AOU Activities – 2007

Erica Dunn, President

The President's Report of 2007, covering the highlights of AOU activities during the year, noted that significant progress had been made in all six areas defined as goals in the AOU's Strategic Plan. Key activities are grouped here under those 6 goals.

Scientific publications

In recent years AOU has self-published its journals, which worked well but required juggling a lot of pieces and involved a good deal of administrative oversight. We were also vulnerable to major disruption if a key individual or two were to leave. An ad hoc committee on publication options, after detailed investigation, recommended that the AOU publish with the University of California Press. UCP shares our goal of disseminating scholarly research as widely as possible, as a non-profit but financially sustainable enterprise. UCP will take over at the start of 2008. Most of the benefits to AOU will be behind the scenes, in reduction of costs and administrative burdens. However, AOU members will be pleased to learn that we’ll be able to begin electronic posting of papers as soon as they are print-ready, making their work available and citable at a much faster pace. Institutional subscribers currently get electronic access to our journals if they purchase the BioOne package of journals; but from 2008 subscribers to our journal alone will also have electronic access.

Another milestone in AOU publishing took place this year in the launch of “Series in Ornithology,” a joint venture with the Nuttall Ornithological Club to publish manuscripts too long for Ornithological Monographs. Two books have come out this year, on Birds of the Aleutian Islands and the California Condor, and a third, on raptor population monitoring, is in the works. Negotiations are underway to bring this project into the UC Press tent as well.

Our editors, Spencer Sealy and John Faaborg, continued to do excellent jobs shepherding your scholarly work into print, and our debt to them, and to all the other people involved in managing our publications, is great. This is the key activity of AOU, and we couldn’t do it without the dedication and hard work of a lot of people.

Finally, AOU continues to play a role in ‘The Birds of North America,’ through scientific advisory functions for ‘BNA-Online.’

Meetings

The meeting in Laramie is the first one conducted within AOU – that is, with finances taken into the AOU bookkeeping system and a professional organizer hired by us. It has been a learning experience, and we’ll be doing an evaluation afterwards on how it worked and how to improve it (and comments anyone has will be most welcome). Despite any glitches there may have been, the advantages are myriad, and there will be no going back. Having a professional on hand to handle contracts and run the nitty-gritty of the meeting allows the local hosts to concentrate more on the scientific program and social/educational aspects of the meetings. Once the word is out on the reduced work-load on local hosts, we should find it easier to line up venues for future meetings. Indeed, we now have at locations lined up through 2012. As another aid to local hosts and organizers, we have completely revised and updated our Meetings Handbook, available on the AOU website.

Strengthen ornithological science; outreach

The Committee on Classification and Nomenclature - North and Central America developed a strategic plan for itself this year. A separate subcommittee on subspecies has been be formed, to free up the main committee to focus on species-level issues. New web pages are being developed that will make the goals, criteria, processes and decisions of the committee much more transparent. This committee’s work is the only aspect of AOU visible to much of the wider ornithological community, and we have never before tried to explain to that constituency how we make decisions. The parallel committee on South America already does most of its work online, and serves as a model of transparency.

The Conservation and Public Affairs Committees were restructured this year, and charged with evaluating AOU’s effectiveness and appropriate role in conservation and public policy affecting ornithology, a process that is still underway. The AOU is joining with the California Audubon Society to conduct an in depth review of the California Condor Recovery Program, to which AOU contributed 25 years ago. The Panel’s report will be made public at the AOU/COS 2008 meeting in Portland, OR. The Conservation Committee also participated in a review of the Spotted Owl Recovery Plan.

Last year saw the first capacity-building awards granted to Latin American organizations through a program run by the International Committee, which has been renewed for another year.

AOU’s recognition programs continue, with two awards for scientific accomplishment, one for a young investigator and a conservation award. As well as honouring significant achievement, these awards and the publicity that goes with them help to publicize our science and the AOU. We continued to support student research with $45,000 in grants, and spent $20,000 to help students attend the annual meeting to present their research results – with $4,000 in additional travel money earmarked for post-doc travel in 2008. We believe these commitments to students play a significant role in bringing students into the field of ornithology and into the AOU as well.

The Ornithological Worldwide Literature (OWL) website compiled site use statistics this year, showing an average of 440 searches monthly – clear evidence that the dedicated volunteers running this site are providing a useful service to the ornithological community.

Membership

Bringing young people into the AOU as long-term members is a priority, especially as the baby boomer ranks begin to thin out. The Student Affairs Committee has done a tremendous job organizing special events for students at meetings over the past several years. The friendships made among participating students are likely to contribute to regular AOU attendance in future – and the events are great fun for older members, too.

AOU members enjoy some new benefits as of this year: Ornithological Monographs are now available online, and all members now have free access to ‘The Birds of North America.’ Many members are not yet aware of this: it is an extremely valuable benefit, and it should prove a good recruitment tool for new members.

The Historical Records Committee, charged with gathering archival material and biographical information on Elective Members and Fellows, moved into the electronic age this year. For the first time, materials could be submitted digitally, improving submission rates and paving the way for more effective archival searches in future.

The AOU website has continued to develop, and is steadily becoming an invaluable tool for AOU members, as well as a source of information for others. In the coming year, we hope to develop an electronic newsletter, which can be used to send brief email messages to members and provide live links to our web site for further information and member services.

Governance

Our new Executive Officer, Scott Gillihan, completed his first year with AOU. There is a steep learning curve associated with the job, and Scott has done admirably in taking up the reins of service to members and officers, oversight of budget and publications and numerous other tasks that most members have no idea of. Most of us involved in AOU administration have full time jobs, and simply cannot spend a lot of time on AOU business. Scott picks up the slack and makes sure that things get done. Secretary Sara Morris, also in her first year on the job, has stepped smoothly into Ross Lein’s very large shoes – a daunting task that has been accomplished seamlessly.

We made good progress this year on an AOU governance handbook; largely in writing up committee duties, procedures and deadlines so that new committee chairs will have guidelines and won’t have to keep reinventing their jobs. In accordance with By-Laws changes last year, we had our first mail/online balloting for Officers and Councillors, letting all AOU members take part in elections instead of only those who can attend annual meetings.

Treasurer Frank Gill has continued to lead AOU budget revision, with Scott’s help; simplifying line items, grouping items more logically, and incorporate reporting of annual meeting and publication costs that reflect our new financial arrangements. Administrative expenses declined this year with the hiring of the new Executive Officer, and publication costs are expected to decline with the switch to University of California Press. The 2007 budget was balanced and we have no long-term accumulated debt. Our endowment stands at $7.3 million, and is a key reason for AOU being able to accomplish all it does.

The next year is AOU’s 125 th. The years since our centennial have seen AOU move from the era of paper and telephone to internet and email, and our administrative and governance structures have been modernizing in parallel. We are in a good position to address the challenges the next 25 years will bring.