I thought I'd mention that we in the Southeast Chapter (ARLIS/SE) have
written into our bylaws that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are a
part of our chapter. This past fall when we had our chapter meeting in
South Florida, we made a concerted effort to get visitors from the larger
Caribbean area. We managed to get a mailing list of members of ACURIL
(Assoc. of Caribbean University & Research Institution Libraries), and sent
everyone on that list a preliminary program inviting them to come to the
meeting.
The result? Of the 100+ mailing sent out, 15 were sent back with unknown
addresses. One person mailed an inquiry. I attempted to contact the
individual but their phone number and fax number never worked when I tried
to use them, and they never provided me with an email address. A search on
their institution's web site proved fruitless as to how to contact them
otherwise. Which means no one from the Caribbean came. And, someone might
know otherwise, but I don't think anyone from Puerto Rico or the Virgin
Islands have ever come to a Southeast Chapter meeting in our 27-year
history. Regardless, we have discussed in our chapter an attempt to
continue to solicit input from the Caribbean.
Miguel, I really do believe a concerted effort is being made (at least in
the past few years) to solicit more input from ethnic minorities, but in
our profession where funding is so scarce, especially in art libraries, I
would imagine that coming to conferences, etc. is difficult for many of
these people. Don't misunderstand me -- I applaud the efforts to do
anything to include more ethnic (and cultural) minorities in ARLIS/NA and
the entire profession. I love the idea of targeting LIS students for the
next conference, even to get them to help volunteer -- that should be done
more often whenever a conference is located in a city where there is a
library school. I just think there is a lot more going on in terms of
socio-economic circumstances rather than purposeful exclusion of minorities
at a social level.
-- Roberto
==================================================
Roberto C. Ferrari
Head of Access Services
Arts & Humanities Librarian
Wimberly Library
Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton, FL 33431
PHONE: 561-297-3575
FAX: 561-338-3863
EMAIL: [log in to unmask]
WEB: http://www.library.fau.edu/geninfo/people/rferrari.htm
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