Annual Report (2001)
President, ARLIS/NA

March 3, 2002

Submitted by Ted Goodman
goodman@columbia.edu
tel: 212-854-8407
fax: 212-854-8904

INTRODUCTION:

The year began with a promise to fellow-board members that it would be a quieter year for board members and that micro-management by the Board would be curtailed.  The workload was reduced and the feeling that we needed to be available 24/7 was eliminated. I feel we achieved the goal of allowing the Headquarters staff to do their job without constant interference.  I believe that the current board appreciates this new direction.

Dominated by the reality of coordinating the first-ever joint conference with VRA, much of my year was spent communicating with members of the Conference Planning Committee that was composed of both ARLIS/NA and VRA members.

The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 affected us all and fear of travel and terrorism heightened our fears concerning the viability of the St. Louis joint conference. Messages of support immediately following the terrorist attacks for the ARLIS members working in the areas came from our worldwide community of art librarians and visual resource curators.   Email was our means of communicating the news that we were fine and didn’t lose any colleagues. 

The recession, which came about as a result of the terrorism, affected the financial health of many museums and some members have informed us that they will not be attending the upcoming St. Louis conference due to budget cutbacks at their institutions.

Fortunately for the Society, we divested all our individual stock in late Spring/early Summer, and did not suffer great losses. Financial aspects of the Society have been fully reviewed by Treasurer Trudy Jacoby in her annual report.

Some of the priorities established for the Society in the ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan 200-2005 have been accomplished while others have been temporarily put aside awaiting a better financial climate.

These and other relevant achievements will be highlighted in this report.

Attended Annual Conference in Los Angeles, March 29-April 4., 2001.

Attended Pre-conference Board meeting March 29-30 and coordinated Post-conference Board meeting April 4, 2001.

Coordinated the Online Blackboard Executive Board meeting, June 1, 2001.

Coordinated the Conference Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC), St. Louis in June 2002.

Attended the IFLA Pre-conference meeting in Boston. Met with members of the ARLIS/NA and VRA Board to finalize financial agreements for the joint conference, St. Louis.

Coordinated the Mid-year Executive Board meeting held at Avery Library, Columbia University, New York City, August 11-13, 2001.

Coordinated the Online Blackboard Executive Board meeting, February 8, 2001.

Coordinating the upcoming Annual Preconference meeting, St. Louis, March 20, 2002.

STRATEGIC PLAN:

Executive Bd. Action item 1. The Treasurer, Trudy Jacoby, working with Bonnie James at Headquarters, has developed procedures for reviewing the budget throughout the year and revising as goals are achieved.

Action item 2. The organizational structure is being reviewed continually. Incoming President Daniel Starr has made this a priority for his term. We are examining the total structure including modification of the DSRT model. During the past year of my presidency the Executive Board eliminated the Technology Committee and the Michigan Chapter. We also are in the process of redefining the Finance Committee and the operations of the Nominating Committee.

Action item 3: The first-ever-joint conference with VRA in St. Louis will strengthen both societies and highlight our similarities as well as our differences. Joint committee meetings where feasible as well as joint sessions, workshops and social events will bring together the memberships and promote awareness of our strengths.

Action item 4: If any action item has lagged behind in my presidency it is this one. Revitalization of outreach and public relations became a much-discussed issue on ARLIS-L during a prolonged discussion on the image of the librarian.  There was an article about ARLIS/NA and VRA and the joint conference that appeared in CAA news. We succeeded in having the conference listed on a number of affiliate-society websites.  More work in outreach needs to be undertaken.

Action item 5: Create guidelines for future strategic plans has not been acted upon.

ADVERTISING:

A vote was approved at the Midyear Board meeting to terminate the services of Kate Shanley following the terms of the contract dated March 2, 1998. I wrote her on Aug. 14, 2001 giving her 60 days notice of termination.  Shanley sent files in Oct. 2001 following final payment for ads solicited by her for the Fall Art Documentation.

Advertising has been taken over by Elizabeth Clarke and Associates who have received approval from the Board to on a “Package of services” to include print advertising, website acknowledgements, incentive discounts and fundraising activities associated with the conference.

CONFERENCE:

The first joint conference will take place in St. Louis March 20-16, 2002.  A conference-planning meeting with VRA took place in  June with an additional meeting on finances held at IFLA in August.

I was in constant communication on a daily basis concerning everything from program schedules to fundraising to the Convocation ceremony. Coordination of the four Conference Co-chairs as well as the Publications editor and Susan Rawlyk from Headquarters has demanded patience, tact, prodding, and respect for differing work habits.

