The AAPG Publications Pipeline Committee invested some sweat last summer in furthering the aims of AAPG, along with a lot of equity -- 30 tons of it, in fact.
Committee members filled a shipping container with donated geoscience books and journals from those who no longer need them and forwarded the publications to universities in Bangladesh.
The shipment marks the largest single donation by the committee and brings the total amount of publications donated by the committee to over 51 tons of much needed books and journals for universities abroad.
“Key elements that make the committee tick include generosity, an active network and a lot of help from our friends,” said committee chairman Rick Wall.
The story of the Bangladesh shipment began when committee member Nahum Schneidermann, of Chevron International in San Ramon, Calif., contacted a colleague in Chevron’s Bangladesh office in Dhaka and told him of the mission and the activities of the Publication Pipeline Committee.
Unocal Bangladesh (Chevron International) chief geologist and AAPG member A.H.M. Shamsuddin then contacted the committee and inquired further about how our program works and how local universities could apply for a donation.
With this information, Shamsuddin facilitated the application process with the local universities and took the additional step of seeking Chevron management approval to underwrite the shipping of the publications from the committee’s warehouse facility in Houston (which is generously donated to the committee by Robbie Kane of the J.A. Green Development Corp.) to the requesting universities in Bangladesh.
Committee members had previously sorted the donated publications and gathered on a Saturday to pack the goods. Those assisting included Wall, Mike Bryarly, Chuck Caughey, Garland Bryarly (independent drilling consultant and Mike’s dad) and Martin Cassidy, past Pipeline Committee chairman.
But the committee’s work continues, thanks to more help from friends.
Wall said Claren Kidd of the University of Oklahoma got the word out about the Publication Pipeline via the Geoscience Information Society newsletter.
This information reached Linda Musser of Penn State University library system -- and also the program director of the Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa (AESEDA). AESEDA assists partner institutions in Africa with building georesource libraries.
As a result of Claren’s proactiveness, the AAPG Publication Pipeline and AESEDA have agreed to work cooperatively to get publications to universities in Africa that are in need of them.