• Provides ERMD members with opportunities for career development, skills enhancement and leadership experience.
• Promotes networking among peers and professional associates.
• Provides programs, publications, and services that assist members in their professions and in their workplaces.

ERMD electronic discussion group is a powerful resource for immediate assistance from colleagues who are specialists in environmental and natural resources information. The list provides job openings; announcements and discussions of Internet sites; and reference/interlibrary loan assistance. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: lyris@sla.lyris.net. Send messages to ermd@lists.sla.org.

ERMD Membership Directory, published biennially, is a valuable tool for quickly identifying and locating members. It is cross-referenced by organization, individual, and chapter memberships.

ERMD News, the quarterly newsletter, provides book reviews and evaluations of electronic resources, in-depth articles, announcements, and summaries of key sessions held at the SLA Annual Conference and other professional meetings of interest to environmental and natural resources information professionals.

Special Interest Groups & Sections

In addition to division-wide activities ERMD offers the following special interest groups and sections, open to all Division members:

Forestry Section provides a forum for discussion of the issues and practices pertaining to widerange of subject areas related to forestry and forest products: forestry science, silviculture, wildlife, conservation of wildlands, forestry industry and trade, pulp and paper science, forest products marketing, and the environmental aspects of these subjects.

Interest Groups meet during the SLA Annual Conference for roundtable discussions or a formal program.

• Toxicology Roundtable focuses on hazardous waste, chemical toxicology, pollution, pollution prevention, and environmental health issues.
• State Environmental Librarians’ Roundtable considers issues, rules, and regulations of interest to state and local government.
• International Affairs Roundtable emphasizes activities of worldwide environmental organizations, international resources and conditions.

The Division, Section, and Interest Groups all host special sessions, networking opportunities, and business meetings at the SLA Annual Conference.

ERMD Members and Their Comments

The division is represented internationally by more than 400 members in a variety of work settings for a wide range of employers:

• Chemical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic firms
• Food, forest, and tobacco industries
• Museums, academia, and research institutes
• Environmental consultants
• Publishers, document delivery companies, and database producers
• Law firms, real estate and financial institutions
• Conservation and environmental advocacy groups
• Government, including natural resources, environmental protection, and occupational health and safety agencies.

“It’s not often that someone can report a measurable benefit from membership in an association...ERMD was responsible for our agency receiving a $250,000 grant. One of our engineers needed three articles immediately to address comments received on a proposal he had submitted. I posted a plea to the ERMD discussion list. Within two hours, two different ERMD members faxed us the articles. The engineer got the proposal returned in time and we received the funding.”

ERMD Annual Events

At the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference, held each June, the Environment and Resource Management Division sponsors sessions on cutting edge topics and issues that impact Division members and their clients. In recent years ERMD has been successful in attracting nationally renowned specialists to address critical environmental issues:

• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – “The Role of Information in Our Environmental Destiny”(Philadelphia, 2000)
• Arader Marderosian, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy – “Back to Nature: Medicine from Nature” (Indianapolis, 1998)
• Brent Mishler, UC Berkeley – “Systematics Agenda 2000: Charting the Biosphere” (Seattle, 1997)
• Theo Colborn, World Wildlife Fund – “Endocrine Disrupters in the Environment, Our Stolen Future” (Boston, 1996)
• Peter Dykstra, CNN and TBS – “Environmental Information in the News” (Atlanta, 1994)

Information about SLA conferences and current ERMD officers is available at the SLA Web site, www.sla.org.

For Additional Information

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is an international professional association which serves the needs of special librarians and information professionals. Membership in the association allows affiliation with both geographic chapters and subject-oriented divisions, sections, and caucuses.