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In response to the current economic climate that has impacted the institutions where our visual resources facilities reside, the VRA Board has asked me to form an authoring group (see below) to produce a white paper that will not only address salient issues but also suggest options for dealing with the evolving visual resources landscape. This document will demonstrate that visual resources professionals and the facilities they manage actively contribute to an institution's mission and technological future by providing necessary expertise, assets, services and learning spaces.
 
The VRA Board along with a cadre of reviewers from the visual resources community, affiliated organizations (ARLIS, CAA, MCN, etc.) and beyond will be enlisted to comment on the draft to ensure it is useful and will resonate with faculty, administrators and others outside the visual resources profession.
 
As a first step, we are presently trying to think through ideal VRC scenarios in academic departments/schools, transferring operations to libraries, diversifying by adding IT and/or AV responsibilities, or adjusting roles in museum contexts. To help us with this work, we encourage image professionals who have been engaged in redefining their role and that of their facility to share their experience by contacting Elizabeth Schaub by June 10th,  who will be focused on the case studies section of the paper; in addition, she may communicate the information you provide to the appropriate workers in the authoring group who may want to dialog with you.
 
We are drafting this document over the next month in order to make the information available as soon as possible. If you need information sooner or have any suggestions, questions, or concerns about this white paper process, please contact Maureen Burns.

Authoring group members and their respective white paper focus:
:: Maureen Burns ([log in to unmask])
Humanities Curator, Visual Resources Collection
University of California, Irvine
focus: VRCs in academic departments/schools

:: Rebecca Moss ([log in to unmask])
Visual Resources Coordinator, Office of Information Technology
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
focus: VRC's integrated into IT units

:: Meghan Musolff ([log in to unmask])
Assistant Coordinator, Visual Resources Collections, History of Art Department
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
focus: VRCs in academic departments/schools

:: Alex Nichols ([log in to unmask])
Academic Technology Coordinator, Department of Art and Art History
Michigan State University, East Lansing
focus: Diversifying by adding IT and/or AV responsibilities

:: Henry Pisciotta ([log in to unmask])
Arts and Architecture Librarian
Pennsylvania State University
focus: VRCs integrated into university libraries

:: Elizabeth Schaub ([log in to unmask] )
Visual Resources Collection Director, School of Architecture
University of Texas at Austin
Focus: Case studies

:: Betha Whitlow ([log in to unmask] )
Curator of Visual Resources, Department of Art History and Archaeology
Washington University in St. Louis
Focus: VRCs within museums

Dear ARLIS Friends,

I sit here at my computer and read the sad news several times a week that librarians are being laid off, made to take early retirement, that art libraries are being closed etc.

My question is, "What are we as an organization doing to counteract the impression that librarians are nonessential to the operation of their parent institutions?"

A follow up question is "What resources do we as an organization provide to a librarian who has been laid off as a result of the harsh economic climate?"

Does anyone have any answers?

Sheila A. Cork
Librarian
New Orleans Museum of Art
City Park
1 Collins Diboll Circle
P.O. Box 19123
New Orleans, LA 70179-0123

504-658-4117
[log in to unmask]


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