New CAHS Website!
Greetings CAHS Members and Friends!
The CAHS Executive was delighted to be able to launch the newly redeveloped CAHS website at the CAHS Convention in Montreal 22-25 May. The directors in attendance were given their first viewing at the Board meeting on 22 May, and the members got to see it at the AGM on 24 May. Everyone may access it by checking out www.cahs.com.
Terry Higgins and his son Zach Downey-Higgins have done a fantastic job putting together a user-friendly and attractive website that showcases our branding and the services we have available. Thanks to our new web team for getting the majority of the site ready in time for the AGM: they continue to refine some details and features every day.
I would like to invite the CAHS members, friends, and website users to browse through the new website at www.cahs.com - to gain familiarity with the legacy features as well as the new ones, and to provide feedback on missing options or errors or omissions. Please send your feedback to Dr Rachel Lea Heide at treasurer@cahs.ca who will act as the liaison between the members and our web master to make sure they do not receive mixed messages.
Membership renewal is possible on the new website, and it is clearly marked whether it is for Canada, US, or International destinations. Family and Gift memberships are also available, as are memberships for museums, corporate sponsors, and libraries. Go to www.cahs.com/get-involved
Making donations online is possible. To allow people to choose their own amount (rather than select from a pre-set list of quantities), we invite people to enter their desired amount using the quantity box. Please try it out at www.cahs.com/donations
Journals can now be ordered online too. Customers are able to view each back issue cover and table of contents, going back to the very first Journal. Not only can all Journals be purchased in hard copy form, but instantly downloadable PDFs can be purchased for all issues Terry has produced since 2010. Terry and Zach have added some great new features. They have added the ability to purchase and download compendia of articles that were serialized over several journal issues; all parts by an author have been grouped into a single PDF available for purchase. Furthermore, people can buy individual articles from 2010 through to the present. A future goal is to upload scans of all back issues so they too can be purchased as PDF issues and articles. We invite you to shop at www.cahs.com/shop
The CAHS monthly e-newsletters from 2018 and 2019 have been transferred over to the new website. Our long term goal is to have all past issues of the e-newsletters available to download, but we are still working on this aspect. The archive is located at www.cahs.com/e-newsletter-archive
We also have a Newsflash page where Terry and Zach will be updating the membership on the latest updates and features of the website. Come back often to see what's new at www.cahs.com/news-flash-site-updates
Each Chapter will continue to have their own webpage on the CAHS website. Terry has contacted all Chapter Presidents with a questionnaire to help update Chapters' basic, executive, and meeting information and photographs. Hence, these particular pages will be evolving in the near future, but meeting information, dates, and locations should be posted in a timely manner. Chapters' pages can be found at www.cahs.com/chapters
We also ask for people to check over the old website at www.cahs.ca to see if there is any information we might have forgotten to transfer over. Also let us know if there's a favourite feature on the old website that we should consider building into the new website. Once we have finished transferring over material, eventually the old website will be taken offline, and typing both addresses www.cahs.ca and www.cahs.com will take you to the new page.
We will be providing a links page eventually, but we need to first check the functionality of all the old links and look up some new relevant links. Let us know if there's a specific link or category of links we should consider adding.
Later this fall, Terry and Zach will begin conceptualizing and designing Increment 2, the members' only section. We welcome suggestions for content and features for consideration. The goal is to provide more research content (ex some databases) to help increase membership value-for-money.
Thanks so much to Terry and Zach for getting the website designed and functioning in time to launch at the convention. It is beautiful, and the new features are exciting! We hope you feel the same way too when you have finished browsing it.
Cordially yours,
Dr Rachel Lea Heide
CAHS National Treasurer
treasurer@cahs.ca