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Archiver > SOG-UK > 2003-02 > 1046426942


From: "Chris REYNOLDS" <>
Subject: Re: [SoG] The Society Bookshop
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 10:09:02 -0000
References: <3.0.1.32.20030226210229.013e4164@POP3.demon.co.uk>


> THE SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS ENTERPRISES LTD. BOOKSHOP.
>
> It is with great regret that we have to announce, with immediate effect,
> the closure of the Bookshop.
>
I have been a member for many years, travelling to London about once a month
on business. My interests have developed in such a way that I have far less
need of the Society's collections than in the past. However I recognise the
importance of the Society's collections, and have continued paying my
subscription.

In fact the chief use I have made of the Society over the last 10 or 15
years is to look in one or two times a year to visit the bookshop to look
over new publications (not just the Society's) and make some purchases
(typically 10-20 worth a visit). This would normally be after a meeting in
London, and I would only reach the Society in the late afternoon. This means
that after visiting the shop I would then spend no more than hour or so
digging out some odd and non-urgent bits of information for friends from the
collection.

I had been planning a visit early in March, with some specific purchases in
mind, but it is clear that there is no point in bothering - possibly ever
again - visiting the Society's library. As far as I am concerned the
bookshop was an essential member service which has been axed in such a way
that members who used it did not have even a day's warning that they needed
to hurry up to spend their money ....

The closure has significantly reduced the limited value I currently get from
my subscription, and the cavalier way it has been done shows considerable
contempt for members such as myself - who have not even had the chance of a
final shopping trip. Such urgency suggests appalling incompetent planning
or accounting practices (how long has the cash flow been negative, and how
long has the committee been aware of this fact?) and would only be justified
if the bailiffs were actually at the door.

I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription for the first time in
over 25 years.

Chris Reynolds

If you want to know more about your Hertfordshire ancestors visit
"Genealogy in Hertfordshire" at http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk




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