Dear Members,
The ARLIS/NA Board has been active on a number of fronts lately that we thought worthy of your attention. They are as follows:
A Documentation Advisory Committee was established at our Post-Conference Board Meeting.
The charge of the Committee is to review and update the ARLIS/NA Policy Manual and the Conference Planning Manual, and to submit proposed changes to the By-Laws to the Executive Board. The Committee will consult with
Society leaders throughout the process. The duration of the Advisory Committee is one year. Co-chairs are V. Heidi Hass and Tony White, and members are Ted Goodman, Jennifer Friedman and Rachel Resnik. My thanks to this group for taking on this important work
for the Society.
The Society has just renewed its contract with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to provide services for the ARLIS/NA Archives, where our papers are under better care and management than at any other time in our history. The renewal agreement provides another three years of service at a very favorable rate. At this time, the Archives are partially processed. However, it is expected that they will be completely processed within the next few years. Reference inquiries are now being accepted by the Archives as part of our contractual arrangement. To review the record groups processed thus far, please visit the recently established website: http://www.library.illinois.edu/archives/arlis/index.php Our thanks go to Amy Lucker and the Board during her tenure for initially contracting for these services, as we are now witnessing the fruits of their labor.
The 2012 Toronto Conference Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC) met in Toronto this past week for two days of meetings in preparation for our 40th annual conference next spring. Four Board members traveled to the CPAC meeting to participate in the dialogue along with a dozen other ARLIS/NA colleagues on the conference planning committee, including conference co-chairs Jill Patrick, Karen McKenzie, Stephanie Frontz, and Carole Ann Fabian (via Skype). It was a full two days of presentations, discussion, and decision-making in preparation for what is sure to be a stimulating and productive conference. A preliminary budget has been established that puts us well in the black for the conference, which we have every reason to believe will come to fruition. Stay tuned for more details from our Toronto planning team.
As noted in my previous message to the membership, earlier this month three ARLIS/NA Board members and four VRA Board members convened via conference call to discuss the potential for another joint conference between ARLIS/NA and the VRA. As a result of this call, each Board agreed to produce separate brief reports noting the challenges and positive aspects of this past conference. It was also decided that survey results would be shared amongst the organizations to provide the broadest perspective on our members' interests in future collaborations. Both the reports and the survey results will be shared by no later than August 5. The work of establishing a mutually agreed upon financial structure will then be addressed. More details will follow as we make additional progress.
The Nominating Committee has been hard at work and has recently submitted a full slate of candidates for office in 2012, including the positions of Vice-President/President-Elect, Treasurer, Communications & Publications Liaison, and Canadian Member-At-Large. The Board will review the slate and vote to approve the roster or send it back to the Committee for further revision at its July 21 Board conference call. Our thanks to Daniel Starr, chair, and the other members of the committee, including Anne Champagne, Laura Schwartz, Irene Puchalski, and Nancy Norris for this important work.
The Strategic Planning Committee finished their initial phase of work on the draft Strategic Plan for 2011-2015 in late May. The Committee has worked diligently since presenting their preliminary plan to the membership during the Membership Meeting at the Minneapolis conference in March. Three separate focus groups were convened using the GoToMeeting software to gather additional feedback about the plan from a broad spectrum of the membership. The Board is now reviewing the plan and will vote to approve or send it back to the Committee for final revisions at its July 21 Board conference call. The Committee will take a hiatus over the summer and then reconvene in the fall to address the implementation of an action plan to begin fulfilling the goals and objectives of the finalized Strategic Plan. Thank you to each of you who have participated in this process and especially to the members of the Committee who have labored at this task for well over a year. They are: Pat Barnett, chair, Eric Wolf, Jamie Lausch, Jennifer Garland, Barbara Rockenbach, and Eumie Imm-Stroukoff.
In the interest of transparency, all Executive Board Meeting Minutes that have been approved have recently been added to the ARLIS/NA website by Nedda Ahmed. Please click on this link to get access to these riveting documents: http://www.arlisna.org/organization/admindocs/execminutes/execminutes_index.html
And finally, I understand that a most successful 8th Summer Educational Institute (SEI) took place two weeks ago in Albuquerque, NM . I'll be anxious to hear more details about this event and the professional development opportunities this provided for our members and those of the VRA. Our thanks go to Elizabeth Schaub and Kathe Hicks Albrecht, Implementation Team Co-Chairs, and Cindy Abel Morris who served as Local Chair. Plans for next year's SEI are already underway, which will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan. SEI - inter-society collaboration at its best!
I want to thank the entire ARLIS/NA Board who continue to work tirelessly on your behalf. They are: Mari Russell, Sandy Brooke, Debbie Kempe, Tom Riedel, Alan Michelson, James Rout, Sarah Carter, Laurel Bliss, and Rina Vecchiola.
Regards,
Jon Evans
President, ARLIS/NA
Director, Hirsch Library
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
713-639-7393