Take a break from the dog days of summer with this stimulating issue of The Medium. We start our issue off with Elizabeth Schaub's deft presidential report in which she clearly outlines the recent issues of chapter affiliation, liability, and membership requirements as they apply to the relationship of the chapter to the society. Next, Janine Henri reports on her experience at the 2006 ARLIS/NA conference in Banff as recipient of this year's Lois Swan Jones Travel Award. In light of the recent sad news of Jones' passing, this issue offers a remembrance of her many contributions and invites anyone to contribute memories to the related blog. We also continue our series of collection profiles with an overview of the Green Art Research Library at The Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas, provided by its librarian/archivist, Daniel Alonzo. This issue closes with a wide spectrum of member news ranging from the acquisition of the King of the Hill papers by the Southwest Writers Collection, Texas State University, to project and personnel updates from the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
I hope that the summer has treated you well and that you are looking forward to a rewarding fall season.
Contributing to the slate of fall activities is the chapter’s annual meeting, October 20-22, 2006, in Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio. This progressive meeting will allow participants the opportunity to experience a wide range of collections and their unique material, time to network and socialize with colleagues, as well as a forum to address important issues facing the chapter during the annual business meeting. Registration is due to chapter treasurer Craig Bunch by October 7. Please visit the annual meeting page for further details including information about accommodations. I look forward to seeing all of you in October.
Since the ARLIS/NA annual conference in Banff (May 5-9, 2006) there has been much discussion about chapter affiliation. Following the conference Elizabeth Clarke, ARLIS/NA Executive Director, sent chapter officers a memo dated June 21, 2006 outlining key points related to this issue. As I summarized in an e-mail message sent to the chapter listserv on August 3, Ms. Clarke states:
The Chapter Affiliation Agreement codifies in the form of an official legal document relationships and expectations between ARLIS/NA and its chapters that for the most part already exist. These are recorded and described in various official documents including the ARLIS/NA Bylaws, the Chapter Success Book, and the Policy Manual. This agreement was drafted by the Executive Board, [and] reviewed by a knowledgeable lawyer…It is imperative that this agreement be mutually agreed upon in order to ensure that ARLIS/NA is operating in a fiscally responsible manner.
Recent discussion on the chapter officer/ARLIS/NA Board listserv has called into question whether chapter representatives can sign the agreement because of the assumption the agreement makes about a given chapter’s legal status. A chapter officer representing an unincorporated chapter is not in a position to sign a document stating he or she "…warrants that it [the chapter] is a legal entity…" (Section III.A).
In order to address the concerns that have been raised, Ann Whiteside, ARLIS/NA President, has arranged a conference call on August 22 with Michael Deese, the attorney who wrote the agreement, Trish Rose (Chair, ARLIS/Southern California), Barbara Rominski (Chair, ARLIS/Northern California) and me to seek clarity about what is being asked and whether chapters are in a position to comply.
I will update the chapter regarding this matter once our conversation takes place. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me personally or via the listserv with questions or concerns.
I have verified with the Office of the Texas Secretary of State that the Texas-Mexico chapter is unincorporated. The chapter should take steps to incorporate not only because the affiliation agreement requires it but also because we want to protect members of our chapter from personal liability.
The following information posted on the American Bar Association’s Web site supports this position:
This [incorporation] is a vital step. Only a few states have statutes that protect members of unincorporated associations from liability. If an unincorporated nonprofit organization operates in a state that has no statutory protection for members, the members could be personally liable for the debts or other obligations of that association.
This issue is particularly problematic for small chapters of national organizations. National organizations sometimes are reluctant to include a chapter and its activities within the national corporate umbrella because it doesn’t want to be liable for the chapter’s debts and obligations. Remaining unincorporated, however, puts the chapter’s members at risk for personal liability.1
Further, we want to make sure that the chapter calculates its risk appropriately and weighs that risk against a need for insurance coverage. This issue has also been discussed on the chapter officer/ARLIS/NA Board listserv and it will be addressed during our chapter’s business meeting in October.
As part of the process of coming to a consensus about the affiliation agreement, the section of the agreement related to centralized collection of chapter dues by headquarters was removed. Chapters will continue to be responsible for setting and collecting members’ dues at the local level.
