I think this is a great idea. And although I have nothing against task
forces, I wonder if another joint conference might also be a good way
to explore this. It might help to have more of the membership engaged
with the issue, rather than just a small leadership group.


James Mitchell




On 6/30/06, Carol Graney <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I believe that many of the people who have commented on this issue are
> members of both VRA and ARLIS/NA. I am curious to know what VRA members are
> saying or would say about this. Is there a discussion about this issue going
> on on VRA-L as well?
>
> I fully support John's idea of creating a joint task force to investigate
> merging the two organizations. As we are currently taking a hard look at the
> organization of ARLIS/NA, it seems that this is the ideal time to form the
> task force.
>
> Carol
>
>
> Carol Graney
> Director of University Libraries
> The University of the Arts
> 320 S. Broad St.
> Philadelphia, PA 19102
> 215-717-6281
> 215-717-6287 (fax)
> [log in to unmask]
> http://library.uarts.edu
>
>
> On Jun 30, 2006, at 10:23 AM, John Taormina wrote:
>
> Everyone,
>
> If the lines along the traditional art library and visual resources
> professions are blurring due to changes in those professions and the
> disciplines themselves-and they are-then real, productive reciprocity to me
> means looking beyond mere affiliation, which doesn't really get us much, or
> a joint conference, into the merging of both organizations so members of
> both can benefit from a larger collective body of expertise and programs
> without having to divide funds, loyalties, volunteerism, and time between
> the two organizations and end up in a pick-and-choose situation. Such a
> coming together within one organization would even mimic the collaboration
> and joint initiatives that most of us are seeing between people in
> libraries, visual resources centers, information technology offices, new
> media projects, museums, archives, etc.
>
> I think Mark's term of "art information professional" is key here. This
> isn't about books, or digital images, or serials, or digital text, or
> digital video, or architecture, design, or visual resources specialties.
> It's about effectively providing art information to our patrons, no matter
> what the media interest, administrative structure, educational background,
> or institutional location of members.
>
> One fact remains in all of this: ARLIS/NA and VRA are currently distinct,
> separate, incorporated organizations, with separate budget structures,
> separate governing processes, separate missions, different goals, etc., but
> with some overlapping members and, occasionally, colliding histories. In
> fact, it is this separateness that often makes a joint conference so
> difficult. But none of this is insurmountable, as many have already pointed
> out.
>
> I find Gregg's last comment exceedingly relevant: "I believe that if ARLIS
> and VRA do not merge, they will continue to lose membership (or more
> basically, the interest of its members) to other groups that better address
> their needs to grow and develop as art information professionals in an age
> where libraries and our profession is evolving so swiftly."  There are many
> more interesting, focused, educational, and appropriate venues to find
> continuing professional development than there were twenty years ago.
>
> As a long-time member of both organizations, I would heartily support a
> joint task force to look at the issue of merging. This discussion has been
> brewing for some time. We have one thing going in both organizations' favor:
> ARLIS/NA-VRA joint task forces have all been very productive and successful
> to date.
>
> Do a group of us need to officially petition the Executive Board?
>
> Best,
> John
>
>
>
> I would second all of these points, and would add the enormous financial
> burden faced by those of us who try to be active in both organizations.
> This was always difficult, but it's now becoming almost prohibitive.  It is
> also ironic, in that we need the interaction of our various constituencies
> more now than ever before. We have so much to share with each other, as was
> amply demonstrated at this year's SEI. But we seem to be two organizational
> trains on two parallel tracks that rarely, if ever, arrive at the same
> station.
>
> Eileen Fry
> Indiana University
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: ART LIBRARIES SOCIETY DISCUSSION LIST [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Mark Pompelia
> Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 2:00 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] VRA & ARLIS
>
> Maryly, Susan Jane, and ARLIS Members,
>
> I realize that this addresses much larger issues, but I am amazed at how VRA
> & ARLIS can have such close and normal relations at the local levels
> regarding how our chapters interact but at the national levels we cannot
> manage to have a joint conference more than once in twenty-five years. I
> recognize that our associations do relate in other arenas (SEI, joint
> sponsorships, shared position papers, etc.) but this strikes me as a minimal
> cooperation, not one that recognizes that anymore we are the same audience,
> drawing upon the same issues, the same pool of volunteers, the same experts,
> etc.
>
> I remain impressed by Sherman Clarke's Distinguished Service Award in Banff
> when it was clear how elegantly and effortlessly he has managed to serve
> both associations, and all to our collective benefit.
>
> I have personally felt for many years that ARLIS and VRA should enter into a
> federation of sorts, one that preserves our individual strengths but steers
> us toward our common goals as art information professionals, a federation
> where a joint conference is the norm, not the unlikely. Yet it happens year
> after year that we are no closer to such relations. Why is this so? Is it
> that this relationship is not working, or is it that this is the way this
> affiliation works? I do not have the answers, but the questions have never
> been formally asked.
>
> Furthermore, if the questions cannot be asked at the board levels (for
> whatever reasons, but it goes beyond any one board or any one organization),
> then as members we should seek answers under a member-driven arrangement
> (petition? blog?). Is joint conference registration the best we can do?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
> Mark Pompelia
> Director, Visual Resources Center
> Dept. of Art History
> Rice University
> PO Box 1892, MS 21
> Houston TX  77251-1892
> Editor, VRA Bulletin <http://www.vraweb.org/>
> Past President, ARLIS Texas-Mexico Chapter <http://www.arlis-txmx.org>
>
> e: [log in to unmask]
> p: 713-348-4836
> f: 713-348-4039
> URL: http://arthistory.rice.edu
>
>
> At 12:12 PM -0400 6/29/06, Susan Jane Williams wrote:
> I agree with Maryly.
> I understand that this opens an even more complex set of issues, but since
> the ARLIS board and membership are going to reconsider Chapter issues, I
> would strongly urge that they take a look at the important symbiosis between
> VRA regional chapters and ARLIS chapters. I think we can do much better than
> a conference discount in terms of real reciprocity at this critical time of
> change in both the librarian and visual resources professions.
> Since Ann has been president of VRA and is now president of ARLIS, I think
> she has the background information necessary to help this process and I
> would hope for a simple solution along the lines of a slightly more
> expensive per meeting charge for "cross-over" attendance (which would equal
> annual chapter dues if two meetings were attended). I don't think the
> benefits of such interaction can be boiled down to only revenue.
> Best,
> Susan
> Susan Jane Williams
> Data Specialist and User Services Liaison
> Saskia Ltd./ Scholars Resource, Inc.
> susanjane_williams@hotmailcom
> or
> [log in to unmask]
> Cell: (203) 927-3640
> ----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 4:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] VRA & ARLIS
>
> Maryly,
> Members of ARLIS/NA and VRA are affiliated and through that affiliation
> members from both organizations receive the member discount at each
> organization's conferences. This is the agreement between ARLIS/NA and VRA.
> Ann
>
> Subject: [ARLIS-L] VRA & ARLIS
>
> Since ARLIS is affiliated with VRA and because many of the ARLIS chapter
> members who are NOT members of ARLIS/NA are dues-paying members of VRA,
> shouldn't they get some reciprocal privileges?
>
> Thanks,
> Maryly
> !DSPAM:44a4043423775021468!
> __________________________________________________________________
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>
> --
> John J. Taormina
> Director, Visual Resources Center
> Dept. of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
> Duke University
> Box 90764
> 112 East Duke Building
> Durham  NC 27708-0764
>
> Ph: 919-684-2501
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> http://www.duke.edu/web/art/
>
> "The spice must flow."
> -Frank Herbert, Dune
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
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>
> __________________________________________________________________
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