Re: how many professionals here?

Well, one answer might be that SVP serves a wide range of paleontological 
interests, and some dinosaur researchers may not find the topics on this 
list to be of great interest. SVP members study the whole range and depth 
of vertebrate life history, of which dinosaurs are only one (albeit a 
cool one) part. Another is that not everyone finds email discussions to 
be an appropriate use of time and resources; a third is that not everyone 
has access to email, even now, even in some agencies and academic 
institutions (not to mention private life).

SVP Outreach is starting a newsletter (e- and snail-mail) for those who 
are interested in professional/amateur opportunities and programs, and I 
will be glad to post a copy of that here with the permission of 
the listowners (and send a copy to you as well, Phillip), but this list in 
itself won't be the Outreach forum. From the responses I have had to the 
initial newsletter announcement, it would swamp the list. I am 
(pleasantly) overwhelmed by the high volume of interest and am trying to 
decide if Outreach merits a list in itself. 

If anyone would like a copy of the newsletter announcement, please feel 
free to email me. Thanks for your interest.

Sally Shelton
Director, Collections Care and Conservation
San Diego Natural History Museum
Chair, SVP Outreach Committee


On Tue, 3 Jan 1995, Phillip Bigelow wrote:

> 
> At last guess, there are roughly 40-some full-time (or part-time) dinosaur
> researchers in the world.  On this list-serve, I count one definate, and
> maybe two or three others who actively participate.  Why so few professionals
> who actively participate in the dinosaur mailing list discussions?
> This seems like the logical place to impliment the Society of Vertebrate
> Paleontology's "Outreach Program".
>