Dear ARLIS/NA members,

At roughly the midpoint between two annual conferences, Executive Board
members gather to conduct a two-day midyear Board meeting.  Apart from
meetings that bookend the annual conference, this is the only time during
the Society year when the whole Board sits around the same table.  This
year, that table was in the boardroom of the Art Gallery of Ontario, my
home institution in Toronto, Canada, where we gathered for a two-day
marathon on September 22 and 23 with a four-page agenda to occupy us.  The
Executive Board is a remarkably dedicated and hard-working team of
volunteers, as they must be in order to lead an organization that is
active, complex, sophisticated and truly in a class by itself.

But first, a quick review of the last six months of Board activity.  More
than any other Board, this group has had to work closely with legal,
financial and tax experts to ensure the establishment of a sound,
business-like foundation for the Society's operations after the
uncertainties of two headquarters transitions in as many years.  Its
foremost challenge has been the invisible (to most members) but crucial
work of tackling side issues and after-effects created by these
transitions.  This has meant constant involvement by individual Board
members and other Society leaders in the migration of databases and AWS to
a new environment; with adapting financial systems to the practices and
controls of a new financial manager; transferring publications to the care
of a new designer and printer; coaching new staff when ARLIS/NA's
occasionally byzantine bureaucracy proved incomprehensible; and helping
staff to set priorities in clearing member services that had become
backlogged.  This transition has also been the catalyst for reviewing the
cost-benefits of  Society programs and products.  The most visible result
is the (ongoing) re-design of the web site and a better articulation of its
role in Society communication, with paid job advertisements and Update
appearing regularly, and other member services in the planning stages.
There are inevitable bumps on the road with any new relationship, and this
Board is working hard to build a solid partnership with staff so that our
successors next April will inherit a fully functional Headquarters
environment.  This is the invisible work of leadership that ensures a
vibrant Society now and in the future.

With many difficult problems either solved or having a strategy in place,
Board members arrived in Toronto 'ready to rumble.'  For a full-colour
photo of your elected representatives in action, see
http://www.arlisna.org/board.html (note gavel, calculator and heaps of
paper).  There was spirited debate, even disagreement, but in the end every
motion passed unanimously and Board members returned home with lengthy
lists of action items.  Of special interest to members is the  decision,
long overdue, to confer an honorary Life Membership on charter members of
ARLIS/NA, who now join winners of the Distinguished Service Award in this
elite category.  Members will receive a mailing soon asking them to vote on
changing the applicable bylaw.  In a decision that should encourage more
members to run for office and bring ARLIS/NA closer to practice in other
large professional associations (which cover 100% of Board member
expenses), support for Board travel will be increased effective 2001.  As
well, in alternate years the incoming Treasurer will be funded to travel to
Headquarters to meet with financial management staff.  As the Society's
affairs grow more sophisticated, it has become clear that the Treasurer
holds a key position requiring an in-depth introduction to Society finances.

Future conference sites were presented and include attractive and exciting
cities we have never visited before.  In 2002, of course, we're looking
forward to the first-ever joint conference with the Visual Resources
Association, to be held in St. Louis; the 30th annual conference CPAC,
co-chaired by Ted Goodman and Ann Whiteside, is already in place and hard
at work.  Baltimore is the site for the 31st annual conference in 2003 and
preliminary work there  is well underway, with co-chairs appointed and a
conference hotel selected.  Discussion of further future conference sites
focussed on Brooklyn (a desirable alternative to New York City), and … Las
Vegas!

Other highlights of the Midyear meeting include the following.  Overall the
Society's finances were reported to be stable:  the current year's budget
was fine-tuned to accommodate the unexpected costs of changing
headquarters; a full audit of ARLIS/NA's books for 2000 was authorized; the
results of Society investments were scrutinized.  Elizabeth Clarke gave her
first report after 4 ½ months as ARLIS/NA's Executive Director; membership
numbers are holding firm; backlogged member services are largely
up-to-date.  In conjunction with the new direction to be taken by the
ARLIS/NA web site, the Board has created the new position of Web Site
Editor, a special appointment similar to the existing Art Documentation and
Update editorial positions.   The Board accepted with regret the
resignations, effective end 2001, of Art Documentation content co-editors,
Stephanie Sigala and Betsy Peck Learned.  In the area of Society
publications, out-of-print and reprint policies were approved, ensuring
more cost-effective management of publications stock and the publications
program in general.  Because of corporate mergers, we have lost the G.K.
Hall Travel Award; the Travel Award Committee sees particular need for a
'domestic' travel award, and will be working with the Development to
establish one.  A revitalized Development Committee has focussed on new
opportunities for member giving to the Society, with the most immediate
result showing up on the revised membership renewal form - opportunities
for small donations have been added to the existing, high-end Supporting
Member category. 

Karen


President
ARLIS/NA
T.  416-979-6660 Ext. 389
F.  416-979-6602
E.  [log in to unmask]
I.  www.arlisna.org

Mailing address:
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas St. West
Toronto, ON
Canada   M5T 1G4

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