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Very interesting, Miguel. When I saw the message calling for the dissolution of the GLBT Round Table, I was reminded of a few low-energy Women & Art Round Table meetings over the years. I've served as WomART moderator more than once when no one else stepped forward to do so because I felt it was important for the group to keep going. Usually at the business meetings or in chatting with other ARLIS members, someone questions the need for such a group "in this day and age." We discussed this issue at the Houston 2005 meeting as a way to sort of warm up and get the meeting started, and, happily, several first-time attendees as well as non-first-time attendees were quite adamant that such a group was needed and that they were very interested in the issue. This "day and age" is a time when many young women view the word "feminist" as a nasty label for, and I quote from a recent article, "ugly, strident man-haters" [see "On Campus, A New Flowering of Feminism", http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/11385041.htm from the Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/17/2005], and "liberal" has become a dirty word. (I won't even mention the current president of the United States and all his administration represents, that's just too scary and disgusting for me.) I don't pretend to speak for every member of the Women & Art RT, but I'll sign myself as the current moderator. Sara ------ Sara J. MacDonald, Women & Art Round Table Moderator, 2005/2006 Public Services Librarian The University of the Arts - University Libraries 320 S Broad St - Philadelphia PA 19102 - USA [log in to unmask] http://library.uarts.edu/ 215-717-6282 fax: 215-717-6287 > Do We Still Need a GLBT Roundtable in the Art Libraries Society of North > America? > > > On April 20, 2005, Ted C. Goodman, a revered and long-time member of the Art > Libraries Society of North America and one of the founding member of the Gay > and Lesbian Interests Roundtable (GLIRT) sent out an e-mail to the ARLIS > members electronic mailing list calling the dissolution of the roundtable > citing that because of ³the current recycling of moderators,² it was time to > dissolve the group. He stated that the roundtable had outlived its > usefulness. The list included some of the founders and long time members of > the roundtable. Coincidentally, those who supported the dissolution, except > for one person, did not attend the annual meeting in Houston or voice their > opinions on the issue there. Wasnıt the Houston meeting an appropriate venue > to voice the proposed dissolution? Why wait until afterwards and do it via > e-mail? Is this an emerging protocol? > > At a time when diversity issues are at the forefront of national debates, at > time when the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the American Libraries > Association (ALA) have committed themselves to creating and supporting a glbt > presence within their structures, comes the proposed dissolution. At first, > I thought this logic was just a ploy, as previously demonstrated by similar > antics with the dissolution of the Diversity Committee in 2002, to test the > waters of member interest, but on closer inspection, it was actually true. I > was quite disappointed. Quite frankly, as the out-going Moderator, it would > have been easy for me to not care, because Iım transitioning to a new position > with art librarianship now being a part of my work, as opposed to being the > sum of it. But something inside tugged at me, and I wasnıt going to let this > one go, if for the future members who may one day thank us for trying to keep > the roundtable intact. > > The proposed dissolution of the group raises interesting issues of how ARLIS > members see their rights as members in the governance of the organization. > Why should the rest of us participate in organized committees where moderators > and chairs are nominated and elected if ad hoc groups can freely come forward > and dictate the dissolution of roundtables? Why do certain members of the > organization take it upon themselves to make decisions that affect entire > groups of people? It is my opinion, that over time, these behaviors reduce > organizations to cliques and deter democratic process and participation and > are an antithesis to organizational development and growth. This has been a > grave concern and a possible reason for a decline in membership in recent > years. By members preferring to look the other way at this insidious > behavior, ARLIS/NA, as an organization, has historically operated differently > from other library associations. > > Another interesting issue, maybe paralleling the times we as glbt people now > live in, is how certain members of the gay community view identity politics as > no longer necessary in the context of their professional lives. > Coincidentally, an early GLIRT member and previous Moderator Ray Anne Lockard > had recently stepped up again to act as Vice Moderator and is set to act as > Moderator in the associationıs annual meeting in Banff in 2006. As if by > design, Ted and his pals struck at a time when Ray Anne is on sabbatical. I > donıt know if the ad hoc group consulted with her prior to sending out their > message? > > At my first ARLIS/NA meeting in Pittsburgh in 1999, a long time female member > took me aside during coffee with the vendors and cautioned me against saying > anything politically incorrect against the gay and lesbian members in the > organization. She told me gay men and lesbians were a force to be reckoned > with and that I should be careful what I said (in other words, not to tick > them off). Perhaps she thought that I as a Latino male would find the > abundance of lgbt persons in the art librarianship profession an affront? > Perhaps she thought I wasnıt accustomed to working with glbt people? Whatever > the reason, she had good intentions and from then on, I was intrigued and > interested in attending a GLIRT meeting and participating as a round table > member, but due to my attendance at the Women and Art Roundtable (Wom-Art) > meeting (where I later became the first male moderator), I could not attend > because they were