At this time we have raised over $30,000 and can look forward to a successful conference. Profits will be split on a formula worked out that includes a minimum amount of expected profit for each society and a subsequent splitting of additional monies.

We have exceeded our room block, which means we will receive free meeting space, and the number of exhibitors is at the expected level.

Online registration began in January 2002 and was very successful- we have over 500 registrants.

Details of the conference will appear in the final Conference Report sometime in late Spring 2002.

HEADQUARTERS:

The relationship with Elizabeth Clarke and Associates has settled into one of respect and mutual reliance. Financial systems have been regularized and administrative details have been refined.  I have tried to ensure that we make use of Elizabeth Clarke’s association management and business expertise to build the sound foundation ARLIS/NA needs for continued growth and development.

We asked Clarke to come up with an overall design identity for AELIS/NA to incorporate into our publications, award, website, etc. She will present it at the annual conference in St. Louis.

We also asked her to investigate an “incentive package” for development and fundraising incorporating advertising and other corporate membership benefits. She will present those ideas in St. Louis.

The annual report from Clarke will detail the myriad activities in which they play an important role- publications, finances, conference planning and management, advertising, website oversight, committee activities, and the day-to-day administrative functions of ARLIS/NA.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE:

The Nominating Committee informed the Executive Board at the Midyear Board meeting that it could not fulfill its charge of finding two candidates for each office.  Sherman Clarke, Chair, Daniel Starr and I formulated a means of election based on Robert’s Rules of Order in which “the best candidate is chosen” by the Nominating Committee and acclaimed as the winning candidate if no nominations are received from the floor. I informed the membership of this procedure and the incoming Executive Board members will be Allen Townsend, Vice-President/President-elect, Phil Heagy, Treasurer, Irene Puchalski, Canadian Representative and Kay Teel, West Representative.

I directed Daniel Starr to form an Ad-Hoc Presidential Committee on ARLIS/NA Election Procedures and the report with final recommendations will be given at the annual Board meeting in St. Louis.

PUBLICATIONS:

Two new editors of Art Documentation were approved by the Executive Board- they are Tom Jacoby, Univ. of Conn. (retired) and Kathy Zimon, Univ. of Calgary (retired).  Their duties began with the Spring 2002 issue of Art Documentation. We thank them for their willingness to take on this tremendous job.

Linda Zieper continued doing a wonderful job as UPDATE editor. I submitted five “From the President” columns to her for publication.

An eight-page Supplement to the Members Handbook was produced by Vicky Roper at Headquarters and edited by me. It was issued in June 2001 and contained  new and modified members’ names and addresses as well as listings of Board members, committee chairs and chapter chairs.

The Conference Proceedings editor quit in November 2001 due to work commitments and after a couple attempts to find another person, I decided it was easier to edit the reports myself. They went onto the ARLIS/NA website in Jan. 2002.

WEBSITE:

Jonathan Franklin, Website Editor, has done a wonderful job in receiving reports, editing and  translating into HTML and transmitting them to Derek Crosley, the webmaster.   Many of the recommendations of the AWS Advisory Board have not been implemented due to financial constraints which has been frustrating to many people. Those areas of the website that have been updated with timely information such as the Travel Awards page, have been done in a timely manner.

While some pages languish with old information such as the member’s email address page, other pages are up-to-date such as the report page.

The AWS revenue stream is part of the overall incentive package being examined by Clarke.

We hope to update additional sections of the AWS over the next year including portions of the Policy Manual and establish priorities for updating Society documents.

CONCLUSION:

It has been a pleasure to serve as President of the Society.  I could not have done it without the help of Trudy Jacoby, Treasurer, with whom I consulted daily. Her detailed budgets, cautious approach to finances and common sense made my year much easier. 

I am also indebted to our Executive Director, Elizabeth Clarke, and her staff, Vicky Roper, Bonnie James and Susan Rawlyk, for their wisdom, responsiveness and perseverance. Managing a society as complex and diverse as ARLIS/NA is no easy task and I appreciate their good humor and unrelenting hard work.

I also want to thank outgoing Past-President Karen McKenzie, whose business-like approach to the management needs of the Society resulted in the selection of our current management firm- for that I am very grateful.

In addition, Leslie Abrams, West Representative and Carole Goldsmith, Canadian Representative, have served the society well during the past two tumultuous years and have been especially helpful with their thoughtful comments.

I leave my year as President with some regret for those goals we were unable to achieve, but with hope that our incoming President Daniel Starr will continue to lead us forward as we expand the membership, create new revenue streams, redefine the leadership and revise the structure of the Society.