April 27, 1996
GretaEarnest (1995-96 chair) and Deborah Kempe (1996-97 chair) served as co-chairsof the Art and Architecture Thesaurus Committee business meeting. ElizaLanzi represented AAT. Also present were Katharine Martinez of the ResearchLibraries Group(RLG), Joseph Busch of the Getty Art History InformationProgram (AHIP), and Roger Lawson, ARLIS/ NA board liaison.
Earnest reportedthat the Sourcebook has been printed and is now available as an ARLIS/NAOccasional Paper. Kitty Chibnik compiled the index. The User Directory hasbeen issued by the Visual Resources Association, and is available for $10from Lynda White, VRA treasurer. Joseph Busch reported on the agreementbetween RLG and Getty AHIP through which the Bibliography of the Historyof Art will become a distributed database with analytics contributed byinstitutions beyond the BHA staff, the Provenance Index, and the role ofvocabularies beyond AAT (principally the Union List of Artist Names.) BothAAT and ULAN are now in 'maintenance mode' without significantnew editorial work being undertaken.
The committee discussed extending itspurview beyond AAT and agreed that the investigation of such an extensionwould be part of our work for the coming year. Martinez offered RLG as aconduit for a discussion list for the committee and noted that they wouldlike to support the efforts of the committee as much as possible.
The committeealso discussed its work vis a vis the Strategic Plan. In support of SP 1.B.5,Lanzi suggested a curriculum advisory group using such vehicles as the Web,VRA 'slide camp' and training the trainer. Liaison might behelpful with the Joint ARLIS/VRA task force on professional issues. Suggesteddeadlines include curriculum development in fall 1996 and a vocabulary paperby January 1997. The most recent Museum Computer Network conference includeda vendors' lunch, and this might work in ARLIS too. MCN has an implementers'group. Vendor user groups can be an effective way of pursuing AAT implementation.Concrete examples are helpful when discussing implementation with vendors.Committee members identified at least eight systems which are being usedby institutions represented on the committee.
Lanzi discussed the role ofAHIP's a.k.a. as a means to enhance searching indexes. a.k.a. used AAT andULAN to improve searching of Avery and other Getty indexes. Committee membersare encouraged to commend on a.k.a on AAT-L. Other topics for discussionover the coming year include genre terminology, enhanced access to AAT andother vocabularies, the merger of collection management systems and libraryOPACS, authority file versus vocabulary, and the development of a criticalmass of significant users of AAT and/or other vocabularies.
Sherman Clarke,New York University
ARLIS/VRATask Force on Professional Issues
April 28, 1996
An informalmeeting of Visual Resources Division members was held in lieu of the ARLIS/VRATask Force discussion. This was just before the business meeting of theVRD. It was felt that this was a good time to address some pressing issuesfor the division. An invitation was sent to the membership at large to attendin order to discuss the VRD's changing place within ARLIS.
Only about sixpeople attended, but an agenda for the VRD business meeting was framed andan initial attempt to find a way of redirecting and invigorating the divisionwas formulated. The pressing issue was the growing apathy of the ARLIS visualcurators vis a vis attendance at the VRA annual meeting. It was felt thatthe basic needs of the VR professionals were well met within VRA and mightrender the ARLIS meeting if not redundant, less focused. The group discussedvarious ways of involving the VRD membership in ARLIS/NA and making theneeds of the VR profession felt within the structure of ARLIS/NA.
AdinaLerner, Walt Disney Archives
Canadian Art Information Professionals Strategic Plan Committee
April 28, 1996
Fifteen Canadian members attended the business meeting to discuss a variety of issues. Murray Waddington, the outgoing Canadian representative, and Jane Devine, the incoming representative, were the co-chairs. Waddington reported that the Executive Board had declined the proposed Montreal- Ottawa-Quebec (MOQ) chapter by-law changes allowing staff of institutional members to hold chapter executive office without joining ARLIS/NA. This amendment would contravene ARLIS by-laws. Also, United States tax laws require that chapter officers be fully financially accountable through membership in the society. It was noted that chapters could subsidize officers' membership dues if necessary.
Devine announced that the board had accepted the Northwest Chapter's proposal to host the 1999 annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. The MOQ Chapter members present offered their congratulations and support in planning this event based on their experience staging the successful Montreal conference.
Prompted by complaints from Canadian members, ARLIS Executive Director Penney De Pas explained the late arrival of conference registration packages in Canada. Difficulties had arisen because ARLIS used different mailing houses this year and there were errors transferring mail between the U.S. postal service and Canada Post. There were also a lot of mistakes in the membership directory caused by database migration to a new software package. ARLIS headquarters is now very aware of this problem and will monitor it closely. Until there is a satisfactory solution, all mailings to Canada will be sent airmail.
