Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Medium published with the chapter's new content management system. This issue introduces a new collection profiles series, and we begin with a look at the Rice Visual Resources Center. To augment the series' usefulness, this and future collection profiles will be easily accessible via the main menu. Other issue highlights include Elizabeth Schaub's insightful president's column, Laura Schwartz's story about promoting the UT Fine Arts Library (and the importance of library promotion in general), the scoop about the new Dallas Art Libraries Consortium, a revisiting of the contents of the first issue of The Medium, along with an interesting roundup of member news.
The first chapter meeting that I attended was in Lubbock, Texas in 1998. My colleague, and friend, Beth Dodd, whom I had met while we were both employed at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, encouraged me to participate since I had just completed my MLIS degree and was newly hired as the co-director of the School of Architecture’s Audio Visual Resources Collection at The University of Texas at Austin. Soon I was introduced to Laura Schwartz and the three of us piled into Laura’s car and headed west. At that time, I could not have predicted how the journey to Lubbock would influence my professional development or how the chapter would evolve over the ensuing years.
When my term as president began this January, I decided to assess, in broad terms, where the chapter had been, where it is currently, and how it might evolve. Using this approach, vice president/president elect Sam Duncan and I developed a platform that will help guide my term as president and ensure continuity so that when Sam begins his term in 2007, he can carry the plan forward.
While assessing the chapter’s history, I turned to The Medium that was published following the 1998 meeting in Lubbock (v. 24, no. 3/4 [fall/winter 1998]). I found evidence of how the chapter was reinventing itself, how it was shaping the image it was presenting to the world via the Web, and how this trajectory would influence activities in the coming years.
The chapter was undergoing its name change, shepherded by Janine Henri, from ARLIS/Texas to ARLIS/Texas-Mexico. The name change became official in 1999 and recruitment activities followed, resulting in the formation of the Mexican Librarian Recruitment Committee, chaired by Jacqui Allen. The committee successfully applied for ARLIS/NA grant funding to bring two Mexican librarians to the chapter’s 2001 annual meeting in Albuquerque. However, beginning in 2002, recruitment efforts to attract additional Mexican members were not fruitful. Still, the chapter stayed committed to its goal, and by 2005, chapter members Charles Burchard and Selene Hinojosa had translated the membership form and the president’s message on the Web site into Spanish.
Sam Duncan’s redesign of the chapter’s Web site debuted at the Lubbock meeting in 1999, and Sam proposed that The Medium be marked up using HTML in order to make it available online. Sam also identified the need for the chapter to pursue an independent Internet Service Provider to host the chapter’s site. Sam’s redesigned chapter Web site received numerous accolades from both inside and outside the chapter; by 2000, new issues of The Medium were posted electronically and mailing ceased. Our chapter’s new site also helped encourage thinking at the Society level about the image ARLIS/NA wanted to present to the world via the Web. Sam’s continued involvement in the chapter’s Web-related activities resulted in his development of the Society’s site for the annual conference in Houston in 2005. Sam introduced a content management system that allowed for dynamic site updates and the capability for users to search the program by keyword and create customized conference schedules. This revolutionary approach to managing annual conference information via the Web harkened a paradigm shift that has influenced the way the Society’s Web site for this year’s conference in Banff has developed.
“Plus ca change, plus c’est la même chose.” Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr, a French critic, teacher, philosopher and novelist of the 19th century gave us the oft-used and well recognized adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The issues that I wish to address during my term as president have to do with recruitment and the chapter’s Web presence and how it relates to broader issues that the Society should address. These are not new issues. However, as technology evolves, we have the ability to harness it to cultivate new and exciting ways to recruit members and to create a Web presence that better meets our members’ needs.
Part of my historical assessment of the chapter included a conversation with Janine Henri about the impetus to change the chapter’s name. What Janine told me was very illuminating. Up until 1999 when the name of the chapter was changed to include Mexico, there was no administrative structure in place to accommodate Mexican members of ARLIS/NA who might want to participate in the society at the regional level. According to Janine, the name change did not obligate the chapter to add Mexican members to its ranks. Instead the change simply provided a means for Mexican members to have a voice regionally. Even so, chapter members devoted a great deal of time and energy to recruit Mexican members and the chapter has continued to shore up the bridge between Texas and Mexico by providing translated portions of the chapter’s Web site. The door to membership in the chapter was opened in 1999, and it remains open in 2006.
