Membership Year Change FAQ

Prorated dues amounts will be calculated based on the base dues payment of $80 per year. Prorated renewals apply only to Partner, Sustaining, Leadership, or Advancing Levels memberships.

Dues payments for renewals made by October 1, 2022:

• Partner Level: $60 dues
• Sustaining Level: $105 ($60 dues, $45 tax-deductible contribution)
• Leadership Level: $230 ($60 dues, $170 tax-deductible contribution)
• Advancing Level: $480 ($60 dues, $420 tax-deductible contribution)

Dues payments for renewals made by November 1, 2022:

• Partner Level: $70 dues
• Sustaining Level: $115 ($70 dues, $45 tax-deductible contribution)
• Leadership Level: $240 ($70 dues, $170 tax-deductible contribution)
• Advancing Level: $490 ($70 dues, $420 tax-deductible contribution)

Dues payments for renewals made by December 1, 2022:

• Partner Level: $75 dues
• Sustaining Level: $120 ($75 dues, $45 tax-deductible contribution)
• Leadership Level: $245 ($75 dues, $170 tax-deductible contribution)
• Advancing Level: $495 ($75 dues, $420 tax-deductible contribution)

Prorated renewals will be available to active BSA members only between 1 September and 30 November 2022. Members renewing at the Emerging and Latin American levels are not eligible for prorated renewals because those memberships are already steeply discounted.

Active BSA members will receive an email with detailed instructions for processing your renewal for 2023 with prorated dues. The BSA Office will send this email out to active members on 1 September, 1 October, and 1 November for your convenience. Please check your spam or junk folder if you cannot find the message in your inbox, or email bsa@bibsocamer.org for assistance.

Renewing Online – Preferred
The new online BSA membership form includes a “Promo code” box. The informational email mentioned above will provide active BSA members with such a code to enter into this field in your form. On the first of each month, prorated dues amounts will be updated by BSA staff; the correct prorated dues payment amount will display automatically.

Renewing By Mail
If you joined or renewed by mail in 2022, you will receive a letter with instructions, a membership form, and a return envelope by mail in September. As always, you will be able to mail your check (made out to “Bibliographical Society of America”) to the Society’s Brooklyn office and your renewal will be processed accordingly.

If your membership lapsed in 2022 (i.e., you did not join or renew this year) you will not receive a paper form in the mail. Please renew online.

In making this transition, the Society anticipates lower dues revenue for the fiscal year 2023. (The Society’s fiscal year is also transitioning to an October 1 start.) Offering prorated dues for renewals in September, October, and November only will help keep the Society’s income at a level that will sustain its programs and activities. We hope that prorating renewals for three months starting in September will offer a strong incentive for strong membership renewals for the new year without weakening our financial position.

Prorated renewals are only available to active members who renew for 2023 in September, October, and November of 2022. We cannot offer a prorated renewal for members who renew in December because the mailing list for PBSA is sent to the University of Chicago for mailing preparations in November. Folks who renew for 2023 in December of 2022 will not be double-paying for membership in December 2022.

Did your BSA membership lapse in 2022? Or have you been thinking about joining, but haven’t gotten around to it? Here’s what you should know about joining between July 15 and December 1, 2022.

If you are not an active member and join or renew before 1 September, your dues payment will apply to 2022 membership and your membership will expire on 1 January 2023. Once your payment is received, BSA staff will process a claim for back-issues of PBSA to be mailed to you at the address you specify when you join or renew. Your dues will not be prorated.

If you are not an active member and join or renew between 1 September and 30 November, you may apply your payment to membership year 2022 (1 January through 31 December 2022) or to membership year 2022/2023 (1 October 2022 through 30 September 2023). Dana Murphy, Assistant Director to Executive Director Erin McGuirl, will follow up with you by email to confirm your preference. Your dues will not be prorated.

• If you choose to apply your dues payment to membership year 2022, your membership will expire on 1 January 2023.
• If you choose to apply your dues payment to membership year 2023, your membership will expire on 30 September 2023.

If you are not an active member and join or renew for membership year 2022 before 30 November, then you are eligible for a prorated renewal for membership year 2023. This means that you will process two (2) membership payments before 30 November 2022: one covering membership year 2022, and another (prorated) covering membership 2022/2023.

If you are not an active member and join or renew after 1 December, your dues payment will automatically apply to membership year 2022/2023 (1 October through 30 September 2022). Your dues will not be prorated.

If you (or become) an active member in 2022, your membership will expire on January 1, 2023 as in the past.

When you renew for membership year 2022/2023, your membership will expire on September 30, 2023. Going forward, all members will receive snail-mailed and electronic reminders to renew their memberships in August rather than in November or December as in the past.

Changing our membership year does mean that members will now receive a different set of issues each year than they have in the past.

Right now, all members have online access to PBSA and receive every issue published within the calendar year, beginning with the March issue and ending with the December issue. If your membership is active through December 31, 2022 and you choose to receive PBSA by mail, you will receive all four issues of the journal this year.

Starting in 2023, members who choose to receive PBSA in print will receive the December, March, June, and September issues of each volume. Instituional subscriptions (managed via the University of Chicago Journals Divsion) will not be affected.

The BSA Council and Officers regret this sequential disruption in delivery for members who collect the journal and are unable to maintain a consistent membership in the Society from year to year. Should you need to fill in gaps in your collection, recent back issues are available through the University of Chicago Press Journals Division for $25 each. Pursuant to BSA by-laws, anyone may pay back dues to retroactively join the Society and receive back issues for the four previously published volumes.

Nope! Lifetime and Honorary members of BSA, whose memberships never expire, will not experience any disruption in their membership whatsoever. Sit back, relax, and read PBSA!