Mary Williamson noted that the College Art Association (CAA) will be meeting in Toronto in 1998. This meeting was scheduled and organized without informing or consulting the University Art Association of Canada (UAAC). Presenters must be members of the CAA to participate, although ARLIS has traditionally held a joint session at the CAA conference. Williamson stated her intention to pursue a joint program and invited other ARLIS members to participate. She also reiterated her comments in an earlier posting to CARLIS-L that urged Canadian chapter members to seek affiliations with organizations such as the UAAC and perhaps directly with the CAA to encourage cooperation among complementary organizations.
Barbara Rottenberg then spoke about several new developments at the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN). Increasingly CHIN is becoming a broker in providing access to Canadian heritage and cultural information. CHIN is stressing the Internet as a new vehicle for searching its databases. In the coming months there will also be enhancements to the BASIS Plus software to improve the user interface, search functionality and response time. Part of CHIN's Internet initiative includes helping Canadian museums to gain access and offering training and support. They will also be working to increase the visibility of Canadian museums on the World Wide Web and researching how these institutions can present themselves effectively. Other CHIN projects include a free Canadian museums guide on the WWW, continuing cooperation with the Getty Art History Information Program, a digital imaging project with Industry Canada and research into copyright, intellectual property and licensing in an electronic environment. Members were enthusiastic about these new developments at CHIN, but preferred that more information be offered free of charge, especially access to library catalogues, and some felt that fee structures should be simplified. There was also concern about the status of funding for the Laval University project to develop a French version of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus.
Finally, Waddington suggested that Canadian members could request an extended session at the San Antonio conference in 1997 to allow more time for Canadian programming. The members agreed that a business meeting was not sufficient to cover all the Canadian attendees' concerns and supported this proposal, which will go forward to the conference program chair. The meeting adjourned with warm thanks to Murray Waddington for his dedicated work on behalf of the Canadian membership over the past two years.
Jane Devine, Vancouver Public Library
Collection Development Committee
April 28, 1996.
The Collection Development Committee members declared three projects begun during the previous year regenerated with additional volunteers or finished. Much of the meeting was devoted to discussing the Strategic Plan. Discussion first focused on the plan's heavy emphasis of the use of the WWW for ARLIS/ NA publications. There was some feeling expressed about the number of action items set out for this committee to work on.
The group committee went on to discuss each to determine its priority. These seven items were assigned first priority for the coming year: Item 146: publishing cumulations of existing documents. The committee feels it is pursuing this goal within the other items being worked on currently and those chosen for the coming year. Item 25: identify vendors, publishers, service providers specializing in vr/digital image products; disseminate list on HP; devise means for establishing working relationships, including communication channels for critical feedback (to convey aspects of content, format, and technical standards to result in mutually beneficial products.) There was discussion about what this item meant and general feeling was that we would not pursue it. Since the meeting, Ann Whiteside has been in contact with Margaret Webster from the Visual Resources Issues Task Force to get some clarification and no action will be taken until the Visual Resources Issues Task Force has begun its work. Item 74: Document on Collection Development Policy statements: Barbara Polowy and Lee Sorensen will be working on this. Item 75: Directory of out of print dealers: Barbara Reed and Adeane Bregman are working on this. Item 77: U.S. and foreign price trends for art books: Susan Craig has agreed to take over. Item 166 : updating of Collection Development Standards. There was general agreement was that the committee should pursue this, but no one volunteered to take it on. Ann Whiteside will communicate with the Standards Committee to clarify this committee's role. Item 56: e-mail distribution lists. Whiteside will work on this for the committee.
The committee agreed that it will submit no budget request. Separate budget proposals for conference sessions will be sent in with conference proposals.
Program ideas for the 1997 San Antonio Conference were discussed. Reed offered a suggestion for a session on how art/architecture librarians might be able to influence or encourage publishers to publish in areas in which there are publishing gaps. Lee Sorensen and Inge Reist agreed to pursue the idea and to submit a proposal to the program committee.
Ann Whiteside, Harvard University
April 27, 1996
Past Co-chair Hugh Wilburn reviewed the past year's activities: an article in ARLIS/NA Update, the session in Miami, ARLIS-L discussions, and the Chapter Idea book project. Current Board Liaison Janine Henri reviewed issues brought to the attention of the committee by the ARLIS/NA Board.
Redesigning the membership brochure with diversity in mind and the need for the brochure in other languages were discussed. Members reviewed the Strategic Plan and shared ideas for development. The committee decided to explore diversity-related development opportunities to establish internships, scholarships, and travel awards for library school students. Members will contact the Travel Awards Committee to suggest a special budget request for a diversity- related travel-award for a library school student. Members explored their communication venues and committed to creating a committee web page. Members will also explore the possibility of creating inserts for conference registration packet inserts.
