009 News in PDF format

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

OK - In the light of what has passed since I first posted on here....

If a possible idea that may be developed isn't discussed - how would anyone know if it was worthwhile putting it to the committee at a future date?

If ideas are not discussed - they go stagnent.

The question about The News being available in pdf format is such a thing.

If no one is interested in having the old issues available in this format - there would be no need for the idea to be put to the committee.

Anyway - from the comments on here at least - it is something that should be put to the committee using whatever approved method is chosen.

OK - so it's too late to get it raised via the AGM Agenda ie pre AGM.

So - that means that someone who is going to be at the AGM has to raise it as AOB.

I have no difficulty understanding that process and I would volunteer to do so, but I'm not able to be at the AGM (anniversary weekend).

If the idea was put to the Committee by someone though - I would be a willing volunteer to sort out the scanning and creation of PDF's as I have everything required to carry out the task.

Out of interest though...

What is the average attendance figure for the AGM (I'm new and no idea) either as a number or as a % figure?

Thanks

[Hobby]

This is a valid place to discuss this matter, just the same as it could be discussed at any branch meeting, though we obviously have to accept that nothing will be done about it though I would hope that matters discussed on here will not be dismissed out of hand but taken into consideration by the Directors of the Society. Knowing the Directors I am sure they do.

However quite honestly I wouldn't bother even trying to raise this matter (PDF News for UK members if anyone has forgotten what this thread is actually about with all the other discussions going on!) at the AGM as I know there are several people out there who are dead against it and will make sure that it's defeated. Every other society I am a member of is either wholly paperless or gives the option with a reduction for paperless. That's the way it should be but there are many around in the Society who want to have their cake and eat it (i.e. use a more expensive method of getting their News but not pay the extra costs)...

We are well behind the more forward looking Societies in this respect.

[JulienW]

If I may add a slightly different perspective here as someone who as served my sentence time as Secretary...

The only way to be 100% certain that the Committee are informed of anything is to inform the committee directly. If you are not sure whose remit something comes under then your first port of call should the the Secretary who will field it to the relevant person and/or raise the matter at the next committee meeting.

We must remember that our Committee in addition to the voluntary work they do for the Society also have to managing a day job, some form of social/family life and somehow fit some time to enjoy their own hobby (or hobbies).  As such we would not expect them to be attending each and every group meeting just on the off-chance that a Society member comes up with something they feel the Committee should look into, and likewise we should not expect them to monitor each and every post for the same reason.

Whilst (I expect) the Committee would not want discussions at group meetings or on internet forums (fora?) to be stiffled (unless they become acrimonius) the only way they will know what the membership is thinking is by said members contacting them direct, and anything else is just 'gossip and hearsay' and that is no way to run any organization.

Coming back to the original question (back in July 2015!!!)...

Hello,

I recently joined the 009 Society after discovering that the newsletter was being offered in PDF format. The membership rate fit within my budget much better than a mailed to the states printed copy membership. Upon joining, I received three recent PDF issues. I was wondering if any back issues in PDF are available.

Jeff S.

Has anyone put that question, in bold, to anyone on the Committee?

My suspicion is that the answer is something along the lines that after a certain date the News was e-mailed as a pdf to the printers so those issues will not need to be scanned and converted.  They will, however, need to be collated and (possibly) compressed in some way and that someone needs to have both the time and expertise to do that.  Then we need to sort out how to make that available to members and how do we ensure that only members can access it if these files are 'on the web', and whichever way it is done there will also need to be some form of indexing so that users can find the articles they are looking for without the need to 'read' through each and every issue. Such an archive will also need to be maintained as every month there will be a new issue of 009 News to add, be indexed, etc., etc..

And we also need to sort out scanning all the issues of the news that pre-date the digital age (potentially 30+ years) and then do all the compression, indexing, etc on that lot too.

Added to Jeff's question has been a request that the electronic subscription currently available for overseas members be made available to UK members.

I think Alan Rolfe answered that question...

<snipped>

The Society is primarily a postal organisation and every member receives a posted copy of the 009 News. For some years now, the cost of posting the News to overseas members has risen considerably year on year and has been subsided by other means. However, increases in the past 15 months have made this unsustainable and we had to make significant increases in the cost of overseas membership. However, we are conscious that overseas members do not receive the same benefits as enjoyed by the UK members and so have had to look at still providing the 009 News but not in a printed format and so don't need to pass on the increased cost. We have introduced a PDF issue of the News which is presently available for overseas members only.

