively small percentage of those American conservators who have shown interest in the Committee's activities through their inclusion in our Newsletter mailing list. I suspect that many of those interested conservators are not currently ICOM members because of the need for prior membership in AAM.

Please be sure to take this opportunity, whether or not you are currently an ICOM member, to respond to the AIC's survey and encourage a more equitable membership practice for conservators.

Janet Bridgland
Chairman, ICOM Committee for Conservation
4503 Glencoe Avenue Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6537

Changes

More has changed, Newsletter wise, than the outward appearance of this rag. The WAAC Newsletter has become too large for an individual, volunteer editor to manage. The WAAC Board has begun to assist the editor much more directly in the production of the newsletter. Beginning with this issue, the Vice-President is responsible for gathering the information from the Regional Reporters. As of the previous board meeting, each WAAC Member-at-Large is responsible for generating an article for the newsletter.

More obviously, with the assistance of Zora Pinney, the now official Contributing Editor, the newsletter is being printed under Ventura Publishing (a desktop publishing program) on a HP Laserjet II (a laser printer). In addition to looking much cleaner, the combination of hardware and software allows for far better readability, even with smaller type, and allows different type sizes and italic and bold type faces to be used. In addition to contributing "Zora's Column", Zora's editorial assistance is much appreciated.

Debra Evans, our Vice President, has not only gathered and prepared the Regional News section, but has also provided the article and enclosed table by Betty Walsh, Conservator at the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. Next issue, look for Betty Walsh's article "Photographic Enclosures".

Rosanna Zubiate has culled and edited the "In The News", "AYMHM", and "Publications / Audio-Visual" columns on a one-time-only basis. In the event that she cannot be swayed, are there any volunteers (preferably with access to an IBM compatible computer or anything with a modem) willing to take over those editorial chores?

Pauline Mohr has agreed to prepare a 10 year cumulative index of the WAAC Newsletter which we are hoping to release with the Volume 11, number 1 (January 1989) issue.

Please take time to indicate your current level of interest in the WAAC Resource File on your Membership Renewal form.