Activities

Monthly Meetings
A 45 to 60 minute presentation by a guest speaker. About a 60 Minute Business Meeting. Short Show & Tell presentations. Refreshments.

Where: With the exception of the October meeting, which is held at Gem Capers, and the December meeting which the date is annouced in the Chipper (officer induction) all standard meetings of AGMS are held at the AGMS facility located at 6719 Burnet Lane, Austin Texas (Click here for a map).
When: The regular monthly meetings are held the fourth Thursday of every month except November & December. The meetings start at 7:00 PM.

A good way to stay in contact with everyone and get information faster  is to join the AGMSlist on yahoo.  If you would like to join this list and are a member in good standing, or would just like more information please click request.

  Austin Gem & Mineral Society Membership Application.
 

Special Interest Groups
Members tend to be interested in one subject more than others. When a significant number of members share the same interests and a leader steps forward, they can create a splinter group called a Special Interest Group, shortened to SIG. Once established a SIG can schedule and use the AGMS facility for their sub-group. AGMS has several active groups and others appear as interests change. Click on the links below to learn more about a group.  Currently AGMS offers the following SIG groups:

• Opal SIG
• Fluorescent SIG
• Fossil SIG
• Facetors SIG

Classes/Education
Classes are offered by AGMS and are taught by volunteer members for AGMS members. Classes are offered, based on requests and availability of instructors and equipment. Class length and meeting times are set by the instructor, and vary dependent upon the class. A nominal fee is charged for the classes to cover the cost of operating the facility. Some classes require the student to purchase consumables, generally outside the class.

To email our education chairman and learn more about classes, suggest a class, or volunteer to teach a class please click classes.

Click here to check our Calendar for latest classes.

Field Trips
Field Trips are sponsored by AGMS and AGMS members are also frequently invited to join other club's ventures. As a member of the South Central Federation, all members have outgoing liability coverage during field trips. This protects the trip target from liability issues as a result of the field trip.  

To find out more information about field trips or have a suggestion about a field trip please click trip.

Click here to check our Calendar for upcoming field trips.

Juniors
The goal of AGMS is to provide a program that draws on the natural curiosity that children have of  their surroundings. AGMS tries to provide activities that will stimulate the interests in the earth sciences, focus being on rocks, gems, minerals, and fossils.  This includes collecting,    cleaning, analyzing and lapidary arts.

 Once a year we schedule a "Juniors Field Trip".  We also have an annual "Egg Carton Collection" competition at our annual show, Gem Capers.  Every junior is encouraged to submit a collection for judging and as the name implies, the collection is to be housed in a one dozen size egg carton.  As a junior member in good standing a junior is welcome to check out books from our library. 

The Harriet Strieber Library
"Books are the Gems of Knowledge", reads the official plaque, "The Harriet Strieber Library." When AGMS acquired the current clubhouse in the late 1980's we set aside an entire room to house the now burgeoning collection of books. The library is located across from the office in the front of the building.

The library is open for book check out anytime the club house is open for an AGMS function.  Any meeting night (board, show committee or general), work shop nights, or other times.  If you need a book and need to come at a specific time (other than those listed)  please notify one of the librarians so that special arrangements may be made. Any member in good standing with AGMS is welcome to check out books. Members may check out 3 items for two months at a time, as long as they have no over dues or lost books. If additional time is needed please contact one of the librarians for an extension. Books may be returned anytime the building is open or closed.  Please use the mail slot to return books when the building is locked.  A librarian may be contacted by clicking librarian.

The library holdings include hard back, paperback and loose leaf books. VCR tapes, CD's, a juniors section, periodicals, vertical files and maps. For on site research there is even a reference section.  Please visit our library for a complete listing of books and other selections. Happy Reading!