Overseas members are being offered the option of a PDF-only membership or a continued postal copy (but at an increased subscription fee) at their renewal of their membership. At the moment, it is emailed to them.

We have no intention of offering a PDF-only option to UK members as we are simply not geared up to deal with the extra administration burden that this would create. Please remember that your Committee are all volunteers and many are still working full time and have the pressures of family life.

We are looking at a substantial change to the Society's website where we would expect members who want access a PDF copy to do it through a "self serve" facility where the current and back issues would be available. This will need to be only available for current members only, of course, and we need this to be administered as simply as possible. We are in the process of gathering requirements for this and will be soon seeking tenders from interested parties to make this a reality. We recognise that this is beyond the ability of the Committee to do this "in house" as we don't have time and, in most cases, the knowledge to do this.  If you feel that you have skills in this area then please get in touch with the Secretary.

Alan

Also late to the conversation, and another who has in the past seemingly been banging his head against a brick wall asking for the option of PDF in the UK (and the added advantage that older archived copies could also be accessed) and NO I would not ask for a discount for not receiving a paper copy (even though at present I am still awaiting delivery of the August copy which I understand some people had obtained a week ago)

Just to re-iterate that we are looking at making PDFs available for all members, not just those overseas. We are presently restricting this to overseas members as we can't cope with the administrative burden of including all members at the moment. We are looking at a revamp of the website to allow members to have access to a members'-only area and the PDF news will be available through that on a "self service" basis. Please be aware that we will NOT be reducing the cost of membership for UK members.

It is hoped to have something in place by the end of the year.

Now I know that 18 months has elapsed but it should be born in mind that the Committee may have only met 4 or 5 times in that period and there has been several changes to the Committee since then (an AGM and Brian G's health issues) and because of this (and all the other obligations on their time as outlined above) the wheels of Committee grind awful slow...

Just wondering if there has been any further discussion by board members regarding this thread's original question.

Jim F

You'll need to ask one of the Committee / Board members Jim as they, and any other members who may have been present at the relevant board meeting(s) are the only people who know what they have been discussing. The best way to do that is to directly ask (one of) the board members rather than wait for one of them to stumble across the question on the off-chance they are looking at the forum.

It's better for them too, as then they can approach this forum in the same way us ordinary members do rather than feeling they need to constantly monitor it in case we are talking about them, and from my own experience I'd much rather be spoken to directly than talked about.

If you have not contacted them directly yet then it isn't that hard to do as e-mail addresses are published in both 009 News and on the 009 Society's website, and (iirc) a written (electronic) copy of the minutes of any Committee meeting are available on application (e-mail or SAE) to the Secretary.

[JulienW]

Hi all,

OK - In the light of what has passed since I first posted on here....

If a possible idea that may be developed isn't discussed - how would anyone know if it was worthwhile putting it to the committee at a future date?

If ideas are not discussed - they go stagnent.

The question about The News being available in pdf format is such a thing.

If no one is interested in having the old issues available in this format - there would be no need for the idea to be put to the committee.

Anyway - from the comments on here at least - it is something that should be put to the committee using whatever approved method is chosen.

OK - so it's too late to get it raised via the AGM Agenda ie pre AGM.

So - that means that someone who is going to be at the AGM has to raise it as AOB.

I have no difficulty understanding that process and I would volunteer to do so, but I'm not able to be at the AGM (anniversary weekend).

If the idea was put to the Committee by someone though - I would be a willing volunteer to sort out the scanning and creation of PDF's as I have everything required to carry out the task.

Out of interest though...

What is the average attendance figure for the AGM (I'm new and no idea) either as a number or as a % figure?

Thanks

To address the last one first at a guess I'd say that about 10-15% of members attend the AGM.

To address the rest of your post...

During my time as Secretary I'd much rather have had several members approach me on the same issue.  Having multiple notifications on the same (or similar) issues makes it easier to attach some importance to the matter and I would rather have that than have "everyone" assume that "someone else" would get in touch resulting in nobody doing so, and then "everyone" getting wound up because nobody on the Committee has addressed the issue without realising that the Committee didn't know there was an issue because nobody told them.

Even then, my problem as Secretary was that I'd get given lots of very good ideas, but very (very) rarely would these ideas come with an offer to assist with their implementation.

So what makes your post even better is that not only do you have an idea of something that could be done you also seem to have the knowledge and willingness to do the job - making you an absolute star if you make that suggestion direct to the current Secretary - please do so ASAP!

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

OK - In the light of what has passed since I first posted on here....

