Dear Colleagues,

In the Autumn of the year the air is crisp and fresh and apple sweet. The angle of the sun's light seems to infuse the out of doors with the season's golden glow. It is the harvest celebration, the end of nature's year. It is the beginning of a new term for the Executive Board, Committee Chairs and volunteers and the Chapter Chair too. As I respectfully step up to the role as Chapter Chair, I first of all want to thank those who have served, and those who serve on the board, as committee chairs, and all the member volunteers who have given the Chapter a year of valuable programming, communications, special events and hard work in support of the chapter membership and the profession. I also want to thank Kathel Dunn for her leadership and creativity over the past year and for bringing the Chapter into the next year in solid form.

With special appreciation I welcome those members who are new to the chapter and encourage you participate in chapter activities at any level. As incoming Chair my main work, thus far, has been in the co-planning of the first ever five chapter "Quintessential" Conference to be held in Philadelphia October 26 - 28th, 2003. The hotel, the Sheraton - Society Hill, in the heart of historic Philadelphia, combines urban sophistication and country club elegance in one central location. You will certainly enjoy mingling with your colleagues while being inspired by programming that rivals that of national conferences. I acknowledge chapter members who have, as of the date of this writing, volunteered to work with us (I expect more of you to volunteer soon!):

• Micki McIntyre and William Self - Program Committee Co-Chairs
• Kathel Dunn - Steering Committee
• Michael Huang - Continuing Education
• helen ann brown - Publicity
• Janie Kaplan - Publicity
• Luda Dolinsky - Finance

There are numerous activities that our chapter can sponsor on behalf of the membership! It all depends on your involvement. I would like to take the opportunity to offer you some ideas and thoughts that could be developed into projects, presentations, or avenues of expression for our membership.

• Our profession is affected by trends in science and medicine, allied health, and driven by technology and economics. How can we educate ourselves and support each other in an ever-changing environment?
• What issues surround, and how can we manage, the complexities of virtual collections, metadata, and beyond?
• Developments in Translational Medicine, Proteomics, Genomics directly effect our collaboration with our clients. How can we learn to work with them?
• What is needed from us to support Evidence-based healthcare, the clinical librarian or, more broadly, the Informationist?
• How can we document and quantify our impact on patient care and research?
• What programs can we offer to the mid-career health science librarian and to the recent graduate?
• What is our role in a society where web-based consumer health continues to rise?
• Is the news media our friend, foe or both?

"Celebrating Librarians - Celebrating Friends" - I must thank George Wahlert and Maria Astifidis for making this the theme for last year's Spring Dinner. We care about our work, work hard, and have a unique role in society. We should celebrate ourselves and each other. The Chapter can provide a venue for information sharing and entertainment. We have the Spring Dinner, how about a Winter Tea? New York and New Jersey are home to a vast diversity of libraries. How about tours or day trips to visit and learn about some of them?

In closing let me say that for our Chapter to continue to be a viable forum for our community we need you. I encourage you to express to me your wishes and concerns and thoughts for the direction you believe that our Chapter should take. My email address is listed above. I look forward to hearing from and working with you.