Dear ARLIS/NA members,
I am happy to report that the ARLIS-L listserv appear to have been fixed. Thanks to Roy and Tim at AEG and Judy and Roger from our editorial board for their attention to solving the issues.
And, thank you all again for your patience.
I write today to discuss ARLIS/NA’s advocacy activities on behalf of art libraries and visual resources collections on both the national and international level. Over the past few years,
our society leadership has been asked to weigh-in on important, and often troublesome issues.
The Public Policy Committee has been a tremendous help, and in recognition of all the work the committee has already been doing, the board approved a name
change and a new charge. As you probably noticed when reading the recent Advocacy and Public Policy Committee News Alert (v.4 n.10, October 2018), the PPC is now the APPC (Advocacy
and Public Policy Committee).
The ARLIS/NA Executive Board has also approved a revised Advocacy Policy that is now easily discoverable from the AWS About page.
The revised Advocacy Policy better outlines the scope of ARLIS/NA’s advocacy activities, providing example topics of interest to the membership and listing types of involvement:
ARLIS/NA’s advocacy interests focus on issues that relate to visual arts, design, and cultural heritage:
· Funding
· Art and social justice
· Intellectual freedom and access to information
· Intellectual property rights and image rights
· Higher education
· Cultural institutions
· Workplace conditions of ARLIS/NA members
ARLIS/NA may choose to be involved in advocacy efforts in several key ways:
· Direct endorsement and support
· Writing position statements and letters
· Communicating with media outlets and on social media platforms
· Meeting with government officials to discuss policy issues
· Developing collaborative relationships with other arts and information organizations to further the goals of art information professionals
· Encouraging advocacy and action of the membership
The policy also explains the process for engagement in advocacy developments. The Executive Board will determine whether ARLIS/NA should respond as an organization, but individual members
may raise awareness or engage in advocacy activities at their discretion, as long as they do not imply that they are representatives of ARLIS/NA.
Some recent advocacy issues brought to the Executive Board have led to focused advocacy efforts on specific issues. I direct your attention to the State
of Art Museum Libraries Paper (2016) and the Academic Division’s Report (in-process, highlighted on our Featured Projects Page.)
A very big thank you to Caley Cannon and other members of the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee (APPC), as well as board member, Suzanne Rackover, for working with our mission and membership
to more clearly define roles and responsibilities around ARLIS/NA’s advocacy activities.
Sincerely,
Kim
Kim Collins
ARLIS/NA President
(404)727-2997, [log in to unmask]