Annual Report (2001)
Diversity Committee  ARLIS NA

Submitted by: Marilyn Russell-Bogle, Co-Chair
Fine Arts/Humanities Librarian and Assistant Professor
University of Minnesota Duluth
mrussell@d.umn.edu     Phone: 218-726-7880

Co-Chairs for the Diversity Committee are Marilyn Russell-Bogle, Fine Arts/Humanities Librarian and Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth and Eric Schwab, Assistant Curator of the Knight Visual Resources Facility at Cornell University. 

Current Members:  Heather Ball, Rachel Crane, Pedro Figueredo, Krista Ivy, Vanessa Kam, Lauren Lessing, Jeffrey Stephens, and Lucie Stylianopoulous.

Business Meeting March 31, 2001:

The Diversity Website was a topic of discussion.  Eric thanked the members for their valuable input for the website.  He will send the web pages to Roberto Ferrari.  There was discussion on where archival material on the website should be kept.  A call was made again for anyone to add bibliographies and other diversity resources to the website. 

Other issues brought forward for discussion were: ADA compliance, space planning, professional jobs available for entering librarians, minority concerns, chapters and committee heads to include diversity issues in their programming. 

Upcoming program sessions for the St. Louis conference were addressed.  It was decided that the Diversity Committee would sponsor a session on user issue, real space vs. virtual space for web pages, and universal usability.  Lauren Lessing and Lucie Stylianopoulos will work together on the session proposal. 

There was a discussion of changes for the Strategic Plan.  The only change was to amend any statements to state “disability” instead of physical disability.

Co-Sponsorship 2001:

The Diversity Committee along with the Museum Library Division, Indigenous Art and Culture Round Table, and the Women and Art Round Table co-sponsored the session: Contemporary Native American Art:  Challenges for Artists, Curators, Scholars, Librarians, and Educators at the LA conference on April 3, 2001.  Co-Moderators were Dr. Marilyn Russell-Bogle, Fine Arts/Humanities Librarian and Diversity Co-Chair, University of Minnesota Duluth; Joan M. Benedetti, Cataloger, L.A. County Museum of Art Research Library.  Approximately 75 attended.

Activities 2001/2002:

The Diversity Committee, under the direction of Eric Schwab and the ARLIS/NA webmaster, redesigned and updated the Diversity web page for the ARLIS/NA website.  The website includes the Diversity charge, current members list, annual report, sponsored programs, bibliography and web resources, and archives.  The website adds up-to-date useful information and links related to diversity such as general directories and selected cultures and groups. 

Submitted by Marilyn Russell-Bogle, Co-Chair for the Diversity Committee
January 30, 2002