We are all preparing for a new century - what an exciting time! Along with these plans are those for the first ARLIS/NA Annual Conference of the millennium. The Conference Committee in Pittsburgh is hard at work getting ready for what sounds like a great combination of worthwhile sessions, wonderful tours, and terrific speakers. I hope to see all of you in Pittsburgh from March 16-22!

Things in the South Region are also busy and equally exciting. The newly named ARLIS/Texas-Mexico Chapter met at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth from October 7-10. Chia-Chun Shih, the President of the Chapter, organized and led the annual meeting. As you know, the name change in the Chapter By-Laws was approved at the Executive Board's Mid-Year Meeting in Berkeley, California. The Chapter is now hard at work on plans to recruit new members from Mexico. While at the Kimbell, we saw Sister Wendy and Elvis Costello in one day; however, they weren't together.

The meeting next year will be in Houston, Texas. In November, ARLIS/SE held their 25th Anniversary Regional Conference in Atlanta. The meeting was hosted by Kim Collins of the High Museum. An added treat was that we were there for the opening of the Norman Rockwell exhibition at the High. We also enjoyed a tour of the decorative arts collection at the museum, a tour of Nexus Press’s artist’s book collection and a visit to Emory University's Special Collections Department and their Michael C. Carlos Museum.

ARLIS/DC-MD-VA has joined the ARLIS/Texas-Mexico and ARLIS/SE Chapters in having our own web site. Our thanks go to Julia Wisniewski, University of Maryland, for starting and hosting this web site. Julia is anxious for comments and suggestions on items to be included. Thanks also to Karen Schneider for hosting the November Chapter meeting at the Phillips Collection and for a wonderful tour of "The Eye of Duncan Phillips: A Collection in the Making." We had a great turn-out and a delightful day. The Baltimore members of the Chapter have offered to extend an invitation to ARLIS/NA for a future Annual Conference in Baltimore.

Meanwhile, the Executive Board of ARLIS/NA had a full agenda at the Mid-Year Meeting held in Berkeley, California from October 1-3. Among the topics discussed were future conferences (2001-Los Angeles; 2002- St. Louis), the Strategic Plan and Survey of Members, and report from Adler, Droz, Inc. (ADI). Howard Adler and Cindy Percