AER Listserv Policy Announcement

AER listservs have been offered as a free service to professionals in the fields of blindness education and rehabilitation since they were created. They have been a wonderful and well used venue for exchanging information, although less than 25% of the AER membership subscribes to the AERNet general subscription listserv and the nine other division listservs that AER offers.

AER is a membership organization with benefits that are designed to support the needs of members. Also, the AER Board of Directors is charged with making sure the association’s finances are sound. The AER Board of Directors has determined that having open listservs does not support these goals. The Board at its September 2010 meeting voted that participation on the AER listservs be open only to members of the association. The change in policy becomes effective February 15, 2011.

Your AER Board did not make this decision lightly. We view it as a matter of support for dues paying members and for the survival for our professional association. There are expenses related to running listservs, and members pay hard-earned dollars for that member benefit. The listservs are often used to advertise products, non-AER conferences and detailed information about job openings, which unfortunately means that AER loses advertising revenue and that potential advertisers miss access to over 70% of the AER membership. It's a lose/lose proposition. We hope to encourage potential advertisers to use Job Exchange, AER Report and other advertising opportunities to reach all our members and help AER remain fiscally secure.

Those currently on an AER listserv who do not hold AER membership are invited to join AER so that they can continue to share their knowledge and expertise on topics related to the vision profession field. AER is offering a three-month transition period, which will give anyone who is a listserv subscriber and not an AER member the time they need to join the association. Membership information is available at www.aerbvi.org.

Building our membership is only part of the answer to our financial needs. We also need to encourage potential advertisers to take advantage of affordable access to the more than 4500 members of AER for our benefit and theirs. The calendar of events on the AER Web site is an excellent option for our membership to learn of important events, and there is no charge associated with listing a conference or seminar.

We appreciate your support of this action and look forward to increasing and enhancing our benefits for members in the future.

Sincerely,

Patricia Leader, President

AER Board of Directors