In order to more effectively recruit chapter members who are current or new members of the Society, I have asked that the mechanism in place at the Society level to channel information about potential members be examined since we have not received such information on an ongoing basis. As a result of my request, this is being addressed and all the Society’s chapters should be receiving reports on a monthly basis that will help facilitate recruiting efforts. In concert with this change, I plan to pursue the creation of an informational packet that the chapter could distribute to potential members as a recruitment tool. Finally, I would like to reach out to former members and encourage them to rejoin the chapter.
Sam mentioned at the meeting in Marfa last year that he was interested in refreshing the chapter’s Web site aesthetically as well as from a functional perspective. During the first part of this year, due to Sam’s efforts, our Web site’s appearance has changed to include a new logo and also takes advantage of technological innovations to help us more effectively manage our content. In particular, Sam has employed a more efficient means of producing and organizing The Medium and also a better system of managing member profiles. Thanks go to Sam for devoting the time and energy to research the best approach for the chapter’s site and for lending his design skills to transform the chapter’s online image. Sam will more fully report on his efforts elsewhere in this issue of The Medium.
Another issue that was identified in Marfa and will be pursued during the coming year relates to how chapters’ Web sites relate to the Society and to what degree the Society should centralize the technical infrastructure that supports chapters’ sites. Our chapter’s site is hosted by an independent Internet Service Provider (ISP) so the existence of the site is not contingent upon the ability of the individual who is serving as the chapter’s Web master to convince his or her institution to host the site. Having the site hosted by an ISP provides continuity from one Web master to the next. However, this is not the model followed by all the Society’s chapters. A centralized model would provide stability and continuity for chapter sites even when regional Web masters change. This is a position that the chapter has advocated and I am pursuing this issue through the appropriate channels to reach the Board with our concerns.
In addition, because our chapter hosted the Society’s annual conference in 2005 and we were responsible for the Web site, it is now incumbent on our chapter to maintain the site in perpetuity. Again, it makes sense from an administrative perspective to have a centralized means to address issues of continuity and perpetuity for annual conference sites. This too is an issue that I have called to the Board’s attention on the chapter’s behalf and I will keep you apprised about how this issue is addressed by the Board.
Preparations for the annual meeting have already begun; details will be forthcoming. The dates are October 20-October 22, 2006. Currently the proposed itinerary has attendees arriving in Austin on Thursday, 10/19, meeting in Austin on 10/20, departing Austin on 10/21 and traveling to San Marcos and then onto San Antonio. Attendees will depart from San Antonio on Sunday, 10/22.
Thanks to those of you who have volunteered to assist with local arrangements in each of the three cities that we will visit.
Finally, I want to thank you, my colleagues, who have helped me to develop professionally and who have given me the opportunity to serve first as the chapter’s secretary, then as vice-president/president elect, and now as president. My hope is that you will find the upcoming meeting in Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio inspirational and that it will help guide you on your professional path in the same way the meeting in Lubbock did for me.
I look forward to serving you in my current role helping to guide the chapter as it continues its evolution.
Elizabeth Schaub wrote in her president's column that the chapter's first Web site launched in 1999, and I remember all the fretting and obsessing leading up to its release. It's 2006, and I'm experiencing a weird sense of déjà vue. The learning curve was steep, but the rewards are many. We now have a Web publishing platform that I'm hopeful will serve the chapter well into the future. The site is powered by the Drupal content management system, which allows an unprecedented level of control over the site's content. With Drupal's impressive list of add-on modules, I would be hard pressed to imagine functionality needed by the chapter that the system couldn't accommodate. Above and beyond, the chapter community is the force that brings the site alive and keeps it a dynamic and vital tool, which is in keeping with the underpinning philosophy of community that drives Drupal development: after all, Drupal's tagline is "community plumbing." And guess what? The software is also free.
I especially want to highlight the dramatic shift in how we produce and display The Medium. No longer does The Medium appear as a huge chunk of text to wade through. Now each issue is presented with a table of contents, which allows you to easily pick and choose articles. Once you've accessed an article, you can quickly return to the issue's table of contents by following the breadcrumbs at the top of the content area. Printer-friendly links are provided at the bottom of each issue's table of contents and also at the bottom of each article.
