Museum Division Business Meeting Minutes, ARLIS/NA Annual Conference 1998,
Monday, March 9, 1998

(Shawn Steidinger, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Session Recorder)

Moderator Barbara Mathe, American Museum of Natural History, Special
Collections, opened the meeting at 9:25 am with a welcome to old and new
members and reminded members of the sessions currently sponsored by this
Division:
-Art librarian as Curator – Co-Moderated by Deirdre Lawrence (Brooklyn
Museum of Art) and Rosemary Haddad (Canadian Centre for Architecture)

-Money Matters: Multiple Perspectives in Grant Funding – Co-moderated by
Marianne Cavanaugh (St. Louis Art Museum) and Pat Lynagh (National Portrait
Gallery)

1.  Old Business – none

2. Introduction of Mary Graham (Arizona State Museum Library), the new
President, speaking in place of Kathryn Wayne (U-Cal Berkeley), the new
president-elect and Group Liaison.  Mary reminded the members of the
following deadlines:
-Deadline for Special Funding Request – May 31
-Proposals for 1999 Vancouver Conference – May 31
She then complimented this division on its history and reputation for
planning excellent conference ideas.  Mary informed division members that
the Moderator would be added to GROUP-L, a listserv moderated by Jeanne
Brown and used for conference planning and other communications.

3.  New Moderator – Barbara proposed that the members consider having a
Co-Moderator arrangement to benefit continuity, share responsibilities and
ease the transition from year to year. She then made a motion to have
Co-Moderator, which was seconded and approved by Membership.  Barbara then
asked for nominees from the floor.  Moderator responsibilities include
conducting meetings and coordinating communication of issues among
membership.  Nominees were Rosemary Haddad, Moderator and Nancy Simon
(Denver Art Museum), Co-Moderator.  Candidates were seconded and approved.

4.  New Business:  
Ideas for next years' sessions:
Electronic Serials - Evalyn Stone (Metropolitan Museum of Art) along with
the support of the Serials Round Table, crafted a proposal regarding
Electronic Serials which was turned down.  She felt that if proposed by
both the Museum Division and the Serials Round Table, it would have a
better chance for approval.   Carolyn DeLuca (Metropolitan Museum of Art's
Electronic Resources Librarian) could moderate such a session, covering
topics such as acquisitions, storage, usage, etc.

Information Services Departments: Jeannette Dixon (Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston) attended the Art Museum Directors Meeting, which included a
discussion of the necessity of systems and information services departments
dedicated to the needs of the art library.  This could be explored in an
AskARLIS session.

Management Workshop – Daniel Starr (MOMA, New York) and Jeannette Dixon
would like to propose a workshop on management dealing with issues such as
administration, staffing, relations with parent institution, etc.  It was
felt that it would be best to obtain a professional management trainer. 
Carol Rusk (Brooklyn Museum of Art) asked about covering staffing issues
such as recruitment, staff retention, professional development, volunteers,
and job descriptions.  Members felt that this could be a session in itself.
 Other issues that members would like to see addressed included: learning
to be assertive with upper management, working with or against the
institution's Development Office, establishing authority and respect, using
corporate business models in management, salary statistics, and dealing
with the politics of management.

Archival Records Management - Meg Klinkow (Frank Lloyd Wright Home)
proposed a session or workshop on Archives Management.

Cultural Repatriation issues - Karen Mackenzie (Art Gallery of Toronto)
said that British Columbia is a hot-bed of cultural activism and home to
the First Nations organization which represents the views of various First
Nations through their leaders in areas such as Aboriginal and Treaty
Rights, Environment, Economic Development, Education, Housing, Health,
Social Services, Land Claims, and other issues.  The Museum Division could
co-sponsor a session with this group regarding legislation affecting the
many sides to these issues. Perhaps the division could sponsor a speaker
from First Nations to be a Keynote Speaker at the conference. Barbara Mathe
remarked that this could be co-sponsored by the Indigenous Arts & Culture
Round Table.

Exchange Programs - it was suggested that there be an annual Discussion
Group formed regarding issues such as written policies for exchange
programs, keeping statistics, software, etc., since last year's session was
so popular in San Antonio.  The Collection Development Committee could
co-sponsor. Debbie Barlow and Daniel Starr had many ideas related to this
discussion.

Follow-up session to this year's "Librarian as Curator" - to cover issues
of conservation, etc.   This could also be developed into a workshop.

Relations between the Education Dept. and Libraries - Carol Rusk would like
to propose a session covering this topic.

Throughout the Museum Division meeting, there was discussion relating to
the format of AskARLIS sessions, Panel sessions and Discussion Groups. 
Barbara asked that members keep these formats in mind when writing
proposals to submit to ARLIS/NA.  She also reminded members to work on
gathering co-sponsors for proposals in order to demonstrate high membership
interest to the Vancouver Conference Program Committee.  The meeting was
adjourned at 10:35 am.

Submitted by Shawn Steidinger, Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
email: steiding@interport.net
work ph.: 212-650-2438