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Dear Members of the Art and Design School Division,
The following is an update on where our division stands in relation
to the ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan (1996) and some thoughts to initiate
discussion at our annual business meeting in March regarding our
involvement in the new Strategic Plan. I would like to have us spend
some time during our meeting discussing our division's unique concerns
and goals as ARLIS members. So please be thinking about specific
issues, perspectives, and experience that we, as art and design school
members, have and that we would like to see included in the society's
plans for the future. If you have some thoughts or comments before we
meet, I'd love to hear from you directly. You may e-mail me at
[log in to unmask]
The following summary of our division's support of the Strategic Plan
since 1996 was submitted to the current Strategic Planning Committee
in December '99 in the hopes of clarifying, for the record, our
division's involvement.
The Art and Design School Division has supported the goals and action
plans of the ARLIS/NA Strategic Plan since 1996, when the plan was
first presented. As a division, it has initiated projects and
sponsored annual conference sessions, which have direct links to
specific action plans. While it shares many similar concerns with the
Academic Division and the Reference and Information Services Section,
among other groups, it also has unique concerns and approaches to
specific action plans. Although the division was unintentionally
omitted from the original document, its concerns, goals and
activities, relative to the Strategic Plan, have been ongoing. Below
is a summary of these concerns and activities.
While Art and Design School librarians are academic librarians, they
function in a much smaller, more focussed environment. Their
collections are closely tied to a narrower curriculum, their clientele
already conversant in the language of art and design. They also are
in a unique position to interact very closely with their faculty and
students. They do not always have close access to non-art library
resources and the benefit of a larger institution for support in areas
of funding, new technology, and technical services. Art and Design
Schools have their own accrediting bodies and accreditation standards.
Their use of statistical data is different. Their networking
concerns are different. Yet despite their unique perspective, their
concerns overlap many of those of other ARLIS divisions and sections.
Items of interest to the Art and Design School Division, from the
1996 Strategic Plan, include: the accreditation process; the gathering
and use of statistical data; the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge
and information sources in the arts; distance education; use of the
Web in the provision of art information; traditional bibliographic
instruction and the teaching role of librarians; and access to
teaching materials and other resources in print and electronic
formats. Our division supports the activities of the Bibliographic
Instruction Discussion Group. It created a "Travelling Notebook" or
"Big Binder" of library instruction handouts which was shared by
members for a few years. Materials were eventually distributed to the
LOEX Clearinghouse for Library Instruction. A website for our
division in currently under construction. When up and running, it
will be a further tool for disseminating art information resources and
teaching materials. A project to create a bibliography of useful
non-art resources for Art and Design School Librarians was begun.
Although it was eventually dropped, due to lack of input, it could be
rejuvenated, perhaps in electronic form. Statistical surveys, for use
by Art and Design School Directors, have been circulated for several
years. Issues of the accreditation process have often been brought up
when discussing possible conference sessions, as have topics of
distance education and the electronic classroom. Art and Design
School librarians are also interested in providing input to publishers
of art reference tools, by way of an ARLIS/NA Reference Desiderata
File.
Now, for the future...
As ARLIS/NA looks to the future and prepares a new Strategic Plan,
the Art and Design School Division should make every effort to be
involved. As you know, many of the concerns of the previous Strategic
Plan are still relevant and ongoing and we will want to continue
supporting them. While it is true that our division shares many of
the same concerns as the Academic and other divisions, it is also true
that our perspective on these issues and our contribution to the
society are very different indeed.
Below are just a few ideas off the top of my head to get the
discussion going. At our meeting in Pittsburgh, we will need to put
together a working list of concerns, goals and action items to submit
to the Strategic Planning Committee following the conference. So your
input on these will be most appreciated.
Leadership:
Continue to support and expand the mentoring program.
Professional Development:
Establish a Web/Electronic Resources contact person for each
division, similar to the divisional UPDATE Column Editor.
Create a database of print and electronic member-created library
instructional materials.
Consolidate divisional links to the LOEX Clearinghouse for Library
Instruction through a single link on the ASW.
Create an accreditation mentoring program.
Create a support system for librarians with teaching
responsibilities.
Continue funding opportunities for librarians conducting and/or
publishing research.
Conferences:
Expand programming to attract participation from scholars and experts
outside ARLIS/NA, including raising honoraria.
Provide more instructional sessions.
Organizational Structure:
Improve the process by which division/section moderators, roundtable
coordinators, committee chairs and members, etc., are solicited,
elected or selected
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I'll be contacting you again before we meet in Pittsburgh with some
thoughts on program proposals for ARLIS 2001 in LA. In the meantime,
please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
Thanks,
Laurie Whitehill Chong
Moderator, Art and Design School Library Division
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