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I would like to thank Elizabeth Schaub, the rest of the task force, and everyone else who worked on the Visual Resources Association White Paper, “Advocating for Visual Resources Management in Educational and Cultural Institutions.” It provides a concise view of how visual resources operations can contribute to a university's mission and the various ways they can be incorporated into an institution.

http://www.vraweb.org/resources/general/vra_white_paper.pdf

A section of the paper mentions the advantages of a library base for visual resources. I can attest to the advantages, having developed productive relations with digital libraries and GIS in the Virginia Tech library system. Unfortunately, however, there are libraries which do not recognize that visual resources are on a level with other forms of librarianship. I hope that the more traditional librarians among ARLIS members will advocate for proper professional compensation and status on behalf of their sisters and brothers in visual resources.

In 2000, VRA and ARLIS jointly published Guidelines for the Visual Resources Profession, edited by Kim Kopatz. With regard to status, the guidelines state, "“If academic status for visual resources professionals does not exist within the university or college, every effort should be made to reach parity with the academic librarians and/or faculty” (p.2).

There is substance behind the assertion. 93.8% of those who entered the visual resources profession in the five years leading up to 2007 possessed a graduate degree. (2007 VRA Professional Status Survey http://www.vraweb.org/projects/profstat/index.html). It is unlikely that all of the recent professionals are in jobs that require their degrees. Some institutions lag behind in recognizing the education and experience that are necessary to manage a visual resources collection. Position announcements for visual resources published recently are divided between those which prefer a graduate degree and those that require a graduate degree or equivalent experience. The places that don't require a graduate degree are treating VR professionals as less than librarians or faculty.

I do hope that as more visual resources facilities join with libraries, ARLIS members will advocate that visual resources be treated as equal to other forms of librarianship.

Thanks,
Steve Tatum
Visual Resources Curator
Art and Architecture Library
Virginia Tech

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