Do You Get Your Money's Worth From The APS

Wow!! Now that is a comprehensive list of services. I have yet to have a stamp expertised, but I may decide to send in one that is either a 64 or 65. Hard to say. I like Pink but give me a break!!
Kudos for the APS putting as much info in one place as they can. But anyone who wants to study a certain topic should go to as many sources for the information as they feel comfortable doing. Me, I like at least 2 or 3 sources. But if it's a how-to question; then I come here.

The Code of Ethics is a big one. I didn't even think about that originally, but it is nice to know there is a inherent layer of protection and code of conduct members must maintain in terms of the buying/selling of stamps.

By no means was this a "Scientific" sample but it does show a significant dis-satisfaction with the APS. 40% of respondents indicated that they aren't getting their monies worth in tangible benefits from the APS. I think if I had included intangibles as an option that percentage would have been lower. Still, 40% is a pretty high number. It shows that the APS has some work to do if they want to maintain the membership numbers they do have and to get new members to join. Personally, I will continue to support the APS, thru membership renewal, for the intangible benefits that I do receive even though I don't use many of the benefits they currently provide.

There have been several good suggestions in this poll. As suggested by one, I suspect that if the APS were to digitize the APRL and to put it out on the WEB for free use by its members, membership numbers will substantially increase.

Art

The free use of the APRL is a tricky thing because I have to imagine if there are books that are copywritten or trademarked, it would require a fee to list them, if it is even possible. I have to believe an access fee would have to be charged, either built into the dues or possibly an individual fee for each book.

I am uncertain how it differs from my local brick and mortar library. I think biggest issue would be if a library digitizes a copyrighted work without the authors permission and then offers it online. This would be the same as a library finding a new publisher and making new version of a hard copy book.

It would be interesting how many APRL books are public domain and how many are not. I would suspect that they would have their hands full just trying to get the public domain books digitized and available online.
don

If the fee were a small as $.99 the expenses would take of them selves after short period. Make the digital version available to the public for double that or more and Voila.

Fair point Studebaker. Would there be a limit on what could be checked out at one time? I know libraries do that with E-books.

The USPCS just completed doing this for several important books. Check it out http://www.uspcs.org/resource-cente...nic-library/

Sure, they had to get copyright permissions but that didn't hold them back and it's a much better WEB site because of it. I'm also sure it cost them some money but if it gets a significant increase in membership or increase the use of their WEB site then it's a bargain. An argument can be made as to how many new members will it get, how many did it keep, if any at all? It's not any one benefit that retains members it's the accumulation of them all. Some benefits have more value to certain members than others. Any WEB site needs to be maintained with fresh ideas and new functionality; as soon as it gets stale its use diminishes. A new look and feel often accomplishes this, as long as it's not too frequent. But, add new functionality that's free and it's a slam dunk.

Art

Art - I will be a member for at least the next four years.

Most of those advocating the above do not realize what a Herculean task this would be even for a small library like the APRL. First, as someone mentioned, there is the copyright issue to work around, second, digitizing print material is incredibly labor intensive and it comes down to having the money to pay for the labor, software, and hardware. Then, once done, the APS would still have to maintain the hard copy collection in its current form, which translates to on-going expense. Unless the APS directors would be willing to dump the hard copy materials and I doubt that anyone would advocate doing that.

Technically, digitizing of the collection is possible, financially, less so.

Don

Most of those advocating the above do not realize what a Herculean task this would be even for a small library like the APRL. First, as someone mentioned, there is the copyright issue to work around, second, digitizing print material is incredibly labor intensive and it comes down to having the money to pay for the labor, software, and hardware. Then, once done, the APS would still have to maintain the hard copy collection in its current form, which translates to on-going expense. Unless the APS directors would be willing to dump the hard copy materials and I doubt that anyone would advocate doing that.

Technically, digitizing of the collection is possible, financially, less so.

The APRL website lists 21,000 book titles, 5,700 journal titles, PLUS:
Catalogs (general and specialized)
Government documents
Auction catalogs and price lists (only name sales are cataloged)
Stamp show programs and palmares (not cataloged)
Copies of philatelic exhibits
CD- and DVD-ROMs
Bibliographies and indexes
Special collections and archives (not comprehensively cataloged)

Unique resources at the APRL include:
Piper File, a card index of philatelic periodicals through December 1969
Daniel Hines Air Mail Archives, documenting the pioneer period of United States air mail
American First Day Cover Society Archives
APRL Clipping Files, including files from Ernest Kehr, Belmont Faries, John Stark, and Forrest Ellis
Elliott Perry–Cyril dos Passos Correspondence

It would take a lot to do.

The digitization of books is laborious, I've completed 4 philatelic books in the last month and am working on a large 800 page one now. But the overwhelming benefits of digitization really demands that it be done (single example; being able to search across every word in every book in a library once digitized). When I am really going I can scan and OCR a 100 page book in about an hour and half.

One solution seems obvious; why not start a program for APS members to digitize public domain APRL books in return for a lower membership fee? Digitize X books and receive $X off next year's dues?

This would serve APS short term (helping membership numbers) and the hobby long-term (increasing digital philatelic content).
don

Being "hard" is not a good excuse to delay the task. Copyrights on the other hand are a good excuse not to begin.

Once the task is undertaken, it will take years to complete. So what? If you start with the most commonly requested books, you might generate more interest with collectors who are on the fence with APS.

Brian

And how would you institute any form of quality control with multiple people scanning different types of material on different models and generations of scanning equipment? Or are you assuming that volunteers would travel to the APRL to perform the work onsite?

I know first-hand that striking a balance between file size, scan quality, and OCR results, is NOT an insignificant task, and the settings that work well for one type of print (or a print from a certain era) do not work for another. Line art vs. grayscale vs. color, mixed mode, and all the anomalies in between.

Also, how do you handle liability for lost or damaged resources, especially those that are unique or valuable? I would imagine that there are many pieces of material that should NOT ever be allowed offsite.

How do you guarantee that the work gets done? People are keen to promise, but then ensuring they actually follow through can be problematic.

I'm not saying an initiative shouldn't be undertaken, but some thorough planning and vetting needs to be done beforehand.

Dan,


Like many volunteering tasks, a certain level of experience and/or training would be required. This would not be for everyone, chances are it would attract those who are more technically involved. Obviously challenging source content would have to be identified upfront; ideally a priority list would be developed which identified the content type and matched it to the volunteer and required resources to do the job correctly.



No, send the hard copy content to the APS member.



APRL already handles this with their 'loan' program.



Terms and Conditions would have to be established, these would include that the book would have to be returned in XX amount of days (similar to existing loan program). The completed digitized file (PDF I assume) would have to be submitted and improved before credit is applied towards the next year's dues.


This isn't a panacea, and I agree that there are challenges to address. But solutions like this, those which allow members some control over their costs in exchange for donated work, would go a long way towards help people justify their memberships. The fact that a solution like this would also attract young members and help move more philatelic content to digital is also quite significant.
don