Henri mentioned the chapter recruitment task force and the creation of ARLIS/Canada (a national chapter) and we discussed the role of regional representatives and chapters with regards to regional diversity and diversity at the chapter level. The lack of a Canadian member on the committee was noted.
Members discussed the role of the Public Policy Committee with regard to an ARLIS/NA diversity policy and decided to look for other organizations' diversity policies. Affiliation and communication with other diversity-related library organizations was suggested. Diversity versus affirmative action and ARLIS/NA's commitment to diversity in an anti-affirmative action climate were also topics discussed.
Cultural and linguistic biases (such as romanization versus display of vernacular or non- romanized catalog entries), selection or acquisition policies, cataloging priorities (locally and at the Library of Congress where materials in English and on Western art or culture often get catalogued first, while others are disproportionally represented in most backlogs), classification schemes and practices (such as at the Library of Congress) which are devised with materials about or from North America and Europe in mind (but NOT Africa, Asia or Latin America), the scope of reference works and indexes (print and electronic) that systematically or casually exclude works dealing with non-Western arts and cultures, were all considered as diversity-related issues.
Potential programs for next year's conference were suggested, including: a pre- conference workshop on cross-cultural communication; a panel on serving a diverse community; a session on bibliographic access which would touch on research and new publications related to Gay & Lesbian art & artists, diacritics and vernacular displays, technical services and access issues.
Janine Henri, University of Texas at Austin
April 28, 1996
The committee members present : Deborah Barlow (Clemson), Bob Foley, Milan Hughston, Merrill Smith; liaisons to the Executive Board, Barbara Sykes-Austin and Ross Day and Penney de Pas. The group discussed the action items identified for it in the Strategic Plan draft and ways to accomplish them. It agreed to pull together records of past sponsorship together with requirements for database elements to forward to headquarters, where it will be input and maintained. Barlow reviewed the fund raising process for the Miami conference. Hughston described initial work for the San Antonio conference in April 1997. A major initiative for this year will be designing the ARLIS/NA twenty-fifth anniversary fund-raising campaign. With a view toward this, the committee will review standard sources and fundraising activities by similar groups. The idea of proposing a development officer appointed by the president received considerable discussion. A motion was sent to the Executive Board recommending the proposal.
A subsequent meeting of three committee members: Foley, Merrill Smith and Susan Wyngaard, who was unable to attend the business meeting, took place on Tuesday, April 30, when the proposal for a development officer was further discussed and ideas for a possible twenty-fifth anniversary endowment project for scholarship reviewed. Also on April 30, Carol Terry, who had also been unable to attend the meeting, met with Smith to hear a reprise of earlier discussions and comment about the business for the year.
Merrill Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Financial Advisory/Finance Committee
April 27, 1996
Five committee members, the outgoing and incoming treasurers attended the meeting: Martha Childers, Ross Day, Ted Goodman (1995 chair), Kari Horowicz, Jeffrey Horrell, and Barbara Sykes-Austin attended the meeting. Ann Abid, 1996 chair, was excused. They reviewed the Financial Advisory Committee year-end report, including yet-to-be- approved charge; chronology of Merrill Lynch transactions and post-mortem discussion; and Goodman's ";Report on Investment Prospectuses" (April 17, 1996). The Executive Board's answers to questions posed in the report were passed on to the committee. The committee then undertook a review of Strategic Plan action list nos. 93-99 pertaining to the Finance Committee. It was agreed that the committee would review the Strategic Plan with an eye toward those activities which could be undertaken without the expressed direction of the chair and which could be reported out to the chair for decision making.
Ross Day, Metropolitan Museum of Art
International Relations Committee
April 27, 1997
Members of the committee in attendance were: Murray Waddington, chair, Pat Barnett, Jeannette Dixon, Elizabeth Gulacsy, and Jane Devine (Executive Board liaison). In addition to colleagues from Canada, Mexico, and the United States, observers from France, Russia, and Slovenia were present. During a brief business meeting, Murray Waddington outlined the committee's charge: to identify international organizations whose activities are of interest to the ARLIS/NA membership. The IRC will monitor documentation, listservs, and Web sites of such organizations. The committee will establish its presence on the ARLIS/NA web site , and use this vehicle, as well as ARLIS-L and Update to inform members of events, programs, and initiatives of interest abroad.
The Society currently has affiliation with four foreign organizations: ARLIS/Australia and New Zealand, ARLIS/Norden, ARLIS/Norge, and ARLIS/U.K. and Ireland. In the coming year, the IRC will establish contact with foreign art library associations in, for example, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia, and with selected allied professional organizations in order to establish affiliation (which requires approval of the Executive Board) or informal liaison with such groups.
Murray Waddington will discuss with Claire Eike, chair of the North American Relations Committee, the possibility of submitting a proposal for an AskArlis session at the San Antonio conference that would expose the membership to the work of the two committees.
