[GBW] Guild benefits and dues

[Karl Best <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In the February GBW Newsletter the Guild president, Betsy Palmer
Eldridge, wrote concerning the Guild's financial situation. It appears
likely that our dues are going to be increased.

I wrote to Betsy to express my opinion about the situation, and thought
that I should also ask how others in the Guild felt. While I can afford
the $60+10 dues perhaps more than others (my day job is in the computer
industry), I still expect value for the money that I spend. My feeling
is that I receive more value from my local chapter (in my case, New
England) than I do from the national organization, and the 60/10 split
does not fairly reflect the value I receive.

From the national organization I get the bi-monthly Newsletter, and an
annual membership directory. (I believe that there's also supposed to
be a Journal, but have only seen one volume in the three years I've
been a member.) There's also Standards, of course, which I haven't had
the opportunity to attend yet, and I'm happy to be told that this is
self-supporting and is not subsidized by dues. And I also understand
that the national organization provides some level of administration
services (membership tracking and bookkeeping) to the chapters.

While these are useful things, I feel that most of the benefit I get
from my GBW membership comes from my participation in my local
chapter's activities. I get much more here than from just the
Newsletter, and it only costs me 1/6 as much. Shouldn't a much larger
portion of my dues go to the local chapter?

How do others feel?

-Karl
=================================================================
Karl F. Best             "Each in his own way imagines Paradise;
karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx        since childhood I have envisioned it as
Chelmsford, MA           a library."  - J.L. Borges

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