August 3, 2002
Report to the Membership and Headquarters Report

Elizabeth Clarke, Executive Director, ARLIS/NA
[log in to unmask]
Telephone:  (613) 599-3074
Fax:             (613) 599-7027

Clarke Association Services Inc. assumed responsibility for the
administrative management of the Art Libraries Society of North America
(ARLIS/NA) on May 1, 2000. We will fulfill our three year contract with the
society on April 30, 2003. Much has happened since the early days of our
association with ARLIS/NA and we have learned a lot about the profession,
the society operations and how we can support and enhance services to
members on an ongoing basis.  Best of all, we have made some friends.
Without a doubt, although many associations and societies voice the words,
ARLIS/NA holds a group of wonderful people who truly care for each other.
We have been made very much a part of this circle of friends and all of the
headquarters staff and ARLIS/NA associate suppliers are motivated to do
everything we can to help ARLIS/NA continue to grow and prosper.

As Executive Director, I would most of all like now to develop some new
ideas for products and services to members that will help enhance and grow
membership.  In St. Louis I introduced the subject of benchmarking outside
the Art Libraries profession to find suitable successful models for
offerings to our members that have worked for others.  Over the past few
months I have read many testimonials of success in association magazines,
websites and newsletters.  I met with colleagues with the plan in mind that
they might help me formulate some new ideas so I could introduce some
thought provoking discussion within the Executive Board.

At the same time, I have been listening to members and their concerns about
ARLIS/NA and its future.  With the downturn in the economy in North America
and indeed worldwide, our members have not escaped the spin-off from these
events and many of our members are finding it very difficult to justify
dollars for memberships and attendance at events and conferences.

It is definitely time for the introduction of something new.  It is time to
think about innovative ways in which we can motivate and educate our
members in their chosen field.  ARLIS/NA should be the catalyst for these
new products and services.  Based on the  results of the St. Louis
Conference and the excellent feedback on the high quality program presented
there, we are well on our way.

Membership and Database

Last year at this time, we were involved with the all encompassing task of
building a reliable and accurate database that reflected the information
required for reporting on a monthly basis.  As we all know, it was a
challenge and to be honest, we were not sure if we would ever be able to
satisfy the needs of each and every committee and board member as everyone
seemed to have their own vision of what the final result should produce.

We also faced the challenge of explaining that, as an association
management firm, we are not in the business of detailing how we do our
work, but we are in the business of giving the results desired.  There are
many ways to achieve the same aim and our goal as a management firm is to
keep it as simple and inexpensive as possible.  We use our technology as a
tool - the technology is not a toy that we experiment with to see just how
creative and fancy we can get with it.  So, with that message in mind,
Vicky Roper proceeded to gather the information she needed to produce
products such as monthly reports to committee chairs, the annual handbook
of members and internal reports required to do the job within budget.  She
has done an excellent job and given the positive feedback from members on
the production of the members handbook we hope that everyone was pleased
with this year's version.  However, we welcome your comments and if you
feel the handbook needs some help - please let us know what your views are
so we can incorporate them into the next issue.

Publications


Vicky Roper worked with the Linda Zieper and her committee over the past
year.  Much discussion has taken place among committee members and the
Executive Board as to the options available in on-line presentations of our
newsletter.   Update appears on the ARLIS/NA website.
We continue to work with Ion Communications, the Art Documentation
committee and advertisers to produce the best journal possible with each
and every issue.

Finances

Our new Treasurer and Bonnie James, ARLIS/NA's financial manager have
worked very hard over the past few months to finalize conference finances
and to prepare for the upcoming year.  Budgets for the Baltimore Conference
and our upcoming year will be discussed at this mid-year meeting.
ARLIS/NA's financial position is stable and we are tracking to budget for
2002.

Conference

Susan Rawlyk, ARLIS/NA's conference planner and Elizabeth Clarke attended
the Baltimore CPAC meeting in early June.  The Wyndham Baltimore Inner
Harbour is a wonderful venue to hold ARLIS/NA's annual conference and the
Baltimore committee has already proven that they will provide some very
high quality programming.  Work is being done on the Preliminary Program
and information can be found on the website.  You will see the paper
version of the Preliminary Program in the late fall.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Vicky Roper (from sweltering, humid Ontario) and I (from the snowy West -
we literally had snow here yesterday and I got out my winter coat, gloves
and hat) will be in New York to meet with the Executive Board next week.
As all meetings do - I am sure this mid-year Executive Board meeting in New
York will prove to motivate us all and produce much work to do as September
rolls around.  There will be detailed discussions on fundraising,
advertising, finances, conference, new products and services and much more.
 Be sure to be in Baltimore so you can get the details on our future at our
Annual Members Meeting.

Please don't hesitate to call me at any time if you would like to discuss
issues of concern or to share new ideas.

Regards,





Elizabeth A. Clarke
Executive Director
Art Libraries Society of North America
329 March Road    Suite 232
Box 11
Kanata   ON    K2K 2E1

Telephone       (Ottawa):  613 599-3074
                (Calgary): 403 208-4200
Fax:            (403) 208-4202
email:  [log in to unmask]

__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
        http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
        to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
       http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]