Re: KillieTalk Digest V5 #325

["Catherine Carney" <schmidtcarney at ecr_net>]

> P.S. I know of no public  library in my area that doesn't offer free
> internet access. I've used them on numerous occasions.

The issue isn't about computer owenership or free library internet access.
The issue is about FORCING members to use a technology. If we were a
computer club, then I think that we could make computer use or ownership a
prerequisite for full membership benefits. However, we are a FISH club, and
I think that the prerequisite for membership should be the interest in and
willingness to keep fish for full membership benefits.

The annual questionnaire asked members about computer usage (including
ownership, how often people used their computers) and what format people
would prefer to have their BNL in. The respondents were evenly divided
(remember that only about 10% of our members responded) between receiving
their BNL through the mail, through e-mail, or through the internet. Some
members asked if they could receive it via more than one medium.

GCKA has given members a choice about how they would like to receive their
monthly club newsletter. Many of our members started by asking to receive
both a paper and an e-copy, then switched to e-only as they became
comfortable with the process. However, we still have a good proportion of
members who are "paper only" for many reasons. We have not found that
providing members with a choice has increased the newsletter workload too
drastically (our newsletter editor and our webmaster can tell you for sure
how much extra work it generates). We are most certainly NOT creating two
completely different documents from scratch each month--we use one document
and send either on paper or electronically. I'm sure that there are other
local affiliates out there that are piloting similar programs that could
provide information for us about how the process is or is not working for
them.

Catherine carney



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