In terms of the way we produce and edit each issue, chapter members who are contributing content will have special privileges that will allow them to post their work directly via the Web site and tag that content for later editorial review and publishing.
Finally, because of Drupal's modularity, each article can be repurposed and presented in other areas of the site. An example is the collection profiles, which appears on the main menu. These articles are brought together automatically via tagging from various issues of The Medium. Still another example is content that is highlighted in the "recent articles" section appearing in the righthand column on each page of the site.
The chapter also has a new Web host for our site, AN HOSTING, which represents a signficant savings and increase in features over our old host. We now pay $95.40 per year instead of $167.40. Our domain name was activated on the new host on May 5, 2006.
Thanks to Elizabeth Schaub for all the handholding, encouragement, and patience. I also owe a debt to John Robinson, Webmaster at the Amon Carter Museum, and Timothy Gambell, Graphic Designer and Production Manager at the Amon Carter Museum, for their good humor in answering my many calls for advice and help.
Mark Pompelia, Past President of ARLIS/TXMX, authored the chapter's annual report for 2005. The report may be downloaded below.
The year was 1974, and The Medium's tagline was "an agent through which action takes place." As we witness a sea change in the way the chapter publishes The Medium, what better time to visit the first issue of The Medium? The opening paragraph indicates that the publication was to be largely shaped by chapter members' contributions, and that approach is even more apt in our new publication environment, which offers an unprecedented level of user input and control.
The opening paragraph from the first issue:
This is the first newsletter of the Art Library Society/North America -- Texas Chapter. As a new publication its form will follow the material we have to print. Future issues will reflect the form and content ARLIS/Texas members give to it. We begin with humility and we strive for significance -- your opinions and ideas are always considered.
Volume 1, number 1 recorded activities at the first organizational meeting of the Texas chapter held at the Kimbell Art Museum and Amon Carter Museum. Ilse Rothrock, librarian at the Kimbell Art Museum, introduced guest speaker Judith Hoffberg, founder of ARLIS/NA and librarian at the Brand Library in Glendale, California, who spoke to the group about the history of ARLIS/NA and other particulars. After a lunch break, Shelby Miller, president of the chapter, continued the meeting by discussing the steps required to become an official chapter of ARLIS/NA. The question of the frequency of chapter meetings took center stage, with Judith Hoffberg urging the group to meet more than once a year. In the end, the group agreed on a compromise provision in the chapter's constitution reading, "a meeting shall be held at least once a year." James Galloway, vice-president, would be responsible for sending out the newsletter, and the cost would be supported by donations--at the time, the kitty amounted to $19. The meeting then turned to discussion of various chapter projects and concerns, including how to handle duplicate periodicals, the challenge of indexing exhibition catalogs, and how to handle an ongoing chapter initiative, the compilation of the Union List of Art Periodicals in Texas. Members agreed that a state-wide listing would not be feasible and that it made more sense to start with smaller areas and piece those into a larger list later. Another project on the docket was a way to handle non-book materials, such as exhibition announcements. These materials were seen as important since they often provided information not published elsewhere. In another initiative, Mrs. Rothrock sought to leverage the collective knowledge offered by the chapter by publishing a form that members could use to submit reference questions among themselves. The first form appears alongside the article. The issue closes with a call for members to re-evaluate the curriculum offered by area library schools vis-a-vis preparation of future art librarians and to express their concerns via a form to be filled out and mailed to Dean Dewey Carroll at the North Texas State University School of Library and Information Science.
The inaugural issue of The Medium reveals a nascent chapter brimming with projects and concerns. Thirty-two years later, the chapter remains a vital network of professionals addressing a long list of art library and visual resources problems and challenges. In fact, some of the concerns brought out at our first meeting are still with us today: witness Jon Evans' work with non-book materials via the ARLIS/NA Artist Files Working Group. It's clear that the connections that the chapter facilitates between members still stands as its raison d'être, and as we launch the new Web site, opportunity abounds for building and mining those connections.
Visual Resources Center
Department of Art History, Rice University
6100 Main St, 103 Herring Hall
Email: vrc@rice.edu
Web site: arthistory.rice.edu/vrc.cfm
The Visual Resources Center (VRC) is the image collection for art historical instruction and research at Rice University. Containing approximately 325,000 35mm film slides and 10,000 high-resolution digital images, the collection represents visual culture from prehistoric to contemporary times and reflects the many areas of faculty interest and curatorial development since its inception in the early 1970s.