If a possible idea that may be developed isn't discussed - how would anyone know if it was worthwhile putting it to the committee at a future date?

If ideas are not discussed - they go stagnent.

The question about The News being available in pdf format is such a thing.

If no one is interested in having the old issues available in this format - there would be no need for the idea to be put to the committee.

Anyway - from the comments on here at least - it is something that should be put to the committee using whatever approved method is chosen.

OK - so it's too late to get it raised via the AGM Agenda ie pre AGM.

So - that means that someone who is going to be at the AGM has to raise it as AOB.

I have no difficulty understanding that process and I would volunteer to do so, but I'm not able to be at the AGM (anniversary weekend).

If the idea was put to the Committee by someone though - I would be a willing volunteer to sort out the scanning and creation of PDF's as I have everything required to carry out the task.

Out of interest though...

What is the average attendance figure for the AGM (I'm new and no idea) either as a number or as a % figure?

Thanks

To address the last one first at a guess I'd say that about 10-15% of members attend the AGM.

To address the rest of your post...

During my time as Secretary I'd much rather have had several members approach me on the same issue.  Having multiple notifications on the same (or similar) issues makes it easier to attach some importance to the matter and I would rather have that than have "everyone" assume that "someone else" would get in touch resulting in nobody doing so, and then "everyone" getting wound up because nobody on the Committee has addressed the issue without realising that the Committee didn't know there was an issue because nobody told them.

Even then, my problem as Secretary was that I'd get given lots of very good ideas, but very (very) rarely would these ideas come with an offer to assist with their implementation.

So what makes your post even better is that not only do you have an idea of something that could be done you also seem to have the knowledge and willingness to do the job - making you an absolute star if you make that suggestion direct to the current Secretary - please do so ASAP!

Hi Julien,

Firstly - thanks for the measured response to my query/suggestion.

Secondly - an email to the current secretary will be winging it's way through the ether shortly.

Thirdly, - Yes, you are right. I do have the knowledge, experience and facilities to do this and it's something I have already done with other societies I am a member of (not just model railways either!)

To me - there are a couple of things that could kill this idea/suggestion off.

1 - I am aware of the historic hostility in certain areas to this being done.

2 - Obtaining the paper copies on old copies of 'The News' may be a challenge - unless the society has a paper library of back issues?

3 - I read elsewhere that some of this work has been done in the past but it appears this was an 'unnofficial virtual library'. I'd like to know more about that before embarking on the idea/suggestion afresh. as there is no point in doing work that has already been done!

Thanks

[JulienW]

Hi Julien,

Firstly - thanks for the measured response to my query/suggestion.

Secondly - an email to the current secretary will be winging it's way through the ether shortly.

Thirdly, - Yes, you are right. I do have the knowledge, experience and facilities to do this and it's something I have already done with other societies I am a member of (not just model railways either!)

To me - there are a couple of things that could kill this idea/suggestion off.

1 - I am aware of the historic hostility in certain areas to this being done.

2 - Obtaining the paper copies on old copies of 'The News' may be a challenge - unless the society has a paper library of back issues?

3 - I read elsewhere that some of this work has been done in the past but it appears this was an 'unnofficial virtual library'. I'd like to know more about that before embarking on the idea/suggestion afresh. as there is no point in doing work that has already been done!

Thanks

To answer those three...

1. I suspect that the hostility might be down to the issue of members asking for this to be done but nobody coming forward to do the necessary work. The other problem is that there is a combining of the issues of "PDF News Acrchive" and "PDF subscriptions in the UK" when they are, in fact separate issues and should be dealt with separately.

Other societies have 'didgitised' their magazine archive and made this available to members on disc (CD/DVD) or memory stick which would remove the issues over putting these onto the Society's website (I feel this is another sticking point that is in reality a separate issue).

2. To the best of my knowledge the Society's Archivist has a full set of 009 News issues, but to avoid 'dropping him in it'  I also have a full set of 009 News, though many of the earlier ones are photocopies rather than originals, and I am sure that other long standing members may also have complete (or near complete) sets that, like me, they would be willing to offer for scanning or be able to scan to forward the project.

3. I'm not aware of any "unofficial virtual library", though I would agree that if any work that has been done on this it would be useful in making an "official" version, though that being said should such help from 'unofficial' sources not be forthcoming that should not be a bar to the "official" version.

I hope the above helps.