An illustrated lecture by Andras Riedlmayer, Harvard University, on the destruction of cultural property, including libraries and their collections in Bosnia concluded the meeting. Riedlmayer asked ARLIS/NA to urge its membership to assist Bosnia through the following efforts, which the Executive Board will discuss at its summer meeting: call on ARLIS/NA members to survey their collections for visual documentation on Bosnia art and architecture that they could donate to Bosnian collections; urge members of ARLIS/NA and related organizations to assist Bosnian librarians through exchanges, internships and travel; sponsor attendance of Bosnian librarians at the at the Society's annual conference; offer expertise and training in conservation to Bosnian librarians, particularly in the area of conservation management and planning; donate funds to assist Bosnian librarians in their work.
Murray Waddington, National Gallery of Canada
April 27, 1996
Liz Ginno called the meeting to order; Melissa McDonald was appointed recorder. The first order of business was the letter to be sent to retired members. Apparently, the database had given a list of current 'retired' members rather than 'inactive' members. The problem of terminology was corrected and the proper list was going to be produced. The letter will be sent to all non-active former members of ARLIS/NA. It was decided that the letter should go out over the signature of the ARLIS/NA president. Sharon Hube is the coordinator of membership at OMG. It was decided that the letter should routinely sent to non-renewing members.The letter is to go to the board for post-conference consideration. When approved, the letter will go to OMG for distribution.
Discussion arose of what should be send out with the letter. The idea of pre-paid postage for renewals was rejected as impractical. It was noted that the ARLIS web site should be mentioned in the letter (as well as the round tables, committees and regional chapters). It was decided that the letter should cc: the local representative.
The Strategic Plan was the next topic of discussion. It was pointed out that it was non-prioritized and non-scheduled so that it was up to the committee to decide priorities. Some of the topics discussed were linking with professionals in other areas (how is membership defined, the broad aspects of art librarianship); the local chapters can develop more contacts and diversity.
Stephanie Sigala discussed the mid-year board meeting in St. Louis and the Task Force on recruitment, pointing out that it is an important area for the board. The Chapter Recruitment Task Force is to collect membership rosters for chapters. Another item they are investigating is changing the dues structure. In connection with the Membership Committee, the task force would like to explore accomplishing the following goals: figure out a way of identifying new members and linking them with local chapters; figure out how to collect statistics of members; try to understand the 3% membership drop this year; make sure that the membership renewal form and brochure information is complete; and explore chapter-related issues.
Penney De Pas reported that OMG has a new software program in data transfer and is working on redoing the ARLIS/NA database (such as the e-mail and fax fields). With the new software they are able to design their own fields for the database. Jack Robertson made a plea to the committee really to analyse the Strategic Plan and think of ways to canvas the membership. He also stated that the committee could create its own home page for the ARLIS/NA web site.
The committee asked Sigala and De Pas why ARLIS is pushing for more members. Sigala (or De Pas) answered that that is what an association does to gain more stability and more income. Janine Henri asked that we be aware of the cultural diversity aspect of ARLIS/NA: what kind of image are we promoting in our brochures and recruitment materials.
Southwest Chapter: Colorado still has no representatives, and very few members. One goal is to determine if Colorado would like to establish a chapter. There was a strong feeling among xommittee members that individual members should choose what information is provided in the directory and on the Web..
The committee was charged to look at the Strategic Plan in regard to changing the membership renewal form and the membership brochure and send comments to Liz Ginno by June 15.. The brochure will be reprinted after May 31.. Mentoring. The committee thought it would be a good idea to put a line in the membership forms to allow people to indicate if they are willing to participate in a mentoring program.
Elizabeth A. Ginno, California State University, Hayward
April 28, 1996
The 1995 Gerd Muesham Award Committee selected a winner from thirteen submissions. The committee was impressed by the excellent quality of many of these submissions. The award-winning paper was Bradley L. Taylor's "Chenhall's Nomenclature, the Art & Architecture Thesaurus and Issues of Access in America's Artifact Collections." The committee for 1996 discussed various issues, including the need to review and update the its guidelines, procedures, and timelines (from September 1992) on a yearly basis. The members also discussed the possibility of expanding the requirements and criteria to include student projects and "publishing" those projects, papers, or Web sites on the ARLIS/NA home page. The committee also agreed to modify the flyer to make the ARLIS/NA header more prominent. Responsibilities and tasks were delegated to committee members and a timeline for the year was established.
Eummie Imm Stroukoff, Museum of Modern Art
April 27, 1996
During the Nominating Committee's business meeting, the following topics were discussed: status of ballot preparation; committee calendar; and concern with the timely identification of candidates.
