The Committee

The president oversees the society during their year-long term of office. They are responsible for overseeing the organisation of the two annual meetings, typically hosting the summer meeting at their university.

The primary role of the SOTS Treasurer is to manage the society’s income, expenditure and reserves. Since the principal source of income is members’ subscriptions, much of the work of the Treasurer concerns encouraging subscribers to keep up-to-date. They can provide advice on the best way to pay, depending on whether you have a UK bank account or are paying from outside the UK. It is also their responsibility to review the financial position of SOTS so that there are sufficient funds to run various activities, such as two annual meetings in January and July, and the publication of our Book List.

The Secretary works with the President and others to plan the Society’s academic and business meetings, responds to most official correspondence on behalf of the Society, and receives and processes applications for membership.

The Secretary for Honorary Members has the duty of regular correspondence with the Honorary Members so that their activities can be reported on at SOTS meetings.  It is his/her job to be a point of contact for Honorary Members, keep a list of these members and their contact addresses, and collect nominations for new Honorary Members.  S/he makes known to the SOTS membership when there are vacancies for new Honorary Members, brings such nominations to the Committee’s attention, provides relevant information on them, and advises the Committee on the suitability of nominees for election to this category.

The Conference Secretary is responsible for all practical arrangements relating to the regular winter and summer meetings of the Society, including booking venues, liaising with publishers, budgeting for, creating and processing the booking forms for delegates attending each meeting, and overseeing the functioning of the meetings themselves.  The Conference Secretary works most closely with the Secretary and Treasurer, as well as the President for each year.

The Membership Secretary keeps records of all members’ addresses so that information may be sent to them both by email and by post, as required. Most members are now happy to receive information by email, but hard copies of the Bulletin and other communications can be sent if requested. Twice yearly, a statistical report is prepared on the basis of the information kept.

The Book List Editor oversees production of the annual SOTS Book List, liaising with publishers to acquire review copies of relevant books, distributing the copies to SOTS members for review, and editing the resultant reviews. The Book List Editor also serves as Convener of the Society’s Publications Sub-Committee.

The role of the Information Officer is to mainly help with the Society’s self-presentation to the World (this website), as well as assist with other web-related projects of the Society, such as the SOTS-wiki. They also assist journalists by pointing them to expert members of the Society for advice on questions relating to the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament.

The SOTS Archivist is responsible for the SOTS archive which is housed in the library of Bangor University. They are responsible for ensuring that any items of interest to the Society that are passed on to them by members (notice of awards, obituaries etc) are placed in the archive, and occasionally they are asked to respond to queries concerning past events relating to the Society which are documented in the archive. Any member of the Society is permitted to visit the archive although it is wise to consult the Archivist in advance so that any necessary arrangements can be made.