[Frank]

 I think it would be a very good idea to make the archive available in pdf or whatever electronic form.   Although some spare back copies are available from the Society, I have been given to understand in the past that some issues are now out of stock.   For example, when I started giving radio control demonstrations, I had been given some copies of the News containing radio control articles that I have written, to give out to interested members at shows, but later on I was told there were no more left.    So it seems likely that there is no other way of new(er) members getting specific issues they are interested in, let alone a complete set.

I know of other societies which have given their members electronic copies of the back issues, even when they actually sell back copies in paper form to members.  Others make the CD or download available for a small(ish) fee.   Either way it is in my opinion well worth it first to have the complete set (in searchable form if possible!) and second to be able to stop filling up the bookshelves with the paper copies.

As Julien says, the availability of the archive of back issues is separate from how current issues are distributed.

Frank

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

A comeback...

Julien is correct - I am not talking about creating a new membership class for 'PDF Subscriber members'.

My whole intent regarding this would be to create, and make available, the historical archive of 'The News'.

My thoughts are that the archive is kept 3 months behind the current issue at any time.

ie - the 3 latest issues of 'The News' would not be available through the archive.

the format of the archive is a question to be looked at though.

To avoid overloading the Forum or exceeding it's bandwidth - it shouldn't be on here.

That means finding a home for it if it is to be a virtual resource and having someone look after it, or, if it is to be a DVD resource, someone to look after editing the DVD content and keep updating it, plus making it available to members who reqquest a copy of the DVD.

Now - a question, if it is a DVD resource, is it to be a free members only resource?

Or - would it be sold through the sales team as another piece of society merchandise?

Then again - would it be sold to non members through the sales team?

This is really getting to far ahead.

But - these are some of the questions that would need to be looked at before anything is done.

Thoughts etc?

Thanks

[clayliner]

Sticking my neck out here... In response to some of he more general comments posted in this thread recently (i.e. not specifically about the News in pdf format) -

In a perfect world, lots more people would feel free and find the time to discuss more issues on this forum, which would only be good for all of us. And in a perfect world the Society's officers might have the time to keep their finger on the pulse of what's being discussed here.

Just my two penn'orth, and no offence to or criticism of anyone intended!

David.

[garrywhiting]

2. To the best of my knowledge the Society's Archivist has a full set of 009 News issues, but to avoid 'dropping him in it'  I also have a full set of 009 News, though many of the earlier ones are photocopies rather than originals, and I am sure that other long standing members may also have complete (or near complete) sets that, like me, they would be willing to offer for scanning or be able to scan to forward the project.

OK, Moderator "hat" off, on with "Archivist" hat , --- So there is no misunderstanding, Archive material is paper format only . The Society's collection of OO9 News ( 1 mint copy of each issue ) only commences with Vol.32 No.1 September 2004. Prior to that date there was no policy to permanently retain any copies of 009 News.

My personal collection ( not the Society's ) does indeed include every issue, but I stress this is my personal collection although I have in place arrangements for the Society to
retain these ( along with my other personal 009 archive material ) on my demise if the Society at that time so wishes.

I have neither the time nor the necessary skills to deal with an electronic archive ( so there is a job vacancy --- submit proposals to the Board of Directors ).


Now some heresy ( a purely personal opinion and it must be strongly stressed not in any way an "official" Society view ), last year to celebrate 500 issues of 009 News, I put together a selection of articles from the first 30+ years of 009 News, (this was Vol43 no.6 March 2016 edition ). At best this exercise could just
& only just be worthwhile repeated once more. Almost everything else in the issues 1973 to 1993 is now just " dross". Early editions have few if any photos and unless you are
obsessively interested in 009 history there is little of any lasting relevance,

009 News as we now know it is very much a product of this century--- so my personal view that the time & effort required to scan pre 2000 editions is not really worth doing.
I stress this a personal view only.

Garry

[Scottish Modeller]

2. To the best of my knowledge the Society's Archivist has a full set of 009 News issues, but to avoid 'dropping him in it'  I also have a full set of 009 News, though many of the earlier ones are photocopies rather than originals, and I am sure that other long standing members may also have complete (or near complete) sets that, like me, they would be willing to offer for scanning or be able to scan to forward the project.

OK, Moderator "hat" off, on with "Archivist" hat , --- So there is no misunderstanding, Archive material is paper format only . The Society's collection of OO9 News ( 1 mint copy of each issue ) only commences with Vol.32 No.1 September 2004. Prior to that date there was no policy to permanently retain any copies of 009 News.

My personal collection ( not the Society's ) does indeed include every issue, but I stress this is my personal collection although I have in place arrangements for the Society to
retain these ( along with my other personal 009 archive material ) on my demise if the Society at that time so wishes.