BJ Irvine, Indiana University
North American Relations Committee
April 27, 1996
The North American Relations Committee (NARC) was formed this past spring to facilitate communication and cooperation between ARLIS/NA and other important North American library, information, and art associations with shared interests. It is one of three external relations committees (the others being International Relations and Technology Relations) addressed by the Strategic Plan of the Society. The membership of NARC as of June 1996 is as follows: liaison with ALA/ACRL/Arts Section, Paula Epstein; ALA/ALCTS, Suzanne Freeman; AAL, Al Willis; CAA, Ray Anne Lockard; SAA/Museum Archives Section, Marisa Keller; SLA/Museums, Arts and Humanities Division, Roberta Geier; AAM, Marianne L. Cavanaugh; Committee Chair, Claire Eike; ARLIS/NA board liaison, Jack Robertson. Representation is being sought with other organizations as well. Since this committee is new, the composition is still in a somewhat formative stage.
Discussion of how best to share outreach responsibilities with other ARLIS committees will be ongoing. A number of points emerged from this, the committee's first meeting, the first of which is the need to clarify what it means to be a formal affiliate of ARLIS/NA, to have a more informal exchange partnership with ARLIS, and what (if any) other categories of partnership exist. The initial working goal for NARC is to set up and help maintain effective mechanisms for sharing information within ARLIS/NA as well as between ARLIS and other organizations. All ARLIS members are encouraged to use and comment on the models suggested by the North American Relations Committee. NARC members are expected to monitor the official publications, positions, calendars, and activities of the partner organization that they will represent. This will include attending meetings as possible, scanning newsletters, listservs, Web sites, etc. on a regular basis, and gathering guidelines or documentation related to possible areas of organizational intersection Information thought to be of value to the ARLIS/NA membership will be redistributed via postings to the ARLIS-L listserv, through columns in Update, and through data submited for inclusion in the ARLIS/NA Web Site. All society members are requested to check the content, grammar, spelling, and coding of any postings or files that they create so that digitized text can be repurposed with little or no editing.
Subsequent NARC efforts will focus on building the base for cooperative endeavors between organizations. NARC will gather guidelines for joint programming (and any related funding guidelines) from the liaison organizations represented on the committee. Most current guidelines and calendars for ARLIS are, or soon will be, available on the Web. It was noted that successful ARLIS/NA sessions should be repackaged for other conferences and meetings rather than scrapped after one 'performance'. There was some discussion of reaching out to educators' organizations more assertively, as well as to other library associations. It was recognized that joint membership information--searchable data on our members' participation in other organizations--needs to be gathered systematically and built into the Society's membership database. This suggestion ws relayed to the Membership Committee for consideration.
The importance of using e-mail frequently and systematically was emphasized. To be immediately identifiable in overcrowded mailboxes, it is suggested that messages always carry a subject line beginning with the name of the originating committee, e.g. "NARC: CALENDAR ITEMS." Use of this conventions by all committtees will enable ARLIS members and headquarters staff to pre-sort their e-mail.
A checklist of information items to be gathered from other organizations that the various ARLIS committees interface with has been drafted. These include: Headquarters information: phone, address, e-mail, etc. (the usual),permanent staff contact(s), if any; membership data collected; formal affiliations maintained Section, division, unit information: current officers; Webs ite(s) and listserv(s); publications calendars and deadlines, history of joint activity with other groups; Policy and goals information: definitions/categories of external affiliation materials/benefits exchanged with affiliates, relevant organizational policy, by-laws, etc., guidelines for co-sponsorship of conferences, sessions, workshops, etc., relevant work on standards, relevant initiatives, projects or positions.
Claire Eike, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Library.
Professional Development Committee
April 27, 1996; April 28, 1996
Marilyn Russell-Bogle called the meeting to order and confirmed the charge of the committee as stated in the current 1995 ARLIS/ NA Handbook. No changes to that charge have been made Russell-Bogle will continue as chair of the committee. Outgoing members of the committee are Lou Adrean, Margaret Webster and Stephen Patrick. Incoming members of the committee are Norma Mosby Johnson, Judy Donovan, and William Bunce.
Adrean and Webster reported on the outcome of the library school survey completed last year. Fifty-seven requests for updated information were sent to ALA accredited schools that were in the 1994 library school survey. Thirty-two schools responded. However, information from those schools which did not respond are included in the final report with the same information from the 1994 survey. Webster and Adrean reported that the results of the survey may indicate that few schools are offering courses in art librarianship or visual resources, and that the curriculum in most schools also does not reflect the current needs of librarians. The committee will ask that headquarters staff send the results of the survey to deans of all schools on the original request for information list. Several other ideas were discussed resulting from the library school survey. Some of the topics included: actively lobbying library schools for new and appropriate curricula; identifying courses outside the library schools which might be of interest to students interested in art or visual resources librarianship; establishing communication on this issue with library school educators and other library organizations; using the results of the survey as basis for a program session for next year's annual conference; developing a core curriculum (possibly one sponsored or approved by ARLIS/NA) that could be used as an aid to those willing to teach.
