Report on the North American initiative
David Leach
SGA Vice-President for North America
US Geological Survey, Mineral Resource Program, Mail Stop 973, Box 25046 Federal Center, Denver COLORADO 80225
In 1996, Council agreed to a North American Initiative spearheaded by myself and Richard Goldfarb (co-editor of Mineralium Deposita). The purpose of the initiative was to increase the profile of the SGA in North America. Here, I present a report on some of our initial activities. The North American Initiative was coincident with the opening of the Mineralium Deposita Editorial Office in Denver under Rich Goldfarb.
Summary of the SGA/MD Exhibits
SGA/ Mineralium Deposita (MD)/ Springer-Verlag exhibits were present at the Northwest Mining Association annual meeting in Spokane, Washington during the first week of December 1997 and again at the Cordilleran Round-Up held in Vancouver, British Columbia during the last week of January 1998. These exhibits contained information on the SGA, including information for future SGA activities, publication opportunities in MD and highlighted the scientific merits of MD, especially from an industry perspective. In addition, some Springer-Verlag publications were also displayed. The exhibits were staffed by Richard Goldfarb and myself. We also enlisted some volunteer help from Erin Marsh, Craig Hart, Susan Leach, Vic Labson, and Poul Emsbo.
I believe the exhibits were quite successful from several perspectives. The most immediate benefit to SGA was the receipt of 68 new membership applications, 8 of which were from people outside North America. These meetings provided an excellent opportunity for increasing the visibility of SGA in North America. Hundreds of SGA News and membership applications were handed out to attendees. Many people said that they would consider applying later. In addition, there was much interest in the fact that MD is trying to include more articles, such as the MD Notes, that are especially useful for industry geologists. Some people expressed interest in submitting articles to MD.
What we learned
1) The awareness of SGA in North America is remarkably low. However, MD is generally well known. The most important selling point for SGA membership was getting a subscription to MD. Most people expressed the bargain that MD represents, considering the quality of the journal and the reasonable cost of membership. The strength of the US dollar was a help.
2) The 15% meeting discount was quite successful in getting people to join - many would have taken the application home and, perhaps, not have sent it in.
3) There was very strong interest in our Biennial Meetings and very high interest in obtaining copies of the proceedings. We could have sold many tens of copies, had we been in the publication selling business.
4) Most people were interested in books, short course notes, and other publications that SGA had to offer and were surprised that we did not have available a list of SGA publications.
The SGA Exhibit stand at the Northwest Mining Association Annual Meeting in Spokane, Washington (from left: R. Goldfarb, D. Leach and D. Grauch, Treasurer for IAGOD).