President’s Message: Spring 2024
March/April
Spring Greetings WAML Members!
We are headed out of winter and into spring. I am welcoming the sunshine and new growth that spring brings. At this time of renewal and spring cleaning, please take a few minutes to double check your WAML membership. If you aren’t sure when you last renewed, you can check with our Membership Manager, Nick Beyelia or check your Pay Pal receipts. The membership keeps the organization running and are the heart of what the organization is about. Let us know how the organization can support you and your work and please remember to renew your membership each year during the summer months.
Kathy Rankin shared the recent passing of WAML member Muriel Strickland. WAML has a practice of honoring deceased members with memorials. You can view past memorials on the website. Look for one for Muriel soon. In the meantime, I will share Kathy’s note: “Muriel Strickland passed away in San Diego at age 98 on February 13, 2024. Muriel was a long-time member of WAML and of the Special Library Association Geography and Map Section. She worked in the map collection at San Diego State, and after she retired, she volunteered for years in the map collection at the San Diego History Center. Muriel had also lived in British Columbia and was originally from England.” If anyone has memories of Muriel or pictures, please share them with Kathy.
The Executive Board has been busy working towards hiring a new indexer. Our previous indexer Laura Shelley worked with WAML for over 12 years and has recently retired. I want to thank Laura for her work as our long-time indexer and Ken Rockwell, Sarah Zhang, and Kat Strickland for working with the Board on her replacement. We have also been working on updating the Policies and Procedures and getting WAML a new physical address. More on these two items in the future.
Coming up we will be talking about our standing committees and nominations for next year’s leadership positions. We have secured several new folks for appointed positions and liaisons. Ryan Mattke is now serving as our liaison to National Geospatial Advisory Committee, Gabriella Evergreen as our liaison to the North American Cartographic Information Society, and sam tripp hidde will begin work as our new Social Media Manager soon. Big thanks to Amy Work who served as our most recent Social Media Manager. We still need a liaison for the Special Libraries Association Geography and Map Section and are looking for folks to run for the 2024-2025 WAML Board. It could be you: let us know if you are interested.
The picture I have provided is me sitting on a rock after hiking some of the Tusten Mountain Trail in Narrowsburg NY.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or the Board – execboard@waml.org – if you have ideas, concerns, or dreams for WAML events, or just want to chat. We want to hear it.
Jessica Benner
WAML President 2023-2024
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
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