Annual Report  (2001)
Visual Resources Advisory Committee, ARLIS NA

Chair: Gregory P. J. Most, National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC 20565
g-most@nga.gov

Board Liaison:  ARLIS/NA Secretary, Norine Duncan, Brown University

VRAC Members

Leigh Gates, Art Institute of Chicago *
Maryly Snow, University of California-Berkeley *
Marty Stein, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston *
Mary S. Wassermann, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Ann Whiteside, Harvard Design School
Sheryl L. Wilhite, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

* second year

The Visual Resources Advisory Committee (VRAC) through its chair, continued to serve as an advisor with the moderator and vice-moderator of the Visual Resources Division (VRD) on the redesign of the VRD web page and its subsequent move to Bethany College (http://www.bethanywv.edu/vrd/). Bethany College has generously offered to host the site since Daniel Nolting, web site custodian, has recently taken a position in their library. The VRAC is featured on the VRD site.

The VRAC has also assisted in developing session proposals for the joint ARLIS/NA-VRA conference in St. Louis in 2002 with the VRD.

Mary Wassermann, Philadelphia Museum of Art, will be the new chair of VRAC. Outgoing committee members completeing their two-year terms  are Maryly Snow, Leigh Gates, Marty Stein, and Gregg Most.  Ms. Wassermann will supply a new list of committee members to the EB this spring.

A joint ARLIS/NA and Visual Resources Association task force for continuing education was approved at the mid-year EB meeting. Mary Wassermann, incoming Chair of VRAC, will serve as its co-chair with John Taormina, who will represent the VRA. Ms. Wassermann and Mr. Taormina will supply a list of Task Force members to the EB this spring.  Below, please find a draft charge for the Task Force, that was written with the input of VRAC. 

ARLIS/NA-VRA Joint Task Force on Continuing Education

Charge:

To develop an infrastructure and curriculum for a weeklong summer institute of continuing education in image collection/visual resources management; to negotiate instructors and teaching materials for the institute; and to arrange its first venue and program schedule at Rice University (Houston, Texas) for early summer 2003.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

- visual resources fundamentals
- classification and cataloging systems and procedures
- general collection development and management
- budgetary procedures
- staffing and personnel issues
- facilities planning
- storage and preservation issues
- electronic file development and management
- analog and digital image parallel management
- new technologies
- leadership/management skills
- project management
- metadata and data standards
- implementation of VRA Core Categories for Visual Resources
- copyright and intellectual property rights
- grants writing

Short-term Goals:

- development of a standard program that is repeatable and sustainable
- certification of attendance and completion by ARLIS/NA and VRA

Long-Term Goals:

- vary geographic offering of summer institute
- development and publication of an image collection management text
- certification of program by peer organizations
- ongoing program funding from outside sources