Call for Participation
17th Annual Visual Resources Association Conference
February 9-13, 1999
Los Angeles
The seventeenth annual Visual Resources Association conference
will take place February 9-13, 1999, in Los Angeles. We will be meeting
at the same time as the College Art Association (CAA). The Hotel
Inter-Continental Los Angeles on Bunker Hill (251 S Olive St.;
http://www.interconti.com/pages/l/losica.html) will be our conference
headquarters. The Inter-Continental is adjacent to the Museum of
Contemporary Art and is two blocks from the CAA headquarters hotel, the
Regal Biltmore. The Convention Center, the location of CAA sessions and
exhibits, is approximately a 15-minute walk from our hotel or a short bus
or taxi ride. We have negotiated excellent room rates for a hotel of this
quality: $125 for single or double occupancy; and, a good portion of our
reserved block is specified as rooms with two beds. Pre-registration
materials will be mailed to all VRA members in mid-October 1998. We
recommend you make hotel reservations as soon as possible after you
receive these materials to ensure that you have the best selection of
rooms.
VRA Vice-President, Jeanette Mills, and the Local Arrangements
Committee, chaired by Maureen Burns, are working on an exciting program.
In addition to workshops, which will be scheduled on Tuesday, February
9th, and the roundtables and sessions described below, the conference
planners are making arrangements for tours, a helpful local guide booklet,
the New Technology Roundup, a Luraine Tansey Travel Award Dinner, and
other events. A very special addition to this year's program will be a
full day at the Getty Center; something no one will want to miss. As in
the past, VRA conference attendees will have access to the CAA exhibit
hall and to selected CAA sessions, in addition to the VRA-sponsored
special session that will be part of the CAA program. A preliminary
schedule and other conference updates will be posted to VRA-L when
appropriate, and there will be a printed schedule in the pre-registration
materials. The pre-registration fees for the 1999 conference will stay
the same as this year's: $95.00 for VRA or ARLIS members, $115.00 for
non-members, $55.00 for students, and $45.00 for a one-day registration
(no one-day registrations will be allowed for the day at the Getty
Center).
If you have general questions about the conference, please contact
Jeanette Mills, VRA Vice-President, School of Art, University of
Washington, Box 353440, Seattle, WA 98195-3440; tel: 206-543-0649; fax:
206-685-1657; e-mail: [log in to unmask] Questions about local
arrangements can go to Maureen Burns, Visual Resources Collection, 61 HIB,
University of California/Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-2785; tel: 949-824-8027;
fax: 949-824-2450; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please note that some of the roundtables and sessions listed below
still need participants. Contact the organizers/moderators directly with
a letter of interest for roundtables or a paper proposal (no more than one
page in length) for sessions. These are due to the organizer/moderator by
September 11, 1998, at the latest. However, the sooner you make a
submission, the more likely you will be considered for inclusion in the
program.
ROUNDTABLES
Issues of Audience Access to Visual Materials: Four Perspectives
Organizers/Moderators: Murtha Baca, Getty Information Institute, 1200
Getty Center Drive, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1680; tel:
310-440-6339; fax: 310-440-7715; e-mail: [log in to unmask] Barbara
Furbush, Education Department, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center
Drive, Suite 1000, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687; tel: 310-440-7151; fax:
310-440-7750; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Representatives from four Getty entities will present resource tools that
they have developed to serve a wide range of audiences (general public,
local communities, scholars and researchers, Getty staff), focusing on the
challenges of providing user-friendly, meaningful access to visual
materials. The J. Paul Getty Museum's Art Access is a multimedia resource
at public kiosk stations linking directly to the Museum's databases. The
Getty Information Institute has created LACultureNet. One component of
LACultureNet is "Faces of L.A.," a project illustrating the power of
networks and organizations collaborating to make their collections
available over the Web for community building, research, education, and
enjoyment. The Getty Conservation Institute works internationally to
further the appreciation and preservation of the worlds cultural heritage.