In addition, chapters are expected to bring their bylaws into compliance with ARLIS/NA bylaws vis-à-vis membership requirements. In Elizabeth Clarke's memo referenced above she states: "The ARLIS/NA bylaws stipulate in Article XIII, Section 5 that 'membership in a chapter is conditional upon membership in the Society.' The ARLIS/NA Executive Board has determined this clause must be observed by each chapter." The membership section of the Texas-Mexico chapter’s bylaws (Article III) states that "Membership is open to all members of ARLIS/NA."
Historically the aforementioned section of the NA bylaws has not been strictly enforced and there are many chapters who feel that their regional membership will erode if membership is contingent upon concurrent membership in NA. Discussion on the chapter officer/ARLIS/NA Board listserv has been focused on how chapters can develop a tiered membership structure that may allow someone access to a regional chapter but exempt them from the membership requirement stipulated by NA’s bylaws. Our chapter already offers a non-voting "subscriber" membership category for non-ARLIS/NA members that accommodates someone who chooses not to become a member of NA.
I am still unsure how this issue will be resolved. The board has indicated that they support local chapters in their effort to offer a selection of membership options including one that would excuse chapter members from becoming NA members. At the same time, the Board is encouraging chapters to emphasize how important it is for regional members to participate as members of NA in order to ensure a robust parent organization.
As you can see, the ARLIS/NA Board, headquarters, and regional chapter officers are very engaged in addressing issues that have been raised by the affiliation agreement. This engagement will continue until which time all the issues surrounding the agreement have been addressed to the satisfaction of the parties involved. As a result of these discussions, it has been important to recognize that our chapter is unincorporated and consequently to become aware of the legal ramifications associated with that status. We now have the opportunity to identify what should be done in order to make sure our chapter stands on firm legal ground vis-à-vis liability, define our relationship to our parent organization so that it can protect itself appropriately against liability, and support membership parameters for our chapter that fit within ARLIS/NA bylaws.
I look forward to hearing from you regarding your thoughts on the current matters facing us and our fellow colleagues in regional NA chapters.
1 Paula Cozzi Goedert, "Nearly Everything You Want to Know about Nonprofits," GPSolo Magazine, April/May 2004 (accessed August 16, 2006).
On August 7, 2006, our profession lost Lois Swan Jones, a leading light in the world of art information. She was widely known for her work in art research methodology, having authored many essential works in that area, including three editions of Art Information: Research Methods and Resources (Kendall/Hunt, 1978, 1984, 1990). Her last book, Art Information and the Internet: How to Find It, How to Use It (Oryx Press, 1999), was a maverick work providing a road map to assist researchers navigating the morass of art information published on the Internet. In addition, she created an encyclopedic visual resource library made up of photographs that she and her family took around the world. This library of images supported her teaching efforts at the University of North Texas for some twenty years. It also helped illustrate the video series, Development of Christian Symbolism, that she produced with her son, Preston.
Jones received many accolades over the years, including the honor of being listed in Who's Who in American Art since 1978. In 1997, the Society recognized her with its Distinguished Service Award. And in recognition of her many contributions, the Chapter established the Lois Swan Jones Travel Award in 1993 to help defray Chapter members' expenses related to attending the ARLIS/NA annual conference. To date, the member-sustained fund has assisted seventeen Chapter members.
Lois touched so many in the Chapter and Society: always inspirational, positive, and enthusiastic. She was a mentor and friend to many. We fondly remember her stalwart presence in both our professional and personal lives.
Lois Swan Jones' family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Art Libraries Society/North America (ARLIS/NA), the Art Libraries Society/Texas-Mexico (ARLIS/TXMX), or a library of your choice.
The UNT Libraries will be collecting funds to purchase a fitting item to be housed in the Rare Book & Texana Collections in the memory of an important and respected member of the UNT and Libraries' community. It has been suggested that, considering her love of medieval art and illuminated manuscripts, a specimen or two of original medieval manuscript leaves would be an appropriate purchase.
A life-long supporter of education, libraries, and research, Dr. Jones taught at UNT for over 20 years.
Dr. Jones was always a supporter of the UNT Libraries. She helped to develop the collections in the areas of Art and Art History, served on many committees, and most recently, helped the University Archives become the repository for the papers of Judge Sarah T. Hughes, her longtime friend.
Donations in memory of Dr. Jones can be sent to:
The chapter's Lois Swan Jones Award is made possible through monetary contributions from chapter members and other supporters. Contributions in the form of checks made payable to the "ARLIS/TXMX LSJ Award" may be sent to the current treasurer listed on the officers page.
