Submitted by Kristen Regina
Chapter officers:
Kristen Regina, Chair
Karen O’Connell, Vice-Chair
Yuki Hibben, Secretary/Treasurer
CHAPTER MEETINGS
I. May 3, Silent Auction Happy Hour, Denver, CO, ARLIS/NA National Conference, approximately 15 attendees.
A moment to toast our travel award winners and gather face-to-face.
II. July 11, 2008, 9:15am – 4:45pm; Baltimore, MD; Baltimore Museum of Art & The Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art (MICA), 31 attendees.
MICA hosted a welcome reception with coffee and pastries, and then a tour of their library. South Regional Representative Elizabeth Schaub attended to report on ARLIS/NA topics. There was a discussion of the Chapter Communications Survey results and next steps. Lunch was on one’s own. At the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) we had tours of the Prints & Photographs collection and the BMA archives/library. Time was left to view current exhibitions and to gather for drinks.
III. October 24, 2008, 9:14am – 7:30pm; Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art, Joint Meeting with VRA, 72 attendees.
The NGA hosted the meeting which was primarily organized by Gregory Most. Registration and Continental Breakfast on the Terrace Café started at 9:15 followed by two concurrent tours of the Rare Books and Images in the Library, given by Neal Turtell, Executive Librarian, and Gregory Most, Chief, Department of Image Collections, respectively. They discussed and displayed some of the treasures contained in the National Gallery of Art Library and library staff also demonstrated Oculus, the NGA Library’s digital image database. After lunch Kenneth Fleisher, Photographer, Department of Imaging and Visual Services, National Gallery of Art, gave a lecture titled “The Fundamentals of Color Management in a Digital Environment.” Carol C. Mattusch, Mathy Professor of Art History, George Mason University and guest curator of the Pompeii exhibition, gave a lecture “Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples: an overview of the exhibition.” Gregory Most hosted a cocktail party at his house at the end of the day.
Ken Soehner, President of ARLIS/NA attended the full day of activities and both he and Cate Cooney, ARLIS/NA Board Chapters Liaison, attended the business meeting. Franklin Kelly, Deputy Director of the NGA, graciously underwrote the costs of breakfast and lunch and spoke briefly during lunch.
IV. December 5, 2008, 12:45pm – 5:00pm; Baltimore, MD, The Walter’s Art Gallery, approximately 15 attendees.
A private curator led tour of the exhibition “Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry.” Chris Henry, WAM Librarian, gave a tour of the library afterwards.
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
I. Student Outreach Committee Created
In an effort to attract more student members to the chapter, the Student Outreach Committee (SOC) was formed and currently has four members (Anne Simmons, National Gallery of Art, and Kim Detterbech, student University of MD (co-chairs), Rebecca Cooper, Society of the Cincinnati (now at UVA), and Sarah Falls, the University of Richmond (now with ARTStor). The purpose of the SOC is to inform graduate students and emerging professionals about the benefits of membership of ARLIS as well as offer general professional guidance. In order to achieve this goal, the Committee members engaged in a number of outreach activities. These included posting chapter meeting announcements to listservs for Catholic University and University of Maryland’s library schools and creating a flyer that advertises the chapter’s purpose and benefits to students. The SOC received funding from ARLIS/NA to mass produce the color flyer in order to facilitate a wide dissemination. Members of the Committee distributed the flyers to multiple venues such as library science graduate courses that focus on the humanities or the arts, student organization fairs, and in public areas at both universities. To date the SOC has doubled the number of student members to the chapter and encouraged these students to attend chapter meetings. Future plans of the Committee include designating a professional liaison with each school to create contacts and identify events where ARLIS could participate, creating a YouTube video to advertise the chapter, and creating an online presence via MySpace and Facebook.
II. Communications reevaluation and survey: Appointment of Roger Lawson, National Gallery of Art, to a one year renewable post as Communications Liaison to restructure chapter technologies and methods of communication. A communications survey was first offered via Surveymonkey, with 19 responses and a few additional comments, to help guide the process.
III. Ballot Vote, APPROVED:
Statement on Student Travel Award and Mentorship Program
The chapter is deeply committed to supporting students and fostering a community for them in which they can develop their skills, network, and pursue a career in art librarianship. That said, the Student Travel Award is regularly in the red and the chapter can no longer afford to support it. Therefore, this amendment suspends the Student Travel Award until such a time when funds are donated to independently support it. When there is a new funding source, the chapter will reinstate a student award. In the meantime, the chapter will create a Mentorship Program. This program will be broadly based, open to all students, and provide a list of local mentorship and practicum opportunities. The chapter will try to execute this program in conjunction with the two local university MLS programs.
MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS:
Total membership = 58
ARLIS/NA members = 45
Non-ARLIS/NA members = 13 (6 affiliate; 7 student)
New members = 20
Renewing = 38
Non-renewing = 9
TREASURER’S REPORT
Yuki Hibben, Secretary/Treasurer
Income and Expenses
2008 Income
| Membership dues (Personal and Affiliate) | $780.00 |
| Award donations | $600.00 |
| Total | $1380.00 |
2008 Expenses
| Student Travel Award | 3/6 | $390.00 |
| ARLIS/NA Welcome Party Donation | 3/6 | $250.00 |
| Caroline Backlund Award | 3/11 | $500.00 |
| Summer Meeting Expenses | 7/11 | $13.00 |
| Student Brochures | 11/3 | $9.35 |
| Lunch for ARLIS/NA President/Fall Meeting | 11/13 | $18.00 |
| Total | $1180.35 |
Beginning balance 1/1/2008: $4,556.55
Ending balance 12/31/2008: $4,756.20
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Technology and the need for more support from ARLIS/NA is the continuing issue for our chapter. If not an opportunity to provide options for web hosting via ARLIS/NA, at least a guideline and recommendations on providers and costs. We of course communicate amongst our peers and other chapters to help us determine this information, but it seems that technology should not continue to be a grass-roots operation in today’s environment.