The VRC has three FTE staff (a director and associate and assistant curators—the first two being professional, exempt positions). In addition, a student assistant contributes 10-15 hours per week.
The VRC currently has an annual acquisitions rate of 4,000 35mm slides and 12,000 digital images through in-house copystand photography and flatbed and slide scanning, which signals a recent and dramatic reversal of the ratio of analog to digital items added to the collection. This change reflects the developing interest of the art history faculty toward electronic access and presentation and VRC efforts to build a significant and meaningful body of digital images to make that format attractive to the faculty. The university is currently in the process of negotiating a license for ARTstor, which will greatly impact digital image access and possibly affect VRC internal collection development practices.
In 2003, the VRC implemented the Image Resource Information System (IRIS), a highly complex relational database developed by a consortium of colleges and universities that adheres to the latest developments in visual resources data standards (key among them is the work/image relationship, where multiple image records refer to one work record). IRIS also encourages the construction of and strict adherence to a wide variety of built-in authority files. Before IRIS, the VRC had been using a fairly adequate flat-file to produce slide labels for 75,000 slides; this file is searchable through IRIS. The VRC is looking to modify IRIS to add thumbnails to image records and to create an OPAC (online catalog) for patron searching of IRIS.
Since 2000, the VRC has supported course-based Web sites for student review of images. These sites are generated through third-party software such as Extensis Portfolio and Microsoft Powerpoint (the former offers a data-rich image gallery, whereas as the latter allows a seamless review of the actual lecture presented in class). In summer 2005, the university reviewed several digital image management systems and decided upon the Madison Digital Image Database (MDID), an intuitive teaching tool that allows faculty to search the VRC digital collection and build lectures to be presented in class and saved for student review online. The VRC spent the autumn building a metadata model and selecting the corresponding data fields within IRIS (exported data is then modified slightly before being imported to MDID). The VRC envisions a further streamlined digital workflow between these two systems, IRIS and MDID, to allow for near real-time access to digital images.
During the week of March 6, the University of Texas Fine Arts Library was emblazoned on the main page of the UT website as a feature story. The story received approximately 11,000 hits and provided an incredible means for publicizing the library.
As so many of us know, marketing and publicizing our services and collections helps increase usage and encourages both moral and financial support. Since I began in the role of Head Librarian, my goal has been to take advantage of as many marketing opportunities as possible. Twice a year the staff of the Fine Arts Library volunteer at the pledge drives of the local National Public Radio affiliate KUT and the local Public Broadcasting Station KLRU. Over the last year, the Fine Arts Library has been featured on KUT's ArtsEcletic and now the UT Spotlight. I am still eager to have features written about us in the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman's XLent.
Unfortunately, getting this kind of publicity is not as easy as calling up the radio station or UT's Office of Public Affairs and simply asking for it. I have really had to sell the concept and make it sound exciting. That is what is so terrific about the feature story on the UT website--it made the library sound like a great place. I had so many patrons tell me that the story inspired them to come into the library more often and take advantages of our entire suite of services.
The bottom line is that if my library is going to make a difference in our local community and our global community, I need to let as many people know about it as possible. Our goal is to promote education, literacy, and creativity. My job is to make sure that the Fine Arts Library is inspiring as many citizens as possible. That is what it is all about, isn't it?
Laura Schwartz
The Dallas Art Libraries Consortium, officially organized in 2005, was set up to facilitate the research needs of local art researchers. At this time, there are four members: Hamon Fine Arts Library at Southern Methodist University, Mildred M. Kelly Library of the Art Institute of Dallas, Fine Arts Division of the Dallas Public Library and the Mayer Library of the Dallas Museum of Art. The Consortium's Web site describes each member's collection and what patrons it serves and how. There are no elected officers, no dues and no set meeting times.