Please share your memories of Lois using the comment form located at the bottom of the page. Be sure to identify yourself.
Samuel Duncan
Elizabeth Schaub
First, let me thank the Lois Swan Jones Committee for granting me the 2006 award. Thanks to the generosity of the membership, I was able to take full advantage of the Banff conference's professional development opportunities, including workshops and tours. Here is a summary of my conference experience.
I attended the workshop on Digitization Strategies for Preservation and Access led by Howard Brainen, Digital Imaging Consultant and founder of Two Cat Digital. Two Cat Digital's clients include many ARLIS/NA, VRA, SAA, and MCN member institutions. After reviewing definitions, we discussed best practices for digitization projects and the components of such projects. Next we reviewed ideal vs. real world digitization strategies and whether the methods we use for small projects are scalable for larger collections. We reviewed the scanning systems currently available for books, prints, and film, and Howard Brainen generously shared the results of his tests on a variety of book scanners, including robotic books scanners, book scanners on a sliding table, DigiBook overhead scanners, flatbed scanners, and direct digital copy. He evaluated quality, productivity, cost, and special features, and concluded that the real difference between the least expensive systems ($4,000; flatbed and direct digital copy) and the most expensive systems ($250,000; robotic scanners) is in productivity. Scans from either system can "look as good" but robotic scanners never get tired and can scan from 1,200 to 3,000 pages each hour. Scanning operators can achieve 120 pages per hour on a flatbed or up to 600 pages on an overhead system, but they cannot work for more than a few hours at these rates. We ended the workshop by discussing examples of commercial and non-commercial projects and discussing how these projects impact future funding for digitization in libraries. There was also ample time for questions and for sharing of project management strategies among workshop attendees. Two Cat Digital's web page includes useful documents, including: a decision tree, information on color management, tips on hiring a photo shop tech, and more. My goal to have a better understanding of digital project management prior to seeking project funding was more than realized.
After the workshop, I headed for the Exhibit Hall, where the Silent Auction was also held (the Texas-Mexico Chapter contributed a basket to this fundraiser). I had volunteered to participate in the Conference Mentoring program and I met my mentee, a student at Indiana University, at the Welcome Party/Exhibits Hall Opening Reception. This event was a great opportunity to meet colleagues, friends, and vendors, to introduce my mentee to ARLIS/NA members, and to preview items on exhibit.
The next day I attended the session, Planning for Posterity: the Preservation of Art and Architecture Materials. Conservators and librarians shared their expertise and strategies for preserving and assessing collections, and for working with architects to design appropriate storage environments. Of particular interest are some of Harvard College Library's guidelines, and some of the resources available from the Canadian Conservation Institute's web page. I also attended the session on Improving Access to Images and Metadata. This was one of several sessions at the conference that dealt with issues related to image access and description. Ways to share files (peer-to-peer) in order to create or populate metadata fields were discussed, as were trends toward more open content and interoperability among licensed databases, the advent of social indexing and the potential demise of the taxonomic approach (no more pre-coordinated strings, no authoritative lists, no unnatural language?), and changing approaches to cataloging in response to new users. Related issues were also brought up in the session Aggregated Image Collections: Enriching and Aggravating?. One of the trends was dubbed the 'ARTstor factor': new collaborations between librarians and visual resources curators is evidenced now that libraries are licensing image databases. But licensed databases still fall short, as they lack adequate content for advanced courses. Visual resource curators no longer necessarily have a 'primary user' base now that users from all across the campus access their collections. Campus-wide image access results in more complex user education needs due to the size and diversity of the user population.
Of course due to the announcement just prior to the conference of the possible merger between RLG & OCLC, the RLG Round Table was well attended. After a brief presentation by Günter Waibel, the floor was open for discussion. Attendees were keen to know that RLG programs will continue after the merger and contributors to RLIN wanted to make sure that copy specific information would continue to be viewable and indexed.
I attended the Architecture Section Meeting where it was announced that ARLIS/NA is now affiliated with the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). Members of the section are working on information competencies and volunteers were sought to discuss these competencies with faculty members and test them out with assignments. Max Marmor reported on ARTstor plans with regards to architecture collections, notably the archives of Ezra Stoller (ESTO) and Wayne Andrews. Assistance with prioritizing the material to be digitized was sought from section members. ARTstor is in discussion with SAH to establish best practices for QTVR documents, so that we can get beyond still images to document architecture. I chaired the Membership Committee meeting (see minutes) then joined Texas-Mexico chapter members for an informal get-together (another networking opportunity).
