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Roberta:

You said you wanted to know something of the history of the question.  Well, I
can tell you that when I was conference chair in ancient times (the 1985
conference in Los Angeles), I wondered the same thing.  Like you, I've had
very good experiences at other conferences buying the tapes when I either
couldn't attend the conference at all or couldn't attend a particular session.
The catch is that (at least back then) it was technologically too complicated
(and expensive) to use ARLIS volunteers to do the taping and then it would
have been too time-consuming (and, again, expensive to rent the equipment) to
make the copies, take the orders, package them, mail them out, etc., etc.  It
turns out that all of the above is done by companies that conference planners
hire.  HOWEVER,  this service is used by really big conferences (AAM, CAA,
ALA, etc.) and was just not cost-efficient for ARLIS.  I was told we would
need at least 2-3 times as many attendees as we usually have to make it
worthwhile.

It's still a great idea, if someone could figure out a way to do it cost-
effectively.

Joan Benedetti