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Friends of the NSS Library Petition

The Friends of the NSS Library is an informal group of NSS members from many different states and caving backgrounds who have come together to ensure the future of the library of the National Speleological Society (NSS).

According to the NSS Bylaws (Section X), the Society is directed to establish and maintain a library for use by its members.  To that end, the NSS library, through extensive collaborative efforts from individuals, internal organizations, sections and regions of the NSS, has grown to become one of the worldís premier collections of cave and karst-related literature. The NSS Library is one of the Societyís greatest resources and a benefit of being an NSS member.

 

The NSS Library collection consists of over 4000 publications, both American and International, including rare and out-of-print publications and books, author reprints, research data, scientific resources, and a lending library.  The contents of the Library represent sixty years of discovery, exploration and surveying efforts by thousands of individuals from across the United States. The library contains the history of major cave discoveries of the twentieth century and beyond, and the personal stories behind them. Library holdings include the personal gifts and writings of NSS members who, in some cases, donated a lifetime of their work to the library to be passed on to future generations of NSS members.  The NSS has the privilege and responsibility of maintaining this invaluable and irreplaceable history of our caving heritage.  Our Library is the Legacy of the NSS.

 

For more information about Friends of the Library and issues pertaining to the NSS Library go to the following link: http://www.cavebooks.com/fol/

 

If you would like to sign the petition, please print out the petition page, sign it and send via regular mail to the following address:

 

Sharon Faulkner

1311 2nd Ave. NE

Cullman, Al 35055

Individual signatures on a petition page WILL be accepted.

 

 

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PETITION:

We, the undersigned, petition the NSS Board of Governors and Officers to ensure that the NSS continues to take full and complete financial responsibility for the NSS Library and that the care and control of the NSS Library remain directly in the hands of the NSS. We want the NSS Library Collection to remain intact and do not support its housing or loan to non-NSS entities. We do support making the library more accessible to NSS members and to researchers, and believe this can be achieved without splitting the original NSS Library Collection and/or relinquishing custody of any part of the original or one-of-a-kind library materials to non-NSS entities. In order to make the NSS Library more accessible to more NSS members, we do support the establishment of NSS satellite libraries and the loan of duplicate copies of library materials to the satellite libraries.

 

 

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