One unexpected highlight of the conference was the NFB Film Night. The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a federal cultural agency within the Canadian Heritage Department. Created by an act of Parliament in 1939, its mandate is "to produce and distribute and to promote the production and distribution of films designed to interpret Canada to Canadians and to other nations." The films selected by the organizers were all somehow related to art or artists. Each was unique and though the night was late, I just had to stay for the entire showing. If you missed these films, look for them from your favorite distributor!
Because the University of Texas at Austin recently licensed ARTstor, I attended the ARTstor Users Group Meeting, where new development and future plans were announced and feedback from users was sought. I was a panelist on the Ask ARLIS Session: Reaching Out: Chapter Links to Local Library Schools. Panelists shared ideas for reaching out to library school students and a library school faculty member gave us insights into what the society might do to help educate the next generation of professionals. This was also the day when I volunteered at the Exhibit Hall (the Texas-Mexico basket was highly desirable and the no-so-silent auctioning provided much excitement!).
At the Digital Reconstruction of Illuminated Manuscripts: The Ege Project panelists discussed the history of the Ege manuscripts and their dispersal, as well as ongoing plans to recreate the manuscripts in digital form. A symposium and exhibit on this topic was held at the University of Saskatchewan in 2005. Additional owners of Ege manuscript pages are still being sought. After attending the Academic Division meeting where much of the discussion related to information literacy and to 2007 conference session ideas, I took part in a tour of the historic Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Not only is this hotel quite charming, but its history is also fascinating, our guide was entertaining, and the views are breathtaking! Well worth the visit.
The Convocation ceremony began with a theater company interpreting several humorous excerpts from Shakespeare, some with a local twist. Award winners were recognized, with Sherman Clarke receiving the Distinguished Service Award. This was followed by a lavish reception in the hotel (yet another networking opportunity where I again met with my mentee).
The second workshop that I took part in was Art in Books: How to Identify Original Works on Paper. This was a hands-on session, our leader having brought numerous examples for us to view (and magnifying lenses). Because I manage a growing special collection, this training will be immediately useful to me. I attended the Hot Topics: Going Green session, where several architects discussed their sustainable design projects and Sue Koskinen reviewed web-based sources for green design information (and she proclaimed that 'green is the new black'). At the membership meeting it was announced that almost 450 members were in attendance. After the membership meeting I finally ventured outside the hotel to explore the park. A short gondola ride brought me to the summit where a 360-degree view awaits. I hiked over to the next peak and saw three mountain goats on my way back! After the hike, it was time to hit the historic hot springs and relax. Refreshed, I ventured out for another hike along the river into Banff for dinner.
Last, but not least, another highlight of the conference for me was the all-day University of Calgary Information Resources Tour. The Information Resources department was formed seven years ago by bringing the libraries, university press, image center, archives, special collections, and Nickle Arts Museum under one director. We visited their Information Commons, their Image Centre (which consists of a Photo-imaging unit, a Film Library, a Copyright Clearance Center, the University of Calgary Press, a Digitization Unit, and a Slide Library), the Archives & Special Collections and its Canadian Architectural Archives, the Fine Arts Library, and the Nickle Arts Museum. Our hosts were extremely generous and we were all impressed with what our Canadian colleagues are up to.
Let me end this report by encouraging new members and conference participants to apply for this award in the future. There just is no substitute for face-to-face interaction with colleagues and visits to other libraries. Thanks again to all the members who make this award possible.
Green Art Research Library
The Old Jail Art Center
201 S. 2nd St.
Albany, TX 76430
Phone: 325-762-2269
Email: archivist@theoldjailartcenter.org
Web site (library): http://www.theoldjailartcenter.org/libarch/library.htm
Web site (museum): http://www.theoldjailartcenter.org
Green Library Reading Room
Library/Archives Work Area
Established in 1984 as part of The Old Jail Center's expansion project, the library exists to provide reference information in support of the center's permanent collection and to provide general art education material to the Shackelford County community. The library’s non-circulating collection now stands at over 2,500 volumes on the general history of cultures represented in the permanent collection, anthropology, art instruction, art education, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, theatre design, and architecture.