GCIs Visual Resources Management project preserves the visual record of
its activities and seeks to provide optimal access to the Institute's vast
collection of images. The Getty Research Institutes Photo Study Collection
contains approximately two million study photographs documenting works of
fine and decorative arts and architecture from the ancient world through
the twentieth century. GRI is creating investigative paths to visual
materials in an environment that contains unique collections and research
opportunities. All panelists have been chosen for this roundtable.
Creative Staffing Solutions in Visual Resources Collections: Interns,
Volunteers, and Mentoring
Organizer/Moderator: Randi Millman-Brown, Department of Art History,
Visual Resources Collection, Ithaca College, 1160 Gannett Center, Ithaca,
NY 14850-7275; tel: 607-274-3198; fax: 607-274-3474
e-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
This roundtable will focus on creative problem solving for assistance in
visual resource collections, especially for those who have little or no
work-study or hourly money available. Panelists will briefly describe
ways they have handled hiring workers for their collections but will
primarily provide the audience with strategies to consider for "creative"
hiring. Many of these solutions also are ways to introduce people to the
visual resources field and to provide training for people trying to enter
the field. Visual resource professionals who have instituted intern,
volunteer, or mentor programs in their collections, or those who have
found other ways to deal with low personnel budgets and/or training needs,
are sought as panelists.
VISION Project: Issues and Outcomes
Organizers: Elisa Lanzi (also Moderator), Lanzi/Warren Associates, Box
1046, Bennington, VT 05201; tel: 802-442-1570; e-mail:
[log in to unmask] Margaret Webster, Visual Resources Facility, College
of Architecture, Art & Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853;
tel: 607-255-3300; fax: 607-255-1900; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
The VISION project, cosponsored by VRA and RLG, attempted to accomplish
two things: 1) to test the Core Categories for Visual Resources 2.0
developed by the VRA Data Standards Committee in a shared environment and
2) to allow a group of VR curators the opportunity to input records into
an RLG-sponsored database together with records for the AMICO and REACH
projects. This roundtable will focus both on the experiences of the
participants and the results of the VISION project evaluation. The
panelists will report on the project from their own perspective and will
present specific issues, both theoretical and practical, that arose during
the experiment. The ensuing moderated discussion will give the audience
an opportunity to assess the value of the project, ask questions about
specific issues, and contribute ideas for the continued development and
implementation of the VRA Core. All panelists have been chosen for this
roundtable.
Collaboration on the Web: Digital Image Collections for Art and
Architectural History
Organizer/Moderator: Paula Behrens, Community College of Philadelphia,
1700 Spring Garden St., Philadelphia, PA 19130; tel: 215-751-8926; fax:
215-496-6199, e-mail: [log in to unmask]
As curators and professors alike begin to scramble to establish digital
collections, we are just beginning to fathom the tremendous opportunities
of digital resources. This roundtable will be an update on the
development of Web-based image collections, and will focus mainly on the
status and potential of open-access Web-based collections. With four or
five examples briefly outlined, the discussion can explore the ongoing
change in the manner in which images are disseminated for art and
architectural history. While many institutions are creating Web-sites
that are password-protected, open access collections offer significant
opportunities for image availability, as well as collaboration among
networks of academics on joint projects. Pooling resources and expertise
has the potential to strengthen the quality and availability of images
available to students and educators alike. This discussion will address
both theoretical and technical aspects of Web use and will consider the
extent that Web-based collections have begun to change the visual image
field. Some panelists and projects have been chosen, but other proposals
are welcome.