Carol Graney reported on work that she and Leigh Gates had done on internship opportunities for upcoming art or visual resource librarians. ARLIS-L and VRA-L subscribers were surveyed to find out about libraries offering internships. Leigh Gates is also compiling a bibliography of information on internships. Graney and Gates would like to explore ways of encouraging more internship programs by helping ARLIS members (or prospective interns) find funding. Suggestions for accomplishing this included: talking with those libraries that have funded internships; talking with state library associations, which might provide funding; using matching funds from outside sources and the library, and linking funding to work-study positions if possible. Graney would like to send out a draft proposal regarding internships to committee members for their comments. The possibility of getting the Development Committee involved in funding internships was also mentioned.
Michael Boe expressed interest in performing an updated salary survey as the latest one is now out of date. A comment was made to try to coordinate this with VRA.
Penney de Pas, who joined the meeting briefly, noted that the career brochure needs to be reprinted as the supply is getting low. She mentioned that PDC may want to take this opportunity to update the brochure, but that she would like to have the project complete within two or three months.
Priority projects for this year include: continued work on the internship project; updating the career brochure; using the library school survey as impetus for developing an "ARLIS-sponsored" core curriculum; developing a program proposal for the annual conference regarding the state of education opportunities for students interested in art/visual resources librarianship as evidenced in the library school survey; investigating the possibility of doing a salary survey; and developing or identifying continuing education courses and workshops.
The committee discussed briefly the Strategic Plan. It was apparent that some of the plan statements were already being addressed by PDC or other ARLIS committees, i.e. standards. However, time was running short so Russell-Bogle asked that committee members respond to her via e-mail regarding the Strategic Plan statements for PDC. The committee's new column editor for Update will be Judy Donovan.
Norma Mosby Johnson, University of Arkansas
April 27 1996
This was the first meeting of the newly-established Public Policy Committee. Present were Natalia Lonchyna, Stephen Patrick, Pat Thompson, Barbara Sykes-Austin (outgoing treasurer), Maryly Snow, board liaison, and Katy Poole and Hinda Sklar, co-chairs.
Poole distributed a list of committee members and e-mail addresses (which will be revised and sent out again), and a list of information resources (listservs, periodicals and WWW sites) to be monitored. Committee members will be asked to select what sites they'd like to monitor, and notify Poole or Sklar. All committee members should create a mailing list within their own e-mail systems so that they can do committee mailings easily.
The suggestion has been made that the committee may want someone to attend the CONFU (Conference on Fair Use) hearings in Washington. The hearings will take place over the next several months. The committee and the chair of the Visual Resources Division will put out a joint call on ARLIS-L to see if there is anyone in the Washington DC area who might be interested in attending those meetings. There is a major meeting scheduled on May 30, with preparatory meetings on May 16 and May 29.
There was also a suggestion that the group might want to ask someone to attend meetings of the Digital Future Coalition. That organization meets once a week (usually on Thursday) at ALA's offices at 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, suite 403, or elsewhere in Washington. If no one in the Washington area is available, Poole will try to find a volunteer.
A volunteer is needed to manage the committee's home page. ARLIS/NA expects each committee to put up a Web page, and maintain that site locally. Links will then be made to the ARLIS/NA home page. Ed Teague is willing to give some advice on this issue. Is there a committee member who is willing to take sole responsibility for managing the committee's home page?
Poole presented a budget for the committee. As proposed, the budget would include: $25 for ALA Washington Letter; $75 for the Chronicle of Higher Education; $500 for support of outside organizations (in lieu of membership fees); $100 for travel for attendance at meetings in Washington A list of the committee's membership as well as the other ARLIS committees with which it wants to maintain ties, will be sent out with the minutes of this meeting.
If committee members look at the Strategic Plan, they will see action items which relate to working with various ARLIS committees. Over the next few weeks Poole and Sklar will work to connect with the various liaisons, and discuss with those committee liaisons what the committee might reasonably accomplish in the next year. Committee members were asked to think about which committees they would like to be liaison to, and to get back to either of the co-chairs.
Hinda Sklar, Harvard University
April 27, 1996
Publications Committee members Dana Beth, Jeanne Brown, Margaret Culbertson, Lamia Doumato, Judy Dyki, Mimi Hernandez, and Barbara Reed met in Miami Beach to discuss various ongoing items of business. Also in attendance were Stephanie Sigala, board liaison, Penney DePas, executive director, and Linda Zieper, Update editor. Member Al Willis could not attend.
