Present:

Daphne Dufresne (99-00 Chair), Univ of Quebec-Montreal; Ed Teague (00-01 Chair), University of Florida; Marilyn Berger (Outgoing Executive Board Liaison), McGill; Leslie Abrams (Incoming Executive Board Liaison), UCSD; Judith Hershman, UCLA; Beverly Joy-Karno, Howard Karno Books; Carol Terry, RISD; Lorna Corbetta-Noyes, RLG; Frances Clymer, Buffalo Bill Historical Center; Susana Tejada, University of Buffalo

Special Guests: Hugh Wilburn (IFLA 2001 Task Force), Harvard Design School;  Jorge Orlando Melo, Biblioteca Luis Ångel Arango, Bogota, Colombia

Committee members not present: Renata Guttman, Jeannette Dixon.

1.  Announcements
The meeting was called to order by Chair, Daphne Dufresne at 5:45 pm. Carol Terry recorded the meeting. After introductions, Marilyn Berger formally thanked Daphne for her work as chair and for the accomplishments of the past year.

Daphne read a note from Jeannette who was unable to attend. Jeannette particularly wanted all to be aware of the upcoming IFLA conference in Jerusalem, August 2000.

2. IRC Activities in 1999/2000 were summarized:

• Planning for the ARLIS conference session
• With the help of Beverly, identifying three librarians from South America to attend the conference
• Requested and received funding through the Getty Grant Program to bring these librarians to Pittsburgh

3. Update Columns
Update columns will now be distributed electronically. IRC columns appear twice a year including a report from the IFLA conference. The other column could be a profile of the three South American librarians who are here at the conference. We also discussed the idea of including international art library news in Update,  as well as information about the IRC website, and the websites of the affiliate organizations.
(See action item # 1, 2)

4. Affiliate Organizations
Daphne read a list of the publications of the affiliates; these are to be sent to the chair of the IRC from Headquarters.
(See action item # 2, 4, 8)

Jeannette’s report as IFLA Liaison is published in the IFLA Art Section Newsletter with abstracts available on-line.

5. IRC webpage <http://www.cam.org/~renata/irc_top.html>
The webpage will continue to be managed by Renata Guttman.  Renata was thanked for her contribution.
(See action item # 2)

6. IRC activities in response to the 1996-1999 ARLIS/NA Strategic plan were summarized:

• “107. Report on progress and recommend ARLIS/NA's active involvement in the IFLA 2001 conference in Boston.” This has been done; a task force has been formed and the IRC will continue to assist as needed.
•  “108. Identify international and non-North American art organizations' information organs: newsletters, listservs, web sites; establish procedures for monitoring and reporting; assign individual committee members to monitor specific source(s).”   Progress has been made and the work is ongoing to compile and make available the links to websites of affiliate organizations, as well as a list of their publications.

New Business

Reports having been completed, Ed chaired the New Business portion of the meeting (items 7-11).

7. IFLA 2001 Pre-Conference, Boston,  Task Force Report
Committee members were sent the Task Force Report as an email attachment prior to the conference.

Hugh Wilburn, Task Force chair,  gave an update on conference planning. There will be a 1 1/2 day preconference around the theme “How Do I Find a Picture of...?” It will resemble a typical New England chapter meeting combined with the workshop format that was used at the Art Section meetings in Bangkok. Papers will be prepared in advance, then summarized at the conference with
group discussion following. Specific questions will be provided for the discussion period with a leader reporting from each group to the whole at the end.  Presentations could include new technologies, imaging initiatives such as AMICO and the Academic Image Cooperative, as well as developments in other countries.

At this point the schedule for the preconference is as follows:

• Thursday, August 16: Tours in the afternoon; evening reception at Ars Libri
• Friday, August 17: morning session at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;  afternoon session at the Fogg Museum, Harvard;  reception (sponsored by ARLIS/NA and ARLIS/NE?)

We discussed the issue of housing for those attending only the preconference as the conference hotels will not be available to them. Hugh is looking into other housing options, such as dormitories. Attendance is estimated at 150 for planning purposes; later in the year Hugh will post a notice on ARLIS-L and request indication of attendance. We determined that those attending the full IFLA conference will not need to pay for the preconference. Expenses will be covered by those attending only the preconference as well as by fundraising.

The Task Force working with Hugh includes Jeannette Dixon, Sarah Dickinson,  Merrill Smith and Carol Terry. Hugh and Carol will keep the IRC updated on plans as they progress.

(See action item # 3, 7)

8.  Prospects for Programs, ARLIS/NA Conference 2001
The group discussed possible program ideas with the need to focus on Pacific Rim countries emerging as the favored theme.  The program proposal deadline is May 1, 2000.
(See action item # 6)

9.  Budget Proposal
The budget request deadline is May 31, 2000.  IFLA dues are part of the IRC budget and must be annually proposed.
(See action item # 5)

10.  New Strategic Plan Items
Leslie discussed concerns about the role of the North American Relations Committee and asked the group to think about its possible connection with the work of the International Relations Committee.  One of the planning themes this year is to "streamline" the organization.
(See action item # 9)

11.  Committee Membership
Ed noted that the large number of individuals desiring to serve on the committee was heartening but also required that each member contibute. In addition to fulfilling liaison roles, he suggested one group of members concern itself with strategic planning and another with program planning.  Beverly and Judith volunteered to head the program area and Ed agreed to head strategic planning.
 

IRC Action Items 2000-2001

Communication
(1)Ed will contact Linda Zieper about IRC Update article obligations and prospects.
(2)Marilyn and Daphne will work with Renata to ensure that the IRC Website has links to affiliate and prospective-affiliate organizations.  See also #8, below.
(3)Ed will set up a listserv to enhance IRC communications.  The list will include the Board liaison and Hugh Wilburn.
(4)Ed will follow up with the new management firm to see that he gets affiliate organization publications.

Budget
(5)Ed will prepare the IRC budget proposal, due May 31, 2000, to date consisting solely of the ARLIS/NA dues for IFLA.  Conference program plans may alter the final proposal.

Program Planning
(6)  Judith Herschman and Beverly Karno are leading the working group to propose a program for the 2001 LA conference.  The proposal is due to conference co-chairs May 1, 2000.  Therefore,
the group should communicate prospective program ideas to the committee by April 15 at the latest to get feedback.
Post-meeting update:  Betty Jo Irvine volunteered to speak about her 3-month visit to art libraries in mainland China and to assist in bringing a librarian from that country to speak.

Strategic Planning
(7)  #107 (Continued).  Carol will serve as the IRC's IFLA Pre-Conference liaison.
(8)  #108 (Continued).  Marilyn and Daphne will monitor affiliate publications and websites and report important findings to the committee.   Lorna will explore prospective Italian
affiliations.Prospects for selectively reporting affiliate news in Update will be explored.
(9)  (New) #?:  Review the IRC charge and recommend revision.
A review of the currently wordy charge will serve as a focus for dealing with topics discussed in Pittsburgh,  such as:

• a greater advocacy role for  the IRC in fostering the development of 'arlis' organizations worldwide.
• the role of the IRC (vis-a-vis other groups, such as North American Relations Committee) in ARLIS/NA's overall external relations activities.
• the role of the IRC in advising ARLIS/NA on emerging international issues affecting arts librarianship.

 
Respectfully submitted:
Ed Teague