Annual Report (2003)
ARLIS/Texas-Mexico


Chapter Officers

President: Jon Evans, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Vice-President:  Mary Leonard, Dallas Museum of Art
Past-President: Laura Schwartz, University of Texas at Austin
Treasurer: Beverly Carver, University of Texas at Arlington
Secretary: Elizabeth Schaub, University of Texas at Austin
Webmaster:  Sam Duncan, Amon Carter Museum
ARLIS/NA South Regional Representative: Laura Schwartz, University of Texas at Austin

List of Chapter Meetings

The chapter met for an informal gathering during the ARLIS/NA conference in Baltimore on March 21, 2003.

The chapter hosted its first joint conference in its thirty-year history, which was held in conjunction with the Southeast Chapter in New Orleans, LA from November 13-16, 2003.  Margaret Culbertson, Mary Leonard, Janine Henri, and Jon Evans served on the planning committee from the Texas-Mexico chapter.  Features included tours of Tulane University's rich archives, the Historic New Orleans Collection, an Egyptian exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art, a walking tour of the Garden District, an exploration of the inner workings of the O’Neal Auction House, as well as post-conference tours of St. Louis Cemetery #1 and the newly christened Ogden Museum of Southern Art.  A session devoted to collection assessment rounded out the event.  New Orleans natives Carl Penny and Norbert Raacke hosted the entire group for traditional New Orleans fare one night.

A complete itinerary can be found in the Summer 2003 issue of The Medium (http://www.arlis-txmx.org/medium/issues/2003_v29_no2.shtml).  Summary reports and meeting minutes can be found in the Fall 2003 issue (http://www.arlis-txmx.org/medium/issues/2003_v29_no3/2003_v29_no3.shtml).

 

Activities of the Chapter

The Chapter submitted a bid to host the 2005 ARLIS/NA Annual Conference in Houston, Texas.  The ARLIS/NA Executive board accepted this proposal.  The chapter is anxious to put together a strong program and promote the cultural diversity of Houston to the society

During 2003, we continued our outreach efforts toward our Mexican counterparts.  The chapter requested funding from ARLIS/NA to develop Spanish-language sections of our chapter’s website, which was granted with some reservation.  We intend to translate the homepage as well as the membership form. 

The chapter website continues to be the best designed and most comprehensive of any in the society thanks in large part to the work of chapter webmaster, Sam Duncan.

Our proposal to the ARLIS/NA Executive Board encouraging the formation of a task force devoted to Mexico relations was not accepted.  The Board applauded our efforts and encouraged us to continue our work in whatever capacity we can, indicating that they may be able to support future initiatives through various means.   We still feel that this is an important issue worth pursuing.  As such, we will continue these efforts in a positive direction through a variety of approaches, including translation of portions of our chapter website, attendance by chapter members at conferences such as FORO: The Transborder Library Forum, establishing connections with Mexican librarians along the border, and forging alliances with groups such as the Mexican Library Association's AMBAC or the Texas Library Association's Texas-Mexico Relations Committee.

During the year several members reached out to members of Texas’ Library Science programs.  Specifically, Allen Townsend and Sam Duncan promoted the benefits of ARLIS to SLIS students at the University of North Texas in Denton.  Jon Evans presented the benefits of ARLIS membership to SLIS students at a University of North Texas, Houston program, at a function in which professional organizations were featured.

Two chapter reports were submitted for inclusion in ARLIS Update, thanks to the efforts of Secretary, Elizabeth Schaub.

During the chapter business meeting, the membership voted to support a $750 funding grant for the Lois Swan Jones Professional Development Award.  The award is intended to help defray costs for a member to attend and participate in the 2004 ARLIS/NA Annual Conference. This year’s recipient is Elizabeth Schaub, Director, Audio Visual Resources Collection, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin.  The LSJ Award committee consisted of John Hagood, Reader Services Librarian, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Mark Pompelia, Director of Visual Resources, Rice University, and Merriann Bidgood, Curator, Visual Resources Library, University of Houston.

 

Membership Statistics

34 members

 

Treasurer’s Report

January 1, 2003-December 31, 2003

Beginning balance                                                                                          $1,853.17

Income

Membership dues                                                                                                  345.00

Lois Swan Jones Travel Award                                                                  467.00

Interest on bank account                                                                                            1.91

T-shirt sales (3)                                                                                                       45.00

Postage for T-shirts                                                                                                   3.85

ARLIS/NA funding for regional meeting                                                                 500.00

Conference registration fees                                                                                 1,221.00

Total income                                                                                                     $2,583.76

Sub-total                                                                                                          $4,436.93

 

Expenses

Lois Swan Jones Travel Award                                                                 850.00

Hostway                                                                                                               167.40

Network Solutions                                                                                                  75.00

Domain Registry                                                                                                     40.00

Flowers                                                                                                                  51.48

Bank fees                                                                                                               76.00

Postage                                                                                                                    6.78

Conference expenses                                                                                      1,715.76

2004 ARLIS/NA Welcome Party contribution                                                     250.00  

TOTAL                                                                                                            $3,232.42

Ending balance                                                                                               $1,204.51

Additional Comments

Three issues of the Chapter newsletter, The Medium, were published during the year and are available to the ARLIS community via the Chapter website.  The spring and fall issues featured conference reports from the ARLIS/NA and Chapter conference, respectively.

http://www.arlis-txmx.org/medium/issues/2003_v29_no1/2003_v29_no1.shtml

http://www.arlis-txmx.org/medium/issues/2003_v29_no2.shtml

http://www.arlis-txmx.org/medium/issues/2003_v29_no3/2003_v29_no3.shtml

Column Editors for The Medium were: 

Academic Libraries:                  Brandon Pope
Architecture Libraries:  Janine Henri
Museum Libraries:                    Mary Leonard
Public Libraries:                        Gwen Dixie
Visual Resources:                     Jacqui Allen

The Chapter voted to support the welcome party at the 2004 Annual Conference in New York with a donation of $250. 

Respectfully submitted by Jon Evans
Past-President, ARLIS/Texas-Mexico
January 2004