Hello everyone! With SHOT annual meeting just a month away, it's time to remind you of one of the most important activities we do—the Friday book auction. In addition to providing a nice panorama of new books and old favorites, the purpose of the auction is to raise money for the SIGCIS Travel Grants that are awarded to some individuals who are presenting their work at the Sunday SIGCIS Conference. We’re lucky once again this year to have the peerless Tom Haigh as our auctioneer. The auction will take place during our annual lunch on Friday from 12:30-2 pm. When you register(ed) for SHOT, there was a box to check to register for the lunch. As usual, our agenda for the lunch, beyond eating, will be (1) introductions, especially to highlight the first-time attendees; and (2) the SIGCIS book auction. Regarding the latter, I have two reminders: a. Please bring books you would like to donate for the cause. It would help our accounting and record-keeping system if you can tell me ahead of time what book you plan to bring. And, if you have books to donate but don’t plan to travel to St. Louis, please let me know and I’ll relay instructions. b. Please bring cash to pay for books, or to otherwise donate to SIGCIS. We are lucky to have so many generous members in SIGCIS, since your donations allow us to award travel grants to students and others who need travel support. This year we are awarding over $2500 in travel support; to make this sustainable, we need to raise an equal or greater amount. If you’d rather donate to SIGCIS online or by check, we would be happy to facilitate that as well. Thank you as always for your generosity! Andy Russell SIGCIS Chair