The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m. by Liv Valmestad, moderator who welcomes those present and introduced the other RISS officers, Naomi Niles, co-moderator, and Tom Greives, Update editor.

Valmestad reminded those in attendance of the purpose of RISS. (As stated in the ARLIS/NA Section Guidelines (http://www.lib.duke.edu/lilly/arlis/policy/e20.html) and then went on to review the proposals put foreword according to the minutes of the Philadelphia meeting of RISS in 1998 ( http://www.umanitoba.ca/academic_support/libraries/units/archfa/riss.html#Minutes from the RISS Meeting in Philadelphia,).

The first of these proposals/issues was based on a concern first brought foreword by Peter Blank at the Philadelphia meeting.  This is a concern over the potential loss of important bibliographical information when libraries engage in retrospective conversion from print to electronic catalogs. Examples cited were the folio sized catalogs of library holdings that were published by G. K. Hall in the late 60's and early 70's. A general discussion ensued that the idea is still a good one that should be pursued by RISS and ARLIS/NA. A motion was made by Peter Blank:

I move that RISS investigate the possibility of examining the printed G.K. Hall library catalogs, and similar printed library catalogs from other publishers, and establish what material they contain that is not present in the current online resources, and establish some means to make that information available to a wider audience."
The motion was seconded by Jeff Weidman. The motion was approved by the members in attendance.

The second of these proposals/issues brought before RISS in Philadelphia was Linda Zieper’s suggestion that RISS propose a session on the management of CD-ROMs. The members present had no comment on this matter.

The third issue discussed concerned the use of interdisciplinary CD-ROM databases such as Medline and Social Science Citation Index. A lively discussion ensued. Barbara Prior volunteered to put forth a proposal for a RISS sponsored workshop that would concentrate on interdisciplinary use of these and other electronic databases.

Liv Valmestad then reviewed the three contributions by RISS to Update this past year:

Greives, Tom.  “Selected Art Related Sites on the WWW,” ARLIS/NA Update, 3 (June, 1998): 11,14.
Valmestad Liv. “Finding Canadian Art/Architecture Information Resources on the Internet,” ARLIS/NA Update, 5 (October, 1998): 3,5.
Greives, Tom. “New RISS Web Site” and “RISS-sponsored programs at the 1998/99 Annual Conference in Vancouver,” ARLIS/NA Update, 1 (February, 1999) 4.

Next the moderator reviewed the items that RISS is responsible for in the current Strategic Plan.

#36 Create a "bibliographic instruction" discussion group. Completed.  Members present at the RISS business meeting in San Antonio decided that ARLIS
L served the purpose.

#37 Identify and create a roster of members who teach: add "teaching experience" data field on membership form and add listings in Handbook. Completed.

#38 Create and/or identify existing programs, publications, inventories, databases, web sites, highlighting the expanding knowledge base which informs research and study in the arts, architecture, and design; create a "related disciplines" page on Web site. Completed. These items are covered by the ARLIS/NA and RISS web sites.

#39 Identify instructional programs which emphasize the expanding interdisciplinary nature of knowledge and information sources in the arts and related subject disciplines. Progress: these issues are being addressed by workshops such as the “ Basic Resources in East Asian Art and Architecture” programs presented at the Vancouver conference and RISS will sponser interdisciplinary programs for Pittsburgh.

#47 Create desiderata file of reference tools, research aids... Pending.  To be addressed, but no plans at this time. Suggestions?  Please email Naomi Niles at: ulibrc2@metgate.metro.org

#52 Create, and update, on a web site, an annotated listing of electronic indexing/abstracting tools for art, architecture, and design serial publications and in fields related to the arts.
            Progress: links to such sites on ARLIS/NA web site.

#72 Define and report on issues related to "Coll. Dev. and the WWW". Progress: two of the submissions to ARLIS/NA Update are concerned with art related web sites and RISS will sponsor workshops concerning these matters.

The next matter addressed was RISS participation at the Vancouver conference. RISS sponsored or co-sponsored three events.

