Greeting ARLIS members,
I would like to assure you that the VRA White Paper authoring group is
hard at work drafting a document that will be of use to both
organizations (it is notable that many of us are active members of both
ARLIS and VRA) and we hope it will be available to everyone before the
new academic year starts. I've copied the original announcement below for
your information, but please don't hesitate to contact any of us if you
would like to know more or need assistance.
In addition, I'm aware of several session and workshop proposals focused
on these issues that have been sent to VRA for the Atlanta conference in
March 2010 and so there should be some interesting programming focused on
the current economic challenges there too.
Best regards,
Maureen
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
At 07:26 AM 7/1/2009, you wrote:
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]
__________________________________________________________________ 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 (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
Maureen A. Burns, Ed.D.
Humanities Curator
Visual Resources Collection
61 Humanities Instructional Building
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-3375
949-824-8027 phone
949-824-4298 fax
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