The idea for Dallas Art Libraries Consortium originated with Tinsley Silcox, Director of the Hamon Fine Arts Library at SMU. Tin, (as everyone calls him), felt a need for an informal local group of art librarians to provide researchers and other librarians knowledge of local collections and resources. It was also considered useful for each librarian to meet and know other librarians in the field. Each librarian was asked to provide a description of each collection for the Web site, including strengths, who to contact, hours and location, and rules for usage. The Web site is managed by Chris Edwards, administrative assistant at SMU's Hamon Arts Library.
The first and organizational meeting was at the Art Institute of Dallas where we toured the library then had lunch at the Culinary Institute, a part of the school. The second meeting was at the SMU Hamon Library where the librarian, Beverly Gibbons, demonstrated ArtStor. In keeping with the getting-to-know-each-other approach, we had lunch afterwards at a local restaurant. At this time there are no other meetings scheduled.
Gwen Dixie
The Artist Files Working Group has actively been working over the past year to put together a site that will provide a centralized resource for locating institutions with artist files. As part of this endeavor, we intend to create a directory that provides summary statements of institutional holdings from across North America. This directory will go live in the fall of 2006 and will allow the institutions to supply relevant documentation about their holdings of artist files. Further, we intend to provide documentation for loading minimal level cataloging records into the major union catalogs to enhance access to individual records.
Jon Evans
Edward Lukasek joined the Hirsch Library, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on February 20 as Catalog Librarian. Edward previously worked in the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections Department, and he also worked as a consultant who assisted in setting up a library for the Culinary Institute Alain & Marie LeNotre. He was eagerly welcomed by all the Hirsch Library staff, including his supervisor Margaret Ford, who will be sharing her expertise in the intricacies of museum library cataloging. Edward earned his Master of Library Science degree from the University of North Texas in December 2004.
Edward's varied experience will undoubtedly be an asset at our chapter meetings: rare books, special collections, plus several years as a professional wine buyer in San Francisco. (I expect the quality of our wine and cheese receptions to improve considerably!)
Margaret Culbertson
Janine Henri recently co-authored the following article: "Revising NAAB Condition 8: Information Resources" by Kathryn Brackney and Janine Henri, ACSANews, Vol. 35:3, November 2005, p.25.
Several current and former members of the Texas-Mexico Chapter presented papers at a joint Association of Architecture School Librarians/Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture conference session in Salt Lake City on March 31, 2006.
The panel session, Architecture Libraries and Schools of Architecture: Real Collaboration for Student Success will include the following presentations: Prof. Ben Jacks (Miami University) and Shannon Van Kirk (formerly Miami University, now California Polytechnic State University) will discuss their collaborative information literacy projects. Tara Carlisle and Janine Henri (University of Texas) will present "Making the Tangible Connection: Materials Libraries Supporting Faculty and Student Research." Heather Ball (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) will present on library support for off-campus architecture programs.
Since 1979 the Fine Arts Library has served as an important source for information on music, the visual arts, theatre and dance for the University of Texas and local communities. It now has a new look and is providing new services thanks to a collaborative initiative between the University of Texas Libraries and the College of Fine Arts.
Located in the Doty Fine Arts Building across 23rd Street from the D.K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the renovated Fine Arts Library's main level is conceived as a collaborative learning and creative environment with moveable furniture, chairs with tablet arms for laptops, and an additional group study room. Elegant metro shades now filter the sun. The inspirational views of surrounding live oaks, Memorial Stadium and the Tower remain.
The new hardware and software for learning and creating include:
The University of Texas Libraries has received the largest single gift in its history, a $1 million grant from University of Texas at Austin alumnus Jan J. Roberts, who has established an endowment in honor of her late husband, Richard T. "Dick" Roberts. The endowment will upgrade and maintain the Fine Arts Library facility, acquire new library materials and support readings or lectures by renowned playwrights, poets, composers and authors.
The reading room at the Fine Arts Library will be named The Richard T. and Jan J. Roberts Reading Room.
Samuel Duncan
Amon Carter Museum
sam.duncan@cartermuseum.org
Academic Libraries
Laura Schwartz
lschwartz@austin.utexas.edu
Architecture Libraries
Janine Henri
jhenri@mail.utexas.edu
Museum Libraries
Jon Evans
jevans@mfah.org
Public Libraries
Gwen Dixie
gdixie@dallaslibrary.org
Visual Resources
Mark Pompelia
pompelia@rice.edu
Deadline for Summer 2006 Issue (v. 32, no. 2): August 5, 2006