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An Open Letter from the Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee (1Jun95)
(from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 42, June 1995)

The CTIO/KPNO Users Committee, in collaboration with the directors of
NOAO, CTIO, and KPNO, is initiating an electronic forum to improve the
exchange of information between NOAO and the US optical/infrared
community. The goal of this program is to facilitate communication regarding
proposed changes within NOAO that will affect the user community and to
encourage community input to the decision-making process. We want to
provide a mechanism for NOAO to inform the community in a timely manner
about issues regarding operations or policy and to fold in community input
before final decisions must be made. This electronic forum is meant to
complement the existing NOAO Newsletter.

All astronomers with an interest in the future direction of our national
observatories are encouraged to respond to this announcement in order to be
included in our e-mail distribution list.

In these times of constrained budgets, the resources available for carrying out
astronomical research are becoming increasingly scarce. The recently released
report by the Panel on Ground-based Optical and Infrared Astronomy (the
"McCray Committee") presents strategies for how OIR astronomy can best
move forward into the future. Two inescapable conclusions from this report
are:

(1)  Change is inevitable: the limited resources available precludes a
"business as usual" scenario.

(2)  The US OIR community needs to work together more closely to secure a
healthy future for our science.

Both of these points require that better communication exist between all
members of the US community. The first and most important step to enhanced
cooperation is better communication.

The Joint CTIO/KPNO Users Committee will distribute a regular
announcement describing a specific issue of concern to NOAO and the user
community. These mailings will be relatively brief to avoid increasing the
"e-mail overload" we all experience. A more detailed discussion of the issue
will be made available via the World Wide Web or FTP, and an e-mail
address will be provided for those wishing to voice an opinion on the specific
issue(s) raised. Examples of issues that will be discussed through the forum
include:

     o  Future Operations Models for KPNO and CTIO


     o  TAC Policies

     o  Access to NOAO facilities by astronomers with guaranteed access to
        private telescopes. Future TAC directions---a unified submission
        process and single discipline-based TACs for CTIO, KPNO, and Gemini.

     o  Science Opportunities from New Observing Modes (e.g. Queue
        Scheduling)

     o  Instrumentation for NOAO facilities---including Gemini

     o  NOAO in the Gemini Era---Operations and User Support

Of course, many issues could be productively discussed through this type of
forum, and suggestions from the community are welcomed.

We sincerely hope that the US OIR community will take advantage of the
opportunity to become more informed about the changes occurring within
NOAO. Members of the Users Committee feel that it is absolutely essential
that better two-way communications exist, and that ALL members of the US
community have a mechanism for expressing their views.

To be added to the e-mail distribution list, simply send a blank e-mail message
to forum-subscribe@noao.edu. The inaugural issue of the NOAO "electronic
forum" is scheduled for distribution in late summer.

John Salzer, Suzanne Hawley
(for the CTIO/KPNO Users Committee)

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