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[melba_frilkins]

I'm a member of a professional association in my discipline. My membership expires next month and my annual dues are due, $180. I'm wondering whether membership is worth the money. Membership does include subscription to three journals. Though those journals make an impressive decor for my bookshelf, I hardly read them. I think the money would be better spent on a small pile of books each year. I'd be much more likely to read and benefit from a nice selection of carefully chosen books than my dusty journal collection.

But, is there something that I'm not thinking of that is of value to remain a member of this professional organization?

For context, I'm a full-time tenured instructor at a community college. I teach in the social sciences. I do not conduct research myself and have no plans to do so in the future. I don't plan on changing jobs. I do like to keep up on what's new, but stuff is so easily available via the internet or ILL that personal journal subscriptions are of little added value to me. You don't have to be a member to attend the association's conferences.

So, should I spend the money on dues or an Amazon book-buying spree?

[glowdart]

I keep up one of my national orgs because you have to be a member for x many consecutive years to be eligible for all of their travel awards and research grants.  Of course, I do look at my research agenda for 5 years out in the future, and if I'm not going to need to apply for one of those awards/grants, then I let it lapse.   

The other national one?  I let it slide unless I'm attending the conference that year.   

My minor national orgs?  I keep sending them their pittance ($25.00) so that they stay in existence because they do a lot of outreach and service that I wish the national ones could figure out how to do with larger memberships and 10 times the dues. 

[fosca]

I didn't renew my membership in APS this year.  I'm still a member of APA and a local society, but I can't justify that much money for something I don't really need or use.  So then they sent me an offer to rejoin for $130.  I still can't swing that--that's money I could use for gas this semester, for instance (and yes, having a low rate of pay to begin with along with no raises for two years has me weighing stuff like that).

I'll probably rejoin in the future, if things turn around, but not now.

[dr_prephd]

I let one of mine lapse for just those reasons.

[offthemarket]

Unless your membership in this organization gets something for you professionally, in terms of visibility or something, why not let it slide?  If you're not actively doing research, I don't see the bother with it.

The only reason I pay dues is because dues+memberregistrationfee < nonmemberregistrationfee for the national meeting.  In years when I'm not going to the meeting, I let membership lapse.

Although I've taken to not doing this at all recently, as my university won't let me use grant funds on memberships, but they will for meeting registration.  So I'm stuck paying out a higher registration fee out of the grant, than if I was allowed to also pay for membership with the grant plus registration.  But oh well.

[larryc]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What are professional socieites for and whey should we support them? In my field the two main organizations, the AHA and the OAH, are not very good. I have just decided to boycott the AHA over the whole conference interview system. I am on the fence about the OAH--it does a couple of marginally useful things but on the whole is a 19th-century relic.

On the other hand I love the National Council on Public History, which has a fun and interactive national conference and works hard to serve its members. So I am keeping that one.

In general, I will no longer support organizations devoted hyper-specialized scholarship, dead tree journals, and conferences which revolve around people reading papers out loud (because most of the members cannot themselves read, I guess?).

[arts4ever]

Odd: I had JUST said to my spouse that I can hardly WAIT to not have to be a member of my professional organization. What does it get me? The opportunity to get taken advantage of and considered a servant.

[scampster]

As someone who will be on the market, do you think it is necessary to bother to be a member of your main national organization just for show?

At my grad school, I wasn't a member as membership was controlled through the school chapter who required undergrad-type activities from potential members before they would grant you the right to give them your money (you had to go to a certain number of social events etc each semester). Nevermind that I review for their journals, etc. Apparently not going to the pizza party means I can't take advantage of student membership.

Do hiring committees actually care? Will I be thought not committed to my discipline?

[southerntransplant]

At one point I was a member of two national societies - one for engineering and one for geophysics. I dropped the engineering one about 12 years ago because my job at the time involved more oceanographic research than engineering. Though I presently work at a university in an engineering discipline, I have not rejoined the organization. This fact did not hurt me in my interview, nor was it ever brought up. Granted, my subdiscipline overlaps both engineering and oceanography, so I might have gotten some slack that way, but I doubt it.

Where lack of membership has hurt me is in opportunities for professional service (should one think of them as opportunities). My appointment to a particular committee, for example, was hurt by my lack of membership to the engineering organization. I don't know if this is a bad thing, necessarily, but it is a factor.

I will probably have to get my PE at some point - my EIT is so old I don't know if it is recognized anymore...

[baphd1996]

I don't see that my professional organization has really helped me in any way.  The fees have gotten so high, I wonder if it is worth it, but I keep paying the dues, so I can put it on my CV.  Belonging to a professional organization is part of my yearly evaluation.

[larryc]

As someone who will be on the market, do you think it is necessary to bother to be a member of your main national organization just for show?

I have had a fellow SC member complain that this candidate or that did not "support" a professional organization. The rest of us hooted him down--but such attitudes are out there.

[offthemarket]

Heck, just put it on the CV anyway.  Are they checking your mailbox or the rosters online?

[mended_drum]

I'm in an MLA field, but I don't keep up membership in MLA.  I only join when I'm on a search committee and need to go to the conference.

I am a member of two smaller organizations that relate directly to my field of study, and an occasional member in a third.  I've made important contacts and even friends through these organizations and consider them an important part of my intellectual life.  But the dues for all three of them put together is still slightly less than belonging to MLA.

[melba_frilkins]

Thanks all for your input. It helped to clarify things for me. I'll take my $180 and spend it elsewhere.

[blokus]

I see this is a free rider problem. Regardless of whether or not I benefit directly from my membership, the discipline benefits from the work done by our professional association. They advocate for the discipline and by publishing journals and holding conferences they keep they promote the exchange of ideas and keep research in the field fresh and thriving.

I benefit when the discipline benefits. Now I would receive these benefits whether I paid dues or not, but it hardly seems fair or right to benefit without contributing. Like I said, it's a free rider situation.

So yes, I belong to two national professional associations and one international interdisciplinary association related to my research area. That said, I have benefited enough from my academic life that I can be reimbursed for such things from pots of money that I have for various things. These haven't come out my pocket since I was a grad student, so I suppose it's easy for me to say. (and yes, I did belong to the same associations as a grad student, and I do encourage grad students to belong to appropriate associations).