Healthy, Wary, and Wise: Health & Safety Issues in Visual Resources
Collections
Organizers: Mark Braunstein, Connecticut College, Box 5394, New London,
CT 06320-4196; tel: 860-439-2729; fax: 860-439-5339; e-mail:
[log in to unmask] Patricia McRae (also Moderator), University of
Nevada/Las Vegas, Department of Art, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 455002,
Las Vegas, NV 89154-5002; tel: 702-895-4804; fax: 702-895-4346; e-mail:
[log in to unmask]
Visual resources libraries sometimes are not so safe and secure as we
might hope. When libraries are housed in inadequately ventilated arts
buildings, art studio exhaust threatens both slide film and slide
librarians. Single-person libraries located on urban campuses
additionally are vulnerable to crime. Health issues include: toxic vapors
from art materials and photo chemicals, HVAC, and sick building syndrome;
ergonomics, cyber-disabilities, job stress, and drugs (coffee) in the
workplace; eye strain and vision loss from monitors and light tables.
Building upon the 1995 VRA Conference session "Our Workplace: Our Health
and Safety," safeguards and remedies will be offered. Also, handicap
accessibility concerns will be briefly noted. While there are
environmental hazards from within, there also are dangers from without.
VR Professionals who work alone in isolated offices are seldom conscious
of their personal vulnerability until it is too late. Since violent crime
often comes without warning, awareness and preparedness can be strong
prevention tactics. Strategies for dealing with unresponsive
administrations will be discussed as well as mechanical and electronic
devices, barriers and the physical features that make a facility effective
in crime prevention. Resources available to crime "victims" will round
out the topic. Please contact the organizers if you have knowledge or
experiences related to these subjects, especially if you would be
interested in being a panelist.
The Institutional Politics of Visual Resources Services: What Makes for
Success?
Organizer/Moderator: Deirdre C. Stam, Drew University Library, Madison, NJ
07940; tel: 973-408-3322; fax: 973-408-3770; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
How does the Visual Resources curator build the political support
necessary within the institution so that resources -- money, expertise,
labor, and electronic infrastructure -- will be devoted to his/her vision?
And, how can the results be defined and measured in order to lay the
groundwork for future support? What constitutes a "successful" visual
resources initiative in political terms within the institution? These
questions will be directed, in rapid-fire fashion, to a panel of
approximately three people who feel that they have achieved successes with
visual resources initiatives and have consciously addressed these
political issues in realizing their goals. The session will end with an
opportunity for attendees to get candid tips from panelists that could be
useful in their own institutions. Needed are panelists who have real-life
experience with political issues, who can be candid about their tactics,
and who can point to a particular experience of success in implementing
their visions. Variety in institutional types is sought.
Re-training Our Sights II: Artists, Art Historians, and Visual Resources
Curators -- The Potential for Joint Visions
Organizer/Moderator: Susan Shifrin, Visual Resources Collections,
Department of Art, Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA
19081; tel: 610-328-8083; fax: 610-328-7793; e-mail:
[log in to unmask]
This roundtable is the result of discussion that took place following the
VRA-sponsored special session at the 1998 annual conference of the College
Art Association. It will raise such questions as the following: how can
we bring neglected communities of image users and producers into
discussion with the people who can help them most? How can we engage --
as visual resources curators and art historians setting agendas, defining
classification systems, and establishing the parameters for representation
and documentation of works of art -- with those conceiving and creating
the works themselves? Has the time come for the dialectics that inform
our nomenclatures to incorporate, rather than marginalize, the makers of
the works we seek to designate via these naming systems? Quite
practically, has the time come for the development of a collective
database and imagebank to which working artists as well as art historians
and the professional keepers of collections can have access and will
contribute images and information? Visual Resources Association
roundtables have tended toward the pragmatic and specific in recent years.
It is hoped that the discussion stimulated by this more theoretical,
broad-based topic will result in pragmatic applications within our
collections and professional activities at large and that it also will
bring into our dialogues the contributions of interested artists and
historians of contemporary art. Working artists (particularly those
engaged in computer-generated art or in "new" media in general), as well
as art historians and visual resources curators, are sought to participate
as panelists.