The library space is also used as a meeting room for museum staff, board of trustees, and various community organizations. The furnishings are antiques, most of which came from the Cook Memorial Hospital (now the Cook Children’s Medical Center) when it was renovated in the early 1980s.
The library also features a handful of oversized rare art books including Illustrations of the Book of Job by William Blake (1935 edition), and the New Gallery of British art; containing one hundred and twenty-one engravings on steel from the works of distinguished British painters, 1854.
In addition to its library collection, the Robert E. Nail, Jr. Archives includes archival material documenting the lives of persons, and events occurring in the Shackelford County area; personal and/or professional papers of artists whose work is in the permanent collection; and archival records of the Old Jail Art Center.
The library has one FTE who splits time between the Library and the Archives.
The bulk of our collection comes from donations from the general public and from the absorption of private libraries acquired as part of archival collections. We also receive exhibition catalogs, gallery guides, and museum publication from various library exchange programs.
Though the library was created in 1984, the library is only now offering researchers the opportunity to search its collections via the Web. In June 2006, the library made the long overdue move from card catalog to OPAC. The transition took six months of in-house retrospective conversion to MARC followed by another six months spent finding an institution to host our catalog. We joined the Abilene Library Consortium, a network of libraries in the Abilene area, which supports the library's new OPAC. We currently use cataloging services offered by Marcive in San Antonio whereby items are cataloged through Marcive's Web-based system and then emailed to the ALC system administrator.
Established as the research arm of the Department of Latin American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA) is currently in the midst of the multi-year Documents of 20th-century Latin American and Latino Art: A Digital Archive and Publications Project, which seeks to consolidate Latin American and Latino art as a field of study and to place it on equal footing with other established aesthetic traditions. This monumental program encompasses the recovery, translation into English, and publication of primary texts by Latin American and Latino artists, critics, and curators who have played a fundamental role in the development of modern and contemporary art in their countries or communities. A three-year recovery stage is well underway with ten professional research teams actively surveying locations throughout the United States and Latin America for relevant primary source documentation. These critical documents are currently being cataloged and digitized into a Web-based virtual archive at a rate of approximately 1,500 documents per year. Upon completion of the project’s recovery phase, all full-text documents and their corresponding cataloguing records will be made available free of charge to researchers and students through the World Wide Web.
In addition to creating a digital archive of artists’ writings and other critical texts, the end product of the Documents project will be a series of fully annotated book anthologies published in English. By focusing on thematic rather than chronological compilations, researchers will be able to compare and contrast how artists from different countries and communities approach aesthetics, social issues, and cultural tendencies. This open-ended framework will serve the teaching and research needs of both academic and professional communities in the United States, Europe, and Latin America and will lead to a redefinition of the current map of Latin American and Latino Art.
The project's administrative team is based at the MFAH. Working under the auspices of the museum, the ICAA employs six full-time staff members including Dr. Mari Carmen Ramírez, ICAA Director, Helvetia Martell, Project Director and Chief Bibliographer, and Mar´i;a C. Gaztambide, ICAA Research Coordinator. The ICAA’s efforts are supported by a broader team of museum personnel, who are equally invested in the center and the project's success.
The Department of Image Collections at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) has just completed a major photographic documentation project that has been twenty-five years in the making and involved the printing of thousands of negatives of works of art confiscated by the Nazis and other objects processed through the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP) after the Second World War.
In 1981, the Gallery’s then Deputy Director Charles Parkhurst, arranged for the MCCP negatives to be borrowed by the NGA from the National Archives (NARA). Parkhurst served in WWII as one of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives officers charged with preserving and protecting artworks and architecture in danger during the war. Adolf Hitler had planned a grand museum with works of art taken from public and private collections in lands the Nazis occupied. Many senior officials from the Third Reich had also assembled collections of confiscated art and antiques. Additionally, many museums and individuals sent their art collections and libraries into the countryside for safe keeping during the war. Hundreds of thousands of objects were displaced. After the war more than 1,500 repositories were discovered and to handle the extraordinary number of important and valuable objects, the Allies created four central collecting points to repatriate the art work.
