I've hesitated to email the list about the GLIRT situation at the risk of
perpetuating the drama, so to speak, but I think at this point it is important
to point out a couple of things, especially since I was Chair of GLIRT
prior to Miguel and am in support of dissolving GLIRT.
** As has been pointed out by Sherman initially, there is no longer
official sponsorship of panel sessions by round tables, etc. at conferences,
so that specific purpose for existence is no longer necessary. And to
demonstrate that this isn't even necessary, consider "The Queer Art World"
panel session Sherman & I co-moderated at the New York City
ARLIS/NA conference. We came up with the proposal and the panel session
without anything having to do with GLIRT; queer content had nothing to do with
the round table. Because GLIRT sponsored important sessions in the past
does not imply that there is a necessity for it to still exist as it currently
does when the group no longer sponsors sessions.
** The GLIRT mailing list and the web site were wonderful things in the
past, but has already been noted, both have gone to the wayside. The
list was dissolved at a committee meeting chaired by me for two very practical
purposes: (1) Eric Schwab (the moderator, who did an excellent job as list
manager) was leaving Cornell where it was hosted; and (2) there were hardly
any postings anymore, and those that were business-related had to get posted
to ARLIS-L anyway. In my year as Chair of GLIRT, I think there were
maybe a dozen messages posted to that list (not counting "me too"
replies). As for the web site, it wound up that for various reasons it
died out and did not get started up again. It is perhaps lamentable, but
can anyone in ARLIS/NA really claim that since it's been down (for 3+ years
now!) that we've missed it for practical work-related purposes? It may
have been beneficial when it started, but I hesitate to think that even a new
version would or could supplant other queer-related web sites out there.
Consider also that I could get no one to volunteer to be webmaster, which
brings up another point...
** Getting people to volunteer to chair the round table itself was
problematic. After fruitless attempts to email for volunteers and to ask
for volunteers at the business meeting, I had to contact Miguel
specifically to ask him to take over, and he agreed. This does NOT imply
that people are not committed to queer-themed art library issues or do not
have an interest in GLIRT. Rather, to me, it implies that everybody is
overworked and doesn't have time to devote themselves to "yet another
committee," especially when/if they are involved with other ARLIS/NA
committees, divisions, and chapters.
In the best interests of ARLIS/NA (which has attempted to streamline
things over the past couple of years), it only makes sense to me that GLIRT
can be dissolved. No one said it was going to be a popular
decision. And no one even remotely implied that queer-themed sessions
and/or discussions would not take place in ARLIS/NA ever again. I mean,
come on, let's face it -- ARLIS/NA has some of the most active
gay/lesbian-related members than most other organizations! And if
queer-themed sessions/discussions do fall to the wayside, I suspect it will be
because members with an interest in these areas will have turned away, not
because the society will have rejected them. And I also see no reason
why former GLIRT-related members could not consider reorganizing as a social
or discussion group like we have seen so many others pop up in the past couple
of years of ARLIS/NA's history, without having the added worry of filing an
annual report, finding a chair, etc.
I'd like to also point people's attentions to the Queer Caucus for Art,
an affiliated organization of the College Art Association. Sherman and I
are both members, and we have both played active roles in that organization as
well (Sherman does the newsletter!). The QCA is in fact much more
organized than GLIRT ever has been, in my mind. The recent
"InterseXions" conference in NYC is an amazing example and demonstrated to me
how international gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender artists, art historians,
gallery owners, and librarians can all come together and exchange information
in a way that perhaps as librarians/visual resource curators in a small
library organiation we often can't see beyond our own
bookshelves/databases. And their listserv, though not heavily congested,
does get more email than the GLIRT list ever did. Those interested
in preserving GLIRT might consider diverting their attentions towards the
QCA and attempt to find a way to make that organization an affiliated society
of ARLIS/NA.
Roberto C. Ferrari
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