Dear ARLIS/NA Members,
The Final Report of the ARLIS/NA – VRA Joint Task Force on Collaboration was submitted to the Executive Boards of both organizations in February, 2008, and has now been approved by both Boards for distribution to their respective memberships.
The full text of the report is available online as of today, April 16th, 2008. ARLIS/NA Members should follow the link to:
http://www.arlisna.org/organization/admindocs/ARLISNA_VRA_TF_Report.pdf
The Task Force was created in 2006 with a basic charge “To study the relationship between ARLIS/NA and the VRA, analyzing the overlap of interests as well as areas of uniqueness focusing on the organizational structures of the two associations and recommending collaborative possibilities.” Co-chaired by Elaine Paul and Edward Teague, and also including Greta Bahnemann, K. Meghan Gross, Amy A. McKenna, and Brian Shelburne, the Task Force began work in the winter of 2007, and gathered input from both memberships through open meetings, surveys, and focus group discussions.
The Final Report begins with a detailed study of the similarities and differences between the two organizations, in which many individuals hold dual memberships. It offers suggestions for ongoing collaborative endeavors, not only between the two organizations themselves, but also considering the larger possibilities of federation with other related societies and organizations in shared endeavors such as joint conferences, sponsored workshops, and granted projects. It also presents a realistic, and at times sobering, acknowledgment of the administrative changes in many institutions that are bringing library and visual resources operations and personnel into closer working relationships.
As we look forward to our upcoming joint conference in Minneapolis (2011), we urge our memberships to read this report: it presents a wealth of information about our organizations’ parallel development and present profiles, and offers intriguing speculation about where the future might take us.
One immediate example of collaboration between VRA and ARLIS/NA is the Summer Educational Institute Advisory Group, which has been organized to assist our organizations in determining the direction of the SEI program for the next three to five years. This group may recommend implementation strategies for long-term planning and growth of the SEI. The SEI Advisory Group Charge will also be available online. The SEI Advisory Group Chair is Sherman Clarke; group advisors include Amber Ruiz, Johanna Bauman, and Eileen Fry.
Many thanks to our new SEI Advisors for committing their time and expertise to SEI planning. It will be exciting to see SEI evolve in relation to the missions of ARLIS/NA and VRA.
Deborah K. Ultan Boudewyns President, ARLIS/NA
Art History & Performing Arts Librarian
University of Minnesota, Wilson Library
[log in to unmask], 612.625.6438
Allan T. Kohl
President, Visual Resources Association
Library/Visual Resources
Minneapolis College of Art & Design
2501 Stevens Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
612.874.3781
<[log in to unmask]> Deborah K. Ultan Boudewyns