The Munich Central Collecting Point was the largest of the four collecting points and many of the great private collections, like the Rothschild collection, were sent there. The Army carefully documented the hundreds of thousands of objects that passed through the portals of the MCCP, sometimes utilizing lists created by the Nazis of the looted art. Before the objects were repatriated to their countries of origin, Army specialists photographed the paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. This material, the negatives mostly unprinted, was transferred to the U.S. Department of State around 1950 where Ms. Ardelia Hall, their Fine Arts Advisor, oversaw the management of the collection and its eventual transfer to the National Archives. The MCCP images remained at the National Archives until it was agreed that the NGA could borrow and then print the negatives, retaining a copy for researchers here. The 40,000 negatives have now all been printed, sorted and, were returned to the National Archives at the end of June. Copies of the prints will be available for researchers at the National Gallery and at the College Park facility of the National Archives. NARA plans to microfilm the photographs. The Department of Image Collections is in the process of creating a database of the fine art images to make the Munich photos more readily accessible.
Hank, Peggy, and Bobby Hill, along with all of their Arlen, Texas, friends and neighbors have found a permanent home in Alkek Library’s Southwestern Writers Collection (SWWC). In 1999, Jim Dauterive, a Dallas native and staff writer for the Mike Judge & Greg Daniels King of the Hill television series, began donating his personal papers to the collection, the bulk of which consisted of scripts, research materials, memos, promotional items, and other production records documenting the popular animated series. In 2005, as the show prepared to wrap up its final seasons, Mr. Dauterive contacted SWWC Curator Connie Todd to inquire whether the SWWC would be interested in the comprehensive archives of the series. Since one of the driving missions of the Southwestern Writers Collection is to collect and preserve papers and manuscripts documenting southwestern culture and literature, Ms. Todd was quick to accept, and over 75 boxes of scripts, artifacts, and production records arrived on campus during the spring of 2006.
Along with all of the scripts and production records documenting the show, there were a few other items Jim Dauterive thought we’d be interested in: a number of four-foot by six-foot whiteboards that had hung in the writer’s room of the suite and contained text and sketches documenting the show’s production history. The way that the writers of King of the Hill used these boards was unique, and the text and images on the boards tell as much about their creative process as they do the production of the show. We immediately agreed with Jim that they were worth holding on to. It was just a matter of figuring out how to get them from Los Angeles to San Marcos without erasing them!
Queries to other archives professionals, discussions with conservators, and even a phone call to a company that makes whiteboards, yielded little advice about how to preserve the boards. "You want to keep the ink on the board permanently?" the whiteboard company rep asked incredulously, clearly at a loss.
Finally, a conservator we’d been referred to suggested using a fine-art shipper to build crates for the boards and pack them in the same way one might a fragile charcoal drawing. We settled on that approach, deciding we could use the crates for the whiteboards’ permanent storage. So, within weeks, the whiteboards arrived via eighteen-wheeler at the loading dock of our archives—safe and sound. As an added preservation caution, we immediately photographed the boards to record their informational content.
The King of the Hill papers are currently being processed and will be available for research in fall 2006. For access, please contact archivist Katie Salzmann ks31@txstate.edu or 512-245-3861.
The Amon Carter Museum is pleased to welcome back Dr. Ron Tyler, former Curator of History, as the ACM's new Director. Ron spent the intervening 20 years in Austin on the history faculty of UT, and serving as the Director of the Texas State Historical Association. It’s great to have such a distinguished scholar back in the fold!
The library and archives also has new appointments to announce:
Sam Duncan has been promoted to the position of Technical Services Librarian. Congratulations Sam!
Jonathan Frembling, former Archives intern, has been appointed to the position of Library and Archives Reference Coordinator. Jon is a recent graduate of the UTA archives concentration MA in history program, and is the department's new "public face," covering the library's weekly public hours.
Mary Jane Harbison, Library Technician, is also a new addition, and works with Sam in tech services. Mary Jane oversees interlibrary loan and provides cataloging support. She is also performing a collections inventory in the coming year.
As in the past, the library and archives special collections continue to be integral to the exhibitions programs of the Carter. This fall, Allen Townsend will curate an Audubon installation, featuring the museum's collection of the earliest issue (1827-28) double-elephant folio prints from the Birds of America, as well as selections from the library's bound octavo edition (1840-44). Other versions of Birds have been borrowed from the Stark Museum (Orange, TX) and the Philbrook Museum (Tulsa, OK) and will also be on display. If you're in Fort Worth between October 7 and January 7, 2007, check out Audubon’s Passion in the works on paper galleries, and let us know you're coming!