Visual Resources Software Discussion Group
Organizer/Moderator: Maureen Burns, Visual Resources Collection, 61 HIB,
University of California/Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-2785; tel: 949-824-8027;
fax: 949-824-2450; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
The Visual Resources Software Discussion Group (originally the VRMS Users
Group) provides a forum where visual resources curators can discuss a
variety of issues related to collection management systems for slide
archives. This informal roundtable will commence with a whole group
discussion of software-related issues, such as: standards, imaging,
bar-coding, migration, data sharing, etc. Then the roundtable will break
into software-specific-user and interested-user groups to discuss in
detail the collections management systems that are currently popular in
visual resources collections: Filemaker Pro, Access, EmbARK, Re:discovery,
Oracle, DataEase, VRMS, etc. Both current software users and those
searching for new options are welcome. The intention is to bring curators
together in a collaborative environment where old and new software choices
can be discussed freely. Panelists are needed to bring general issues to
the group as well as to lead software-specific discussions. Please
indicate whether you would like to demonstrate your database and what
equipment might be needed to do so.
SESSIONS
New Definitions of What We Do
Organizer/Moderator: Adina Lerner, Walt Disney Archives, 500 S Buena Vista
St., Burbank, CA 91521-3040; tel: 818.560.5426; fax: 818.842.3957; e-mail:
[log in to unmask]
Technology's relentless onslaught of changing software, hardware, and
delivery has created a level of anxiety in the land of slides and analog
images. Our perception of the images we work with daily is in flux. How
our community organizes images, ensures their retrieval, "sees" images,
and delivers them to our patrons is now being co-opted by an emerging
trend: Media Asset Management. This session will first of all look at how
we "see" image reproduction, both historically (sculpture, painting,
photography) and how our perceptions have been nudged to accommodate
digital imagery. Then, what is Media Asset Management and how does this
differ, if at all, from what presently defines a VR curator position?
Lastly, what is going to happen to all our digital files, in the myriad of
databases and different formats when the technology changes? How can we
move to protect our investment in both time and money from a precipice
almost certain extinction? Paper proposals are welcome.
Using Databases and Other Software to Manage and Provide Access to Slide
Collections
Organizer/Moderator: Paula Hardin, Louisiana State University, Room 220,
Design Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; tel: 504-388-5404; fax:
504-388-5040; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Plunging into the digitization of slide collections is an adventure we all
seem to be sharing, whether in ongoing projects or plans for the future.
Such a large subject is, of necessity, divided into three topic
categories: Going Digital, Management, and Intellectual Access. Going
Digital will cover digitization of images, including details about formats
and purposes, especially related to use in applications such as for Web
pages and image management software. Issues such as process differences
between retrospective conversion and new acquisitions, including
digital-only acquisitions, will also be touched on. The Management
category will cover operational uses of applications, such as inventory,
collection development, and circulation. Database design is a critical
factor in this area to assure that data is consistent, valid, and
complete. Intellectual Access material also relies heavily on database
design to provide terminology controls. The ability to search between
preferred and non-preferred terms, name variants, relationships, and
subject terms is critical to full use of material. Mention will be made
of the use of software tools available online such as the Gettys Union
List of Artist Names. This session will feature one speaker for each
major topic (paper proposals are needed) and will allow time for questions
from the audience.