both scheduled at the same time. > > During my second ARLIS/NA conference, in 2000 in Los Angeles, I did attend a > GLIRT meeting. It was a bit unnerving to attend a mostly White male meeting. > Even then, it was obvious who was calling the shots. In recent years and > maybe since its inception, GLIRT has been characterized as a close knit group > of select gay White males who have passed the position of Vice Moderator and > Moderator amongst themselves. I was probably the first outsider to volunteer > and be elected as GLIRT Vice-Moderator in St. Louis and then serve as the > Moderator in Houston. In retrospect, I was not as effective as previous > Moderators because I was not part of the clique, although I did not do less > work. > > I believe that dissolving the roundtable would equate us to shooting ourselves > in the foot. If DIVERSITY is a virtue in art librarianship and in the library > profession, eliminating this important roundtable, is setting us back in time. > You donıt see other library organizations dissolving their GLBT committees, > even in the face of extreme political and social adversity. Why should we in > ARLIS/NA be any different? It doesnıt make any sense. > > If the members who support the dissolution believe that the roundtable has > outlived its usefulness, I recommend they put their energies elsewhere within > the organization. That or they can put time and energy in recruiting new > members, but why give up? The recycling of leadership is partly due because > of certain inbreeding of members. The people who lent their name in support > of the dissolution are members of a recycling corps themselvesthey exchange > seats periodically on just about every committee and on the presidency for our > organization. > > Years from now, I want to look back and know that I was part of the effort > that responded to try and keep GLIRT alive. It is in times like this that I > am reminded of the Gary Larson cartoon where a herd of cattle (or is it a herd > of sheep?) is running towards the end of a cliff and one is asking the other, > ³Where are we going?² and the other one states, ³I donıt know, but it is sure > a lot of fun.² As an aside, it amuses me that while the world was mourning > the death of a John Paul II and the cardinals were deciding on a new Pope, Ted > Goodman and his cardinals were gathering consensus and deciding on the future > of GLIRT. > > > Miguel Juarez, Art & Photography Librarian, University of Arizona Library > * Moderator, Gay and Lesbian Interests Roundtable, the Art Libraries Society > of North America, 2004-05. > * Moderator, organizer: ³Chicano Art through the Collectorıs Eye,² ARLIS/NA > 2005. > * Outgoing Co-chair, Diversity Committee, the Art Libraries Society of North > America, 2004-05 > * Member, Women and Art (Wom-ART Roundtable) 2005-. > * Committee member, the Art Libraries Society of North America Professional > Development Committee, Mentoring Sub-committee, 2004-. > * List owner and moderator, Photography Librarians, 2003-. > * ³Adding Teeth: Forum on Diversity,² development of a web site that focused > on the needs of diversity of ARLIS/NA, led to the re-constitution of the > ARLIS/NA Diversity Committee from an ad hoc group to a full standing > committee: http://www.library.arizona.edu/users/juarezm/addingteeth.html > * Moderator, Academic Library Division, the Art Libraries Society of North > America Visual Resources Association Joint Conference, St. Louis, MO, March > 2002. > * Moderator, Women and Art Roundtable (Wom-Art), the Art Libraries Society of > North America Visual Resources Association Joint Conference, St. Louis, MO. > Credited for successfully changing name of roundtable from WART to Wom-Art, > March 2002. > * Co-organizer (with Kim Collins, Emory University) for the Art Libraries > Society of North America Visual Resources Association Joint Conference, St. > Louis, MO Visual Resources Association Plenary Session II: The Three V's: > Visual Technology, Visual Culture, and Visual Literacy, March 2002. > * Co-organized meeting of Photography Librarians. This was the first time in > the history of the Art Libraries Society of North America that a group of > librarians interested in photography convened at the annual meeting, March > 2002. > * Organized first meeting of multicultural art librarians. Our group sought > to increase the attendance of underrepresented librarians and library school > students at the annual Art Libraries Society of North America meeting, March > 2002. > * Presentation: ³Developing an Online Teaching Portfolio to Assess > Bibliographic Instruction," as part of ³The Classroom Odyssey: Teaching > Adventures in the Art Library & Cyberspace,² moderated by B. J. Kish Irvine, > Ph.D., Fine Arts Librarian, Indiana University, the Art Libraries Society of > North America Conference, Los Angeles, Calif., April 2001. > * Poster Session: ³Developing Collaborative Web Sites at the University of > Arizona,² Tuesday, the Art Libraries Society of North America Conference, Los > Angeles, Calif., April 2001. > * Vice-Moderator, the Art Libraries Society of North America, Academic > Libraries Division, March 2000/2001. > * Vice-Moderator, the Art Libraries Society of North America, Women & Art > Roundtable, March 2000/2001. > * Update Column Editor, the Art Libraries Society of North America, Academic > Libraries Section, March 2000-2001. > > > Miguel Juarez, Assistant Librarian > (Art, Art Education, Art History & Photography) > Fine Arts Library > Center for Creative Photography Library > University of Arizona Library > Office: Music 231B > P.O. Box 210103, Tucson, AZ 85721-0103 > VOICE: (520) 626-9434/FAX: (520) 626-1630 > E-mail: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > > __________________________________________________________________ Mail > submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: > http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, > subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and > subscription maintenance: http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions > may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask] __________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]