A. General Benefits
1. AFRIAMSLIC is an arm of the only global organization which cares passionately about aquatic libraries and information centers and all aspects of freshwater and marine sciences and their allied disciplines.
B. Networking opportunities
2. Connect with members in your discipline & in your geographic area and be part of the AFRIAMSLIC“family”. Many countries have a National Chapter, providing professional contacts, news and events closer to home. Joining our regional group will also connect you from Africa to worldwide communities of marine and aquatic librarians and professional information specialists.
C. Access to Resources
3. Electronic Repositories: databases of publications about marine and freshwater science including books, journal articles, technical reports, theses, etc.
- Aquatic Commons www.aquaticcommons.org
- OceanDocs-Africa www.oceandocs.net/handle/1834/1337
4. Union catalogues:
- African Union List of Serials has nearly 800 serial holdings and can be accessed through the IAMSLIC website http://www.iamslic.org/unionlist/africa/index.php
- AfriLib, the collective catalogue of the marine science libraries in Africa http://afrilib.odinafrica.org
5. Document Request/Delivery Services: Through the IAMSLIC Z39.50 Distributed Library website, member libraries can initiate their interlibrary loan (ILL) request. This service is facilitated by mailing list which is intended to Afriamslic/Iamslic members only. A similar service was also available through the ASFA mailing list.
6. Bibliographic Search Services: Several African Marine & Aquatic libraries are currently input centers for the ‘Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts’ (ASFA) database.
7. IAMSLIC duplicate exchange program.
8. IAMSLIC Blog: Ability to access and post to the IAMSLIC blog as well as access to publications and documents in the “Member Only” section of the IAMSLIC website.
D. Sponsored Memberships
9. IAMSLIC offers a limited number of Sponsored Memberships. Prospective members from low and middle- income countries unable to pay the $25 annual fee may apply to the Membership Committee for a one-time three-year sponsorship. Prospective members from high-income countries may apply to the Membership Committee for a one-time one-year sponsorship. Sponsored members receive the same benefits as other membership categories
E. Conferences & Eligibility for grants
10. Annual conference registration at member’s rate and eligibility to receive IAMSLIC travel grants. Participating members have the opportunity to recognize professional achievement, develop their skills and learn about the advances in the field of Marine and aquatic information management
F. Opportunities for Involvement
11. Subscriptions to AFRIAMSLIC mailing lists and IAMSLIC discussion list to receive notifications via emails about all special activities and upcoming events that are usually not open to the general audience.
12. Opportunity to serve as AFRIAMSLIC officers or board & committees members and be a leader of one of committee team as well as eligibility to serve as IAMSLIC officers or committee members
13. Voting privileges in AFRIAMSLIC and IAMSLIC elections
G. Other Benefits
14. Partnerships with IOC, FAO etc.
15. Finally, the more members we have, the more powerful and effective our voice regionally and internationally and the wider we can reach in all aspects of our work.
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