1. Panel Session #1 which is co-sponsored by RISS and the Visual Resources Division and is titled. “Subject Access to Visual Images – Part Three: On the Online Horizon from Where We Stand”.
2. Ask ARLIS #2 session is titled "Who’s that Knocking at my Door?:Issues of Access, Fees, Service and Clientele”
3. Panel Session #14 is co-sponsored by RISS and the Academic Division. The session is titled “The Challenge of Finding Art Information on the Internet.”

The next item of business to be conducted was a request for ideas for sessions to be sponsored by RISS at next years convention at Pittsburgh.

Mary Galvin suggested a session that would evaluate the various versions of the Art Index/Abstracts - print, CD-ROM and webbased. Jeraldine Byne added that we might ask to have a Wilson representative demonstrate the database and try to find out what has been lost in the translation of the database from one format to another. Barbara Prior also added that there are differences in the pre and post 1971 records that are in the retrospective conversion of the pre 1984 records in this database. And further that the records of BHA, RAA and RILA are not in consistent form in the complete version of the BHA database especially as it is found in the RLIN Eurka web based version. Several other took part in this fast moving discussion. Most members in attendance seemed to agree that this topic is important and should be pursued for further discussion and presentation at Pittsburgh.

Liv Valmestad raised the issue of consortiums and their functions in today’s libraries. This turned out to be the liveliest (fast and furious) discussion of the day. (and as exhaustion was beginning to set in on the recorder the following comments are , at best, fragmentary and at worst, inaccurate) Eddie.?.. (of Boston College?) Brought up the matter of the Dictionary of Art and a consortium price of $700.00 per annum through a consortium? Max Marmor suggested that we contact Ann Okerson of Yale, a member of NERL(Northeast University Research Libraries). Also, it was suggested that we get a member of OhioLink to present.  Jane Carlin, a member of the Ohio Valley Chapter stated that the OVC of ARLIS/NA might be interested in co-sponsoring.  It was suggested by Debra Barlow, of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, that ARLIS/NA form a consortium for the benefit of the smaller, especially one person art libraries. Jill Patrick, of the Ontario College of Art and Design, mentioned the National Library Consortium and indicated this was a project that ARLIS/Canada may be interested in supporting. Mary Galvin, of the Detroit Institute of Arts, talked about multi-type of consortia and the issues of electronic licencing. Katherine Martinez of the Fine Arts Library at Harvard, suggested that we might contact Milan Hughston, of the Amon Carter Museum and Danny Starr, of the Museum of Modern Art, concerning DRA as a model for small museum libraries. The bottom line is that there was overwhelming interest in the topic of consortiums and resource sharing, but no one volunteered to take responsibility to organize a session for the convention at Pittsburgh next year.

The next issue to come to the floor concerning proposed sessions at next year’s convention was concerned with interdisciplinary resources. Barbara Prior suggested the possibility of a workshop  of interdisciplinary resources that are available in standard(academic/public) libraries but, not in art libraries. B.J. Irvine mentioned that she had included interdisciplinary resources, where appropriate, in her workshop last year and that they were included in the workshop on East Asian resources yesterday and that special topics require specialized databases within the context of art research. Jill Patrick stated that studies have shown that while it has been shown and assumed that interdisciplinary use patterns in medical libraries had been shown to be 80% medical titles and 20% non-medical,  recent studies have shown use patterns to be more 60/40, therefore indicating a much broader use of interdisciplinary resources. Peter Blank recalled three hands-on sessions taught concerning the use of the MLA, American History and Life and Historical Abstracts. Others suggested the following databases to consider: Sociological Abstracts, PsycINFO, Lexis-Nexis, and etc.
Mary//Detroit brought up the issue of undergraduates only searching electronic resources and therefore not considering print resources of say pre 1970s or 80s and how this skews their research. The bottom line after further discussion was that Barbara prior will put forth a proposal to have workshops that include print and electronic resources depending on available facilities in Pittsburgh. But, she will need support.

The final item of business was to nominate and elect a co-moderator and Update editor. After a defining silence, B.J. Irving suggested that Marcy Neth be considered as new Update editor and Tom Greives be the co-moderator. To the great collective relief of all present Marcy and Tom were elected.

Respectfully submitted,
Tom Greives
Arizona State University