The committee discussed two ideas which have been proposed: a booksellers directory and a compilation of collection development policies. Both are being pursued with the Collection Development Committee. Nearing its final phase is an Art/Marc Sourcebook, which is to be published this year. Occasional Papers Guidelines For Submission have been rewritten and will be distributed in Update and the ARLIS/NA Web Site. Guidelines for preparing camera-ready copy are being established. Financial matters discussed included a budget for the upcoming year, costs and benefits of advertising, suitable publications in which to place advertisements, and how to track advertising effectiveness. The group plans to review the publications list to assess which publications need to be revised or replaced, and which might be effectively issued in electronic form. Strategic planning items were also reviewed and discussed.
Jeanne Brown, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
April 27, 1996
The committee reviewed existing guidelines for the H.W. Wilson Foundation Research award and Worldwide Books Publication award and decided to expand eligibility for both awards to include art historical and architectural projects, as well as those focused on librarianship. The committee began to outline possible guidelines for a new award funded by John Benjamins, to promote research and publication on art periodicals.
The guidelines for all three awards are now available on the ARLIS web site. Committee members discussed other possible ways to increase the number of applications, including regular communication via e-mail with chapter chairs and regional newsletter editors. In its Update column, "Research Notes" the committee would like to continue to publicize ongoing research and publication by ARLIS/NA members and welcome information at any time about these efforts.
Amanda Bowen. Harvard University
April 27-30, 1996
The Strategic Planning Task Force met several times during the 1996 Miami conference, including an open meeting to which all conference attendees were invited. Just prior to the conference, the first draft of the 1996-1999 Strategic Plan was published in Update, along with a request for comments. The goals and objectives from the original Strategic Plan (1990-1995) were left largely intact, but a new list of action items had been created based on input received from the membership through a number of channels. As the conference was imminent, comments were also directly invited via each member of the task force, who contacted the chairs of all divisions, sections, round tables, and committees.
The responses which had been received by that time were discussed at the task force's first meeting, held on Saturday, 27 April. Also discussed at that meeting were the additional conference events which would be devoted to the plan and implementation of the final plan. Amy Ciccone, task force chair, emphasized that the plan was still a draft, that revisions were both expected and welcome, and that both the bard and the task force saw the plan as a constantly evolving document that would be responsive to the needs and desires of the ARLIS/NA membership.
Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. a Leadership Breakfast meeting chaired by vice- president Jack Robertson was held. All current chairs of the divisions, sections, round tables, and committees were in attendance, as well as task force members and current and incoming Executive Board members. This was the first open discussion of the draft plan. Jack presented a summary of how the plan was developed. Many additional suggestions were made, questions were answered, and a few issues to be resolved later arose.
An open meeting with the entire ARLIS/NA membership was held later Tuesday morning. Ciccone gave brief history of the work accomplished thus far by the task force and Executive Board, and both she and Robertson stressed the draft nature of the plan currently under discussion. Despite a small turnout, there were many pertinent questions, and further suggestions for improving the document were made. Everyone was encouraged to provide the task force with additional remarks, either while still at the conference or shortly thereafter. The draft plan was discussed at all of the conference business meetings, and questions and comments were received by the task force and board members throughout the conference.
Originally the task force members had hoped that the Executive Board would approve the plan at its meeting on Wednesday, May 1. However, the numerous changes that needed to be made as a result of the discussions at the conference precluded that action. Ciccone did meet with the Executive Board to outline some of the proposed revisions. Members had until mid-June to communicate their comments to Ciccone. Those comments would be incorporated into the final Strategic Plan which would be presented to the Executive Board at the mid-year board meeting in August 1996.
Amy Ciccone, University of Southern California
Technology Education Committee
April 27, 1996
Present at the first meeting of ARLIS/NA's new Technology Education Committee were: Deborah L. Barlow, Executive Board liaison; Alexandra A. de Luise; Fred A. Hillbruner; Peggy Keeran, and Henry Pisciotta, chair. Members not present, and unable to enjoy the Oceanview Lounge, were: Aniko L. Halverson and Katherine Haskins.
After introductions, the committee reviewed the draft charge offered by the Executive Board and prepared comments for the board's approval of the charge. The charge to this new committee focuses upon promoting knowledge of Internet and other networked information resources among the membership, helping to improve members' skills in this regard, as well as their access to the net. Other areas of information technology that may be of interest to the membership are a secondary priority in the charge.
The committee examined the sixteen proposed actions in the draft Strategic Plan for ARLIS/NA for which the Technology Education Committee had been assigned some responsibility. Ideas for their implementation were generated. Priorities were discussed, both in relation to a logical sequence of actions and in relation to the skills and interests of the members of the committee. Committee members volunteered to work on specific, high-priority action items in teams or individually.
After the meeting, the chair drafted a memo from the committee to the Executive Board. It interpreted the content of the meeting and added a more detailed schedule of priorities over a three-year period. Based on the discussions at the committee meeting, this memo asked for clarification of one of the action items and recommended that three be removed from the plan since the committee interpreted them as redundant. This memo was approved by the committee members attending the conference and was presented to the Strategic Planning Committee at their open session on April 30.
