July 16, 2003
Hello again ARLIS and New Art afficiendos,
Soon after the 2003 conference, I became moderator of the NEW ART
ROUNDTABLE. There wasn't a NAR business meeting at the conference, so
I'm wondering if interested persons might conduct one via email...
I've been trying to assess how best to strengthen the group's mission
and impact within ARLIS. My recent survey shows the following:
100 people indicated interest in NAR on their membership form.
Many are academic, art/design school, museum, or visual resource
librarians.
So we seem to have an overlap with several other DSRTs, especially:
Academic Library Division
Art and Design School Division
Museum Library Division
Visual Resources Division
Reference and Information Services Section
Inevitably, at conference time this means competition for meeting
attendence (the NAR meeting coincided with both the Visual Resources and
the Academic Library Division meetings in Baltimore), with Divisions and
Sections quite possibly taking precedence.
But NAR is apparently important to keeping ARLIS relevant to these
librarians, and to keeping New Art issues circulating at the conference
programs, as evidenced by a steady supply of sessions either sponsored
by or relevant to NAR.
I'm particularly interested in New Art as a subject area (on par with,
say, decorative or indigenous arts) that is critical for the work of an
art school librarian. There are new curriculum areas at my institution
that didn't exist during my studies of studio art and art history even
10 years ago--especially digital arts, but also book arts and public
art. Fewer and fewer students are working in traditional media of
painting or sculpture, while more and more work with multimedia and
installation, with a strong conceptual basis.
I'm beginning to develop a website for NAR, where we can compile links
to resources that assist in keeping track and making sense of the
emerging arts in all their splendor. As one example, I've been creating
a web-accessible index to essays and theoretical texts (where to find
them in books within the library) which are increasingly important,
especially to graduate students in studio programs.
Input is requested--since we rarely meet in person, we can strengthen
our virtual dialogue... very much in keeping with the modus operandi of
the digital arts community!
And please send reports of your New Art related activities to me for the
UPDATE by August 6!
with thanks,
Kathy Cowan
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Katherine Cowan
Reference Librarian, Decker Library
Maryland Institute College of Art
1300 Mount Royal Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217
tel: 410/225-2273
fax: 410/225-2316
email: [log in to unmask]
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