The greatest benefit of belonging to AFS is that of participating in the major professional society in the world devoted to folklore.

In a recent survey, for instance, more than 80% of our members said that they belonged to the Society to express their professional identity, to build professional and personal relationships, and to keep abreast of new research in folklore.

You can become a part of this by joining AFS.

As a member of the Society, you’ll receive these benefits:

• 4 issues a year of the Journal of American Folklore, widely recognized as the leading journal in our field, delivered directly to your door
• FREE online access to full-text, searchable versions of current and recent past issues of the Journal of American Folklore via Project MUSE. [Members: get this access by following this link.]
  
• Online access to JSTOR’s folklore journals, fully-searchable versions of back issues of four of the world's major English-language folklore journals—Folklore, the Journal of American Folklore, the Journal of Folklore Research, and Western Folklore—for only $15/year (with access to more folklore journals to come!)
  
• A 50% discount on subscriptions to JSTOR's JPASS service, a program providing a year of full access to more than 1,500 journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to individuals who don't have institutional access to JSTOR. AFS members can get JPASS for $99 a year.
• The option for a personal subscription to the American Council of Learned Societies Humanities E-Book (HEB), available only to members of ACLS societies. The subscription offers unlimited access to 4,315 (and growing) cross-searchable, full-text titles across the humanities and related social sciences. The titles in HEB have been selected and peer reviewed by ACLS constituent learned societies for their continued value in teaching and researching. The collection comprises both in- and out-of-print titles ranging from the 1880s through the present, and includes many prize-winning works. Individual subscriptions are US $40.00 for a twelve-month subscription; American Folklore Society members can sign up via the HEB website at http://www.humanitiesebook.org/subscriptions-pricing/individuals.html
• Access to insurance options and other services offered by AFS's partnership with artist service organization Fractured Atlas
  
• A 25% discount on registration fees for the Society’s annual meeting, the high point of many AFS members’ professional year
• Discounts of up to 20% on the titles displayed and advertised at our annual meeting by this country’s foremost publishers of folklore books
• The ability to contribute to the AFS website by adding, responding to, and editing content in the AFS Review news and commentary section, the Folklore Commons knowledge-base wiki, and the site's forums
• The ability to fully search and access AFS member-only content on the AFS website, including the profile information other members have elected to display in the Member Directory, and CVs and resumes posted in the Career Center.
  
• A 20% discount on purchases from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings catalog, using this code.
  
• You can serve as a member of one of the Society’s committees (cultural diversity, international issues, membership, publications) or working groups, or make your voice heard by running for Society office and voting in Society elections
• You can take part in AFS special projects restricted to members (For example, as part of the Society’s Veterans History Project partnership, AFS members are now taking part in paid consultancies leading community-based workshops on collecting oral histories from US military veterans)
• You can join any of AFS’s more than 30 AFS interest-group sections
• You can receive AFS prizes and AFS section prizes