Last week, it was all nearly the “usual ongoing tasks.” This past week, it was not. Sure, we curated ten records, added three to our staging area, and corresponded with a few authors about site links that were not working, and there was some writing, too, but most of this week’s work was to prep for and hold meetings, the first with all ASCL editors and Advisory Committee members, and the second for the SciCodes coalition. Because of differing time zones, each of these meetings involved two Zoom sessions, one early and one late. Though the need to accommodate different time zones is the reason for holding early and late sessions for the meeting, this also gets more work done, as the different sessions end up focusing on different topics and/or the second session advancing work done in the earlier one.

The Advisory Committee meetings were part of a continuing conversation about the ASCL’s strategic plan and looking ahead to the next five years. We want to make some changes and want to be thoughtful about them. We would like to hear from our users, too, on what they’d like the ASCL to be doing and working on. How can we best engage them? That is an important element of our planning going forward. If you have ideas on this, please let us know (editor@ascl.net or comment below); we are eager to hear your thoughts!