Henry Pisciotta. Carnegie Mellon University
Technology Relations Committee
April 27, 1996
Members of the Technology Relations Committee (Joseph Busch, Judy Dyki, Ilene Frank, Adina Lerner, Allen Novak, Carol Rusk, Christie Stephenson, and Floyd Sweeting, chair) and Maryly Snow, board liaison met for a first meeting of this renamed committee. The first half of the meeting was to be chaired by the outgoing chair and turned over midway to the incoming chair, along with any relevant documentation from the previous year. Last year, most of the committee members were too overwhelmed by their jobs to report much; the outgoing chair reported that she had done all she could with it and was turning it over to the incoming chair; there was no documentation.
Most everyone commented on the way that changing technology has come to dominate their jobs and that everyone is consumed with the struggle to just keep up. Committee members also requested a more structured mechanism for reporting back to the membership with enough advance notice and preparation time. The meeting then consisted of a brain storming session on how to proceed and how to connect to the world of technology as it applies to art and visual resources. Committee members generally agreed that the charge was confusing and vague and that it needed to be more realistic and more focused.
Adina Lerner, who had been among the few contributing members from last year, offered to report back to the membership on what she knows, that is, commercial imaging technology. Committee members agreed that this was generally a good strategy for getting already overextended librarians to report back to the committee. Have a variety of contacts report back to the membership on "what they know" or on what they are dealing with in their professional lives as related to the committee's charge.
The Computer Section's "Procedural Guide to Automating an Art Library" was discussed and the committee agreed that it was no longer useful given the way library automation is changing but there were reservations about the relevancy of publishing anything in hard copy when things are changing so rapidly. It was pointed out that the various listservs now serve this function. Someone suggested a possible checklist of what to look for in a vendor, stories of experiences with vendors were discussed as being possibly more useful to ARLIS members; again this function is well-served by listservs. The committee agreed that updating or replacement of this document should more appropriately be the responsibility of the Computer Section or the Technology Education Committees and that this committee is to focus in on the liaison, reporting, and advocacy work that it is charged with. The committee would take on the role of becoming informed and promoting awareness of new technological developments. The Public Policy Committee (with whom we will liaison) will assume the role of watchdog with regard to intellectual property and censorship issues. The committee could possibly have a role influencing technological developments. . ..for example: having OPAC and collection management vendors use AAT. Jack Robertson came in at the last part of the meeting and mentioned that the board would accept budget requests for anything such as annual memberships to relevant organizations.
We also discussed the development of guidelines for how to identify relevant projects and contacts such as LITA, ASIS, AIIM, IFLA, AVA To summarize the results of the meeting: The Technology Relations Committee charge is threefold: external liaison (monitoring), reporting, and advocacy. The liaison role will focus more on linking with agencies and associations and less with vendors and database developers. The reporting role will manifest in ARLIS Update, on ARLIS-L, on the ARLIS/NA home page (link to USF site) and in annual and mid-year reports to the Executive Board.
It was decided to take the following actions: 1) The chair will set up a committee e- mail distribution list; 2) Deirdre Stam will be the CNI liaison; 3)Ilene Frank offered to set up a committee Web site, to be hosted at the University of South Florida and to monitor technology magazines and report back to the committee; 4) The committee will identify (with the Executive Board participation) groups, agencies, and institutions with which to form liaisons;.5) The chair will identify and appoint individuals to serve as official ARLIS/NA liaisons to those groups and report back to the ARLIS membership.
Floyd Sweeting III, Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library
April 28, 1996
Changes made by the 1995-96 committee for the convocation travel awards presentation format were very well received by the sponsors and recipients alike. A narrated slide presentation was used as the vehicle to introduce recipients and to highlight award sponsors, along with their products and services.
At the committee business meeting, the main topics for discussion included the following: the need for changes to the committee charge, to include the development of more travel awards available to the general membership of ARLIS/ NA; implementation of pertinent points in the new Strategic Plan; coordination of publicity and development activities with other ARLIS/NA groups, including but not limited to the Membership and Development committees; and strategies for publicizing the availability of travel awards and encouraging greater participation in the application process. A decision was made to continue with the single "poster" format as the primary publicity instrument for the travel/participation awards.
Of particular concern was the fact that there were no applications for this year's Jim and Anna Emmett Travel Award, designed to benefit a handicapped library professional. Jim Emmett has expressed his wish that this award be publicized early and that applications be accepted throughout the year. The sponsors feel that early application and notification would particularly benefit potential recipients for this award.
Questions about the application process for this award should be directed to Ann Lindell, Chair, ARLIS/NA Travel Awards Committee, POB 115800, Architecture and Fine Arts Library, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, phone: 352-392-0222, fax: 352-392-7251, e-mail: annlind@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
Ann Lindell, University of Florida