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From the Presidentposted: 17 April 2006Summary of the Society's YearIn looking over my term as president of ARLIS/NA, I am struck both by how short and how long a thirteen-month year can be. Many of the initiatives begun by my predecessor, Jeanne Brown, continued or were completed during the past year. I believe that I have set the stage for incoming president, Ann Whiteside, as she begins a thorough, grassroots assessment of the fundamental structure of ARLIS/NA.As was the case in my last column, the most frequently used words in this communication are: "thank you." In particular, I thank my predecessors, Jeanne Brown and Allen Townsend, who were most generous and gracious with their support and help throughout the year. Many, many members worked hard to make our activities this year possible. It was an honor to work with all of my ARLIS/NA colleagues who used their talents, energies, and intelligence on behalf of the Society. The redesign and new implementation of the ARLIS/NA Web site (AWS) that was undertaken last year is even more successful in its first year of implementation than we had hoped for. This is a truly elegant public face for ARLIS/NA providing an exciting and dynamic view into all the aspects of our multi-faceted profession and organization. This initiative succeeds in consolidating our publications efforts by providing a logical focus for all aspects of our activity in this area. The Society owes chair Jack Robertson and the entire Publications Committee a big "thank you" for their continuing efforts on this critically important, evolving project.
The third Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management (SEI) will move from Duke University to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and will be held from June 11?16, 2006. This highly successful educational initiative which is jointly sponsored with the Visual Resources Association (VRA), "is intended to provide a standardized and sustainable program for visual resources training, with a focus on issues related to the transition from analog to digital collections" (per the SEI Web site). ARLIS/NA will supervise the SEI treasury during 2006 and 2007. The Society's thanks go to co-chairs Trudy Jacoby and Karin Whalen for continuing to make this endeavor so successful. The executive boards of ARLIS/NA and VRA recently announced a joint Summer Educational Institute (SEI) Long-Term Planning Task Force charging it with establishing a five-year strategic plan to develop the pedagogical goals for the SEI and exploring the long-term management, direction, and structure of the SEI. The task force, co-chaired by Amy Lucker and Eileen Fry, will make recommendations to both boards about how the SEI should evolve and grow to perhaps include opportunities for refresher courses for experienced visual resources professionals and the ability to grant continuing education credits. The annual conference continues to be ARLIS/NA's major venue for learning, networking, and member interaction. The Banff conference planning team led by local conference planning chair, Marilyn Nasserden, has prepared an outstanding, informative program for our 34th annual conference which will take place in Banff, Alberta, from May 5-9. Included in the program is a pre-conference workshop which focuses on how Canadian copyright law applies to digital images, photographs, and works of art. In addition to the expected sessions and workshops, the Program Committee, co-chaired by Marilyn Nasserden and Jill Patrick, incorporated a number of "free" workshops into the program including the "ARLIS/NA Mentoring Initiative: a Workshop for Mentors and Mentees"; "Collection Development, Acquisitions, and Vendor Relations"; and "Postcards from the Edge: Reference and Instruction for Film Studies." They also organized a session titled "New Voices in the Profession: Student Papers on Art and Visual Resources Librarianship," featuring award-winning papers from some of our newest colleagues. Local arrangements co-chairs James Rout, Kathy Zimon, and Christine Sammon have organized numerous events and functions including a silent auction, a tasting of fine Canadian wines, and a film night for viewing a selection of National Film Board of Canada films related to the arts. Conference Web site coordinator James Rout has kept us informed throughout the entire planning process; he included blogs in the exhibitors' and conference planning areas to stimulate communication. ARLIS/NA recently agreed to partner with the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, and the Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) consortium on an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) proposal titled "WISE+: Leveraging the Power of the Network to Increase the Diversity of Library and Information Science Curriculum." If this proposal is funded, we will help develop course proposals; provide the names and contact information for possible faculty to teach these courses; and assist in marketing through our membership listserv, on our website, and elsewhere as appropriate. We also, through the efforts of the Standards Committee, endorsed a second IMLS project, "Visual Resources Management: Determining Professional Competencies and Guidelines for Graduate Education," that was awarded to Hemalata Iyer and Jeanne Keefe. The Professional Development Committee, chaired by Heidi Hass, has developed a year-long mentoring program for the Society that will be inaugurated at the Banff conference at a workshop titled "ARLIS/NA Mentoring Initiative: a Workshop for Mentors and Mentees." Thank you, Heidi Hass and Tony White, for making this a reality; and a big thank you to the first participants of this initiative. The Public Policy Committee co-chaired by Tim Shipe and Cara List coordinated a request to the executive board for ARLIS/NA to support a statement by Maria Pallante-Hyun of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation about the issue of "orphan works." We will also endorse a letter circulated by the Section 108 Study Group supporting modifications to Section 108 of the US Copyright Act that addresses fundamental questions about reproduction of and access to copyrighted materials (including images) in digital formats. It is critically important that ARLIS/NA has a voice in this political arena. Thank you so much for allowing me to serve as your president and for all of your support during this year. ARLIS/NA is truly fortunate to have such an intelligent, energetic, professional, and collegial membership; so many of you volunteer time and again for the benefit of our society and profession. Together we are able to accomplish so much. I look forward to serving you and ARLIS/NA for another year on the executive board as past president. Margaret N. Webster, ARLIS/NA President 4/17/2006 Top of Page |