Greetings. As ARLIS/NA liaison to ALA I attend a meeting at which the
various associations affiliated with ALA [of which ARLIS/NA is one!] report
on their activities. Below are some of the activities that I think may be
of interest to ARLIS/NA groups and individuals. I would especially
encourage the groups interested in diversity issues, and in museum
librarianship to read further! There may even be some opportunities for
collaborations or involvement at some level. Let me know if there is
anything I can do to facilitate that!
thanks, Jeanne Brown
ARLIS/NA Liaison to ALA
ALA has put up an “I Love Libraries” website. They are looking for
content – including from Affiliate association. If we have stories to
share about our libraries we can send them in. (It occurs to me that
Museum Libraries in particular represent a constituency that is not
normally represented in ALA, and so have stories they would not get
in any other way.)
ALA just completed a “Diversity in the Profession” study. Their next
generation of efforts concerning diversity will involved affiliate
groups, library schools, etc. (If I get more information on this I
will forward it. However the ARLIS Diversity group may be able to
propose something proactively rather than us waiting to be
contacted.)
ARL has produced large scale digitization guidelines.
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec294web.pdf
The Music library Association was part of the Spectrum (diversity) event
on professional careers. See the web page:
http://wikis.ala.org/spectrum/index.php/Professional_Options_Fair.
(Quite a few of the affiliates groups, including music, medical,
REFORMA, and others participated in this event. It could be a great
opportunity if repeated at the 2008 ALA conference in Anaheim.)
ALISE [Association for Library and Information Science Education] will
have their 2008 conference in Philadelphia Jan 8-11. (They are open
to providing information on competencies for art librarians and
visual resources curators from ARLIS.) Their 2009 conference will be
in Denver Jan. 19-22, and I believe the theme will be museums and
cultural projects. (BTW they also have a presentation on becoming a
museum librarian! http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/711/ from their 2005
conference.)
The Medical Library Association has seen hospital libraries downsizing,
and is focusing on advocacy approaches, including using data for
advocacy.
Many of the associations in the Affiliates Group have travel awards and
scholarships for students. It was suggested that the ALA Emerging
Leaders group be asked to compile these.