Looking at a Super-Model on the VR Runway: Licensee-Centered Electronic
Image Access
Organizer/Moderator: Mark Pompelia, The Ohio State University, 204C Hayes
Hall, 108 N Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210; tel: 614-292-0520; fax:
614-292-4401; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Over a decade ago, the State of Ohio, in an effort to control education
costs, proposed a state-wide system of a central catalog and interlibrary
loan service between all Ohio higher educational institutions. OhioLINK
(the Ohio Library Information Network) has become a model for other states
to follow in its ability to serve its member institutions. OhioLINK has
recently established ambitious goals for the licensing and dissemination
of digital images. As a state-supported agency, OhioLINK accesses
impressive funds and resource pools, promising member institutions
virtually unlimited storage space and a cutting-edge delivery system,
whose records are potentially mapped to visual resources data standards
such as the VRA Core Categories. This model, while an immediate boon to
higher educational institutions in the State of Ohio, stands to become the
paradigm for other state or regional library consortia or possibly the
fantastic 'national image database.' Other consortia exist to license
images but do so as licensers; this is one of the first to consist of over
seventy licensees. As such, this model can create more cost-effective
digital image collections for universities and libraries, helping to
develop the adolescent field of digital image licensing. This session
looks to explore the unique concerns of the key players in a
licensee-centered image-licensing model-the licenser (the image
owner/vendor), the licensee (the collective bargainer), and the visual
resources professional (the user)-including but not limited to: licensing
terms, licensing fees, technological possibilities, local collection
needs, centralized image procurement, data standards, etc.
CD-ROMs for Scholars
Organizers/Moderators: Joseph Romano, Department of Art, Oberlin College,
Oberlin, OH 44074; tel: 440-775-8666; fax: 440-775-8969; e-mail:
[log in to unmask] Jenny Squires Wilker, Allen Memorial Art
Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074; tel: 440-775-6870; fax:
440-775-8799; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
During the last few years a number of CD-ROMs relating to art and
architecture have been released in the marketplace. Many of these have
been of the "coffee table" variety, clearly intended for the pleasure of
casual art lovers. Other projects have attempted to document a large body
of work by a single creator. But, very few CD-ROMs seem to have been
produced for the research purposes of serious scholars. CD-ROMs that
combine images with extensive textual information are relatively uncommon.
Is the dearth of scholarly CD-ROMs due to the technical nature of the
medium? Or, is it because the CD-ROM has not really been considered an
appropriate medium for presenting art historical research? This session
will explore the nature of the CD-ROM medium as it applies to art
historical images and text. Contributors to, and users of, scholarly
publications in the CD-ROM medium are sought as speakers to discuss their
visions of the CD-ROM, their experiences with the medium, both positive
and negative, and their opinions about future data migration to different
media, from printed book to web publication. Critics of the CD-ROM medium
are also sought as panelists, so as to contribute a balanced point of view
to the discussion. Demonstrations of specific CD-ROM projects are
welcome, but they should be presented within the context of a discussion
of these issues; basic show and tell should be avoided.
VRA-SPONSORED SPECIAL SESSION AT CAA CONFERENCE
The Changing World of Visual Resources: Where Will We Find Our Teaching
Images?
Organizer/Moderator: Renate Wiedenhoeft, Saskia, Ltd. Cultural
Documentation, 2721 NW Cannon Way, Portland, OR 97229; tel: 503-520-8855;
fax: 503-626-1162; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
With increasing interest in and use of digital images, traditional methods
of obtaining visual materials and teaching art history are changing. This
session will bring together the interested parties-faculty, museum
administrators, and slide curators-to discuss their individual needs and
ideas for obtaining images for teaching. We will consider the following
important points: 1) Museums are increasingly limiting access to outside
photographers. If museums continue to restrict access, who will provide
slides and images for teaching in the future? How will the changing
license models affect the availability and cost of images? 2) Who will
assist the faculty in designing courses and syllabi around the computer
terminal? What additional resources are available to ease this transition
to digital technology? 3) What is the cost ratio between slides and
digital images? Considering the high cost of a digital technology
infrastructure, how can digital images best coexist with analog images?
Can we identify distinctly preferable uses of digital images versus
slides? In preparation for this session, questions and discussion related
to the above topics will be solicited from VRA-L and CAAH-L. This
material will be summarized and given to the speakers to encourage more
focused presentations and more meaningful discussion after the
presentations.
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JEANETTE C. MILLS School of Art
University of Washington
Director of Visual Services Box 353440
Seattle, WA 98195-3440
Vice President, email: [log in to unmask]
Visual Resources Association voice: (206) 543-0649
fax: (206) 685-1657
"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."
Jorge Luis Borges
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