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Fergus - several points of your posting require a
more formal response than is normally the case for this chat line.
1. When the old Griffin Centre closed last
year, the COG committee was faced with the prospect of moving its office to a
more expensive (round $20 per member) place on the second floor of the new
Centre, where access was only possible through the possession of a key.
Given this prospect, after long debate we took up the offer by our current
secretary Barbara Allan to relocate to a spare office on her premises.
While it is agreed this is less central, it could be argued that COG's
library is now more accessible, given that our Griffin Centre office was only
open for very restricted hours, and parking there had become increasingly
difficult. As indicated on the back of the Gang-gang, works may be borrowed from the library by arrangement with the
current secretary, who will for example, bring them to COG meetings. COG is
not actively adding to its library collection, in part because an increasing
number of publications are only available electronically. Further, members have
the opportunity to consult most works held by the COG library at the more
centrally located National Library, which is both comfortable and open long
hours.
2. The publications survey
referred to in the current Gang-gang is not directly related to the recent
debate on this chat line, but an attempt to encourage members to put forward
their views about the current COG publications (Gang-gang and Canberra Bird
Notes) and their modes of delivery, in a deliberately unstructured way. It had
been considered by the committee prior to the CBN index etc debate, and as is
clear from reading it, is essentially about the extent COG should move into the
electronic age, as well as whether the membership supports the ongoing
production of both publications, in particular the Canberra Bird Notes.
While it may not particularly professional, you need to keep in mind we are
all volunteers, and very busy ones at that.
Jack Holland
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