When former NASIG President Rick Anderson wrote a letter like this to introduce the proceedings for our 25th annual conference, he called it “A Letter from the Executive Board of the North American Serials Interest Group.” You may notice that this letter to introduce the proceedings for our 30th annual conference is called something a little different, because in 2015 we officially changed our organizational name to NASIG. There were several reasons behind this change, but one of the most important was that we felt that our society had outgrown being a mere interest group. Another reason was that we had moved beyond being exclusively (if we ever were) concerned with matters related to serials. In late 2014, NASIG adopted revised Vision and Mission Statements that expanded our purview to include scholarly communications and electronic resources along with serials, in order to encompass the set of interests with which we have been involved for years.
We believe that both of these actions, the name change and the adoption of new Vision and Mission statements, acknowledge that NASIG has changed considerably since 1986, while also recognizing and celebrating our history and traditions. We know that the abbreviated name NASIG had built up a great deal of good will and “brand recognition,” if you will, which is why we chose to retain it. Similarly, in the process of revising our Vision and Mission statements, we wanted to continue to acknowledge the best aspects of our organization, especially its sense of community. To quote Rick Anderson’s letter for our 25th proceedings, “NASIG still exists to promote communication, solutions, education, and a better information environment for everyone.”
With these and other actions, we hope that NASIG has been positioned to build on its rich legacy, while also positioning ourselves to enter into an exciting future. Here’s to another thirty years!