The Visual Resource Collection in the Art & Art History Department has joined the Digital Archive Services (DASE) of the University of Texas at Austin. DASE is a joint effort of Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, and the General Libraries. It consists of a set of applications for the collection, cataloging, and serving of digital media collections from all over the university.
In the future, the DASE Media Browser will give faculty and students the ability to search diverse collections of images, videos, audio files, and other media. Currently ten image collections have been uploaded (approaching 50,000 images). They are accessible and can be used for classroom instruction. Full-search capability is restricted to individuals via electronic identification (UTEID).
By joining DASE, it will possible that the vast image collection of the VRC, foremost a teaching resource for faculty in the department of Art & Art History, can be accessed by all university members.
From June 12-June 16, I attended the TALL Texans Leadership Development Institute. TALL stands for Texas Accelerated Library Leaders. This was the 13th year for the Institute. The Institute is sponsored by the Texas Library Association (TLA) and is intended to foster and extend the leadership abilities and interpersonal skills of librarians and library lay persons. The individuals selected are mid-career and are chosen for their leadership potential. The Institute is held annually at Canyon Oaks Ranch near Wimberley, Texas. Selection of the participant group--drawn from libraries across the state of Texas including school, public, academic and special libraries--was highly competitive.
The workshop was facilitated by two Library Leadership gurus, Maureen Sullivan and Jack Siggins. They have been facilitating the Institute for twelve of its thirteen years. Maureen is a Library Leadership consultant and Jack is the University Librarian at George Washington University.
In addition to the attendees, several mentors were also on hand. They were leaders in Texas Libraries including library directors and library and information school professors. Both the TLA President, Jana Knezek, and the TLA President-Elect, Steve Brown, attended the institute. It was a terrific opportunity for me to network with leaders in the field and mid-career librarians across the state. It is simply amazing how much we all have in common.
This five-day workshop was highly productive. It was an opportunity for me to grow professionally and think clearly about my professional advancement as well as the development of the UT Austin, Fine Arts Library. After each day of intense learning, we all had an opportunity to hike, swim or just relax on the porch sipping a glass of wine or bottle of beer at the beautiful Canyon Oaks Ranch.
I know that not many ARLIS/Texas-Mexico members are involved in TLA, but this is an excellent opportunity to become involved. Both our organization and TLA contend with similar issues. For example: Texas-Mexico relations. Because of my attendance at the Leadership Institute, I was asked to become involved and serve on a committee. One of the committees that needed an additional member was the TLA Texas-Mexico Relations Committee. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for me to see first hand the type of work TLA is doing with our neighbors across the border so ARLIS/Texas-Mexico could apply similar strategies. I attended my first meeting in early July at the TLA Annual Assembly. At this meeting we discussed services and programming for immigrant populations and exchance programs with Mexican librarians. I will be sure to update the ARLIS/Texas-Mexico membership as I become more involved with this TLA committee.
I would encourage all ARLIS/Texas-Mexico members who are in new leadership roles or who strive to become leaders to apply for next year’s TALL Texans Leadership Institute. For a five day workshop including room and board, it is extremely affordable.
If you have specific questions about the Institute, please get in touch with me. I would be more than happy to answer questions about this worthwhile experience.
María C. Gaztambide recently joined the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as Research Coordinator. In this newly-created position, she works to establish and implement research priorities and standards for the center’s multi-year projects and publication series. These include the Documents of 20th Century Latin American and Latino Art: A Digital Archive and Publications Project and Hélio Oiticica at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, María previously worked as Visual Resources Curator at Tulane University’s Woldenberg Art Center. There she spearheaded the Center’s efforts to digitize its image-based collections and worked in tandem with other campus-wide digital initiatives. She holds an MA in Arts Administration (University of New Orleans) and an MA in Art History from Tulane, where she is also a candidate for a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies with a concentration in Latin American art.
After receiving her MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin, Katherine O'Dell accepted the position of solo Visual Resources Librarian at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. In a small, liberal arts environment, she provides support for the Art and Art History department within the Sarofim School of Fine Arts.
Former chapter member Polly McCord continues to thrive in Taos (despite a broken foot in March)! She's started a new blog, www.artfultraveler.blogspot.com, where she writes about trips she takes (and can plan for you), events she attends, and places to stay. If you are planning to head to New Mexico this fall, be sure to give Polly a call and say hello.
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 Fall/Winter 2006 Issue (v. 32, no. 3): November 5, 2006 [Revised to November 10, 2006]