Let me weigh in briefly by agreeing with Susan Clarke's and Sara
MacDonald's wonderful apologia for WomART, a group near and dear to
my heart, and by adding this:
Emotional issues aside, the problem of meeting attendance is one that
will not go away. The problem is often one of conference scheduling
rather than lack of interest.
Case in point: Amy Ciccone and I presented an interesting and
different area of Art research complete with knowledgable and
important speakers. Our session was pitted against the last (and
critical) half-hour of the Silent Auction! No one can convince me
that this did not cut into our attendance. Similarly, conflicts kept
me away from other meetings and sessions.
There is no way to eliminate conflicts of sessions at conferences
(hmmm . . . except maybe that auction timing!); my thanks to those
who even attempt the job. We all have to make sometimes painful
choices. Once in a while it is going to mean that one session or
meeting loses attendance disproportionately to the actual interest of
its members.
What bothers me about this whole thing is that this kind of
inevitable ebb and flow of attendance and sense of urgency has lost
out to the perceptions of some of the members who decided to act
independently of the entire rest of the membership of the group.
Contrary to a trendy cliche, perception is NOT reality.
Is this who we are? An organization where a sub-group can, outside
any kind of democratic/legal process, decide summarily to execute one
Committee, DG, or RT?
I'm not at all comfortable with the self-assurance with which some
members make decisions that affect other--less important?--members.
Just my 2 cents, but I firmly believe that an organization is viable
only as long as it regards all of its members equally.
Has GLIRT's meaning and usefulness come and gone? Poll its members.
All of them.
--Shannon
--
Shannon Van Kirk
Head, Wertz Art & Architecture Library
7B Alumni Hall
Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056
[log in to unmask]
tel.: (513) 529-6650
FAX: (513) 529-4159
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org/join.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]
|