I have neither the time nor the necessary skills to deal with an electronic archive ( so there is a job vacancy --- submit proposals to the Board of Directors ).

Now some heresy ( a purely personal opinion and it must be strongly stressed not in any way an "official" Society view ), last year to celebrate 500 issues of 009 News, I put together a selection of articles from the first 30+ years of 009 News, (this was Vol43 no.6 March 2016 edition ). At best this exercise could just
& only just be worthwhile repeated once more. Almost everything else in the issues 1973 to 1993 is now just " dross". Early editions have few if any photos and unless you are
obsessively interested in 009 history there is little of any lasting relevance,

009 News as we now know it is very much a product of this century--- so my personal view that the time & effort required to scan pre 2000 editions is not really worth doing.
I stress this a personal view only.

Garry

Hi Gary,

Thanks for making the effort and taking the time to make the current situation clear.

It is much appreciated - at least by myself, but probably a few other members as well.

I made the point that I wasn't asking for someone else to do this - I offered to do it myself.

As I said further up the thread - I have sent the suggestion/idea to the Secretary as a possible topic under AOB at the AGM.

Thanks

[Jeff Schumaker]

Now some heresy ( a purely personal opinion and it must be strongly stressed not in any way an "official" Society view ), last year to celebrate 500 issues of 009 News, I put together a selection of articles from the first 30+ years of 009 News, (this was Vol43 no.6 March 2016 edition ). At best this exercise could just & only just be worthwhile repeated once more. Almost everything else in the issues 1973 to 1993 is now just " dross". Early editions have few if any photos and unless you are obsessively interested in 009 history there is little of any lasting relevance,

I disagree. As a recent member (2+ years), I would think that there could be some useful info in those early issues. Perhaps not to those who have been members for a long time, but for members who have joined since 2000, or possibly 1990.

Since I started this thread, I discovered that the Society put out a series of CDs containing the newsletters from the Society's creation up to April of 2003. Through the graciousness of a former newsletter editor, I was able to obtain those files. I have converted them all to pdf format. In addition, a friend of mine, here in the States, has been loaning me his back issues to scan and convert. Within the next month, I hope to have converted the issues from May 2003 up to when the Society began providing pdf copies for overseas members. At that time, I would like to make them available to the Society. My question is, what process is needed to take place for this to happen.

One caveat - I cannot seem to condense the pdf files to the size that is currently being provided. If whoever is converting the current newsletters to pdf files could let me know how he is doing it, it would be appreciated.

Jeff Schumaker
member 7055

[duttonbay]

Since I started this thread, I discovered that the Society put out a series of CDs containing the newsletters from the Society's creation up to April of 2003. Through the graciousness of a former newsletter editor, I was able to obtain those files. I have converted them all to pdf format. In addition, a friend of mine, here in the States, has been loaning me his back issues to scan and convert. Within the next month, I hope to have converted the issues from May 2003 up to when the Society began providing pdf copies for overseas members. At that time, I would like to make them available to the Society. My question is, what process is needed to take place for this to happen.

One caveat - I cannot seem to condense the pdf files to the size that is currently being provided. If whoever is converting the current newsletters to pdf files could let me know how he is doing it, it would be appreciated.

Jeff Schumaker
member 7055

Jeff, while I cannot comment on 009 News, I have been through precisely this same process with Light Railways, the magazine of the Light Railway Research Society of Australia. For some years our editorial team have produced LR using desktop publishing software called InDesign, which is an Adobe product, and after the issue is signed off a print-ready PDF is produced from InDesign for printing. A "web" version is also produced, at a lower resolution, for our PDF subscribers (and to buy from on our online shop). This is still a true PDF, with the text and maps/diagrams in vector form so that when viewing on a screen the page can be zoomed in as much as you like, with these bits perfectly clear. The photos lose resolution though as they are zoomed - that's the trade-off.

Older issues have had to be scanned and converted to PDF. I used Adobe Acrobat both for scanning and text recognition, but like you I found it very difficult to get the filesize down below 10Mb. The biggest problem is that each page is an image, rather than the images only being the photos in the magazine. Eventually they were scanned effectively at quite a low resolution. The scanned versions are nowhere near the quality of those produced from InDesign.

The text recognition works very well though, and it is possible with Adobe Acrobat to search a whole directory of PDFs looking for words or phrases. That's very useful if you have the full set (as I do in my role as Sales Officer). There's actually one view within our committee that as a research body we should be making all of our LRs (except perhaps for the last year or two) available as a free download. There are obvious risks in that, but the big advantage is that google searches will include the text of all of our magazines, therefore exposing our Society to more potential members. The risk of the mags being resold can be mitigated somewhat by protecting the files and adding a line at the foot of each page indicating the source of the document, and the fact that they can be downloaded for free from our website.

Sorry, that went on a bit longer than I planned, but a lot of the discussions in this thread have mirrored committee discussions in the LRRSA, and I thought our experience might be useful.

John Dennis (2711)

[Hobby]

Added to Jeff's question has been a request that the electronic subscription currently available for overseas members be made available to UK members.

I think Alan Rolfe answered that question...

<snipped>

The Society is primarily a postal organisation and every member receives a posted copy of the 009 News. For some years now, the cost of posting the News to overseas members has risen considerably year on year and has been subsided by other means. However, increases in the past 15 months have made this unsustainable and we had to make significant increases in the cost of overseas membership. However, we are conscious that overseas members do not receive the same benefits as enjoyed by the UK members and so have had to look at still providing the 009 News but not in a printed format and so don't need to pass on the increased cost. We have introduced a PDF issue of the News which is presently available for overseas members only.

Overseas members are being offered the option of a PDF-only membership or a continued postal copy (but at an increased subscription fee) at their renewal of their membership. At the moment, it is emailed to them.

We have no intention of offering a PDF-only option to UK members as we are simply not geared up to deal with the extra administration burden that this would create. Please remember that your Committee are all volunteers and many are still working full time and have the pressures of family life.

We are looking at a substantial change to the Society's website where we would expect members who want access a PDF copy to do it through a "self serve" facility where the current and back issues would be available.
Alan

That is exactly what I meant when i said it's just not worth bothering trying to get a change and bring the Society into the Modern World.

Let's look at it logically...

1. There is already an email list for the PDF version of the News for Overseas Members which has to be updated as appropriate.
2. That means it can be done.
3. It would need updating once a month maximum, the same, incidentally, as the current file used to print the paper labels for the "posted" version.

So where is the "extra" admin...

I believe the real reason (and it's been mentioned before somewhere but I am not going to trawl through this (and an old thread elsewhere) to find it) is that if a large number of Members chose to go paperless it would put the costs of a paper version up so much it would put in major doubt whether the Society could continue with it without a substantial increase of subs for those who want it paper-based.

That is why it'll never get agreed.

Even though I and others have already said we'd be prepared to continue paying the current subs rate with only a few quid reduction (as opposed to a larger one the savings would justify) to subsidise the "paper" members...

[JulienW]

OK, Moderator "hat" off, on with "Archivist" hat , --- So there is no misunderstanding, Archive material is paper format only . The Society's collection of OO9 News ( 1 mint copy of each issue ) only commences with Vol.32 No.1 September 2004. Prior to that date there was no policy to permanently retain any copies of 009 News.

My personal collection ( not the Society's ) does indeed include every issue, but I stress this is my personal collection although I have in place arrangements for the Society to
retain these ( along with my other personal 009 archive material ) on my demise if the Society at that time so wishes.

I have neither the time nor the necessary skills to deal with an electronic archive ( so there is a job vacancy --- submit proposals to the Board of Directors ).

Thanks for that clarification Garry. I had not realised that the Society's collection was incomplete and the balance was filled by your own personal collection.  At least it shows that I'm not the only sad sack member to have a full set of News. :D

Now some heresy ( a purely personal opinion and it must be strongly stressed not in any way an "official" Society view ), last year to celebrate 500 issues of 009 News, I put together a selection of articles from the first 30+ years of 009 News, (this was Vol43 no.6 March 2016 edition ). At best this exercise could just
& only just be worthwhile repeated once more. Almost everything else in the issues 1973 to 1993 is now just " dross". Early editions have few if any photos and unless you are
obsessively interested in 009 history there is little of any lasting relevance,

009 News as we now know it is very much a product of this century--- so my personal view that the time & effort required to scan pre 2000 editions is not really worth doing.
I stress this a personal view only.

Garry

Whilst the standard of production has come on hugely since the milenium I do miss some of the prototype articles with the scale drawings (and the cover artwork drawings as we couldn't really do photos) from the 1980s - but then I may be biased. I'd agree that looking at reports from the Outer Rockall Group from the mid 1970's gestener-printed editions in pdf format will probably have little appeal, but for the sake of completeness they should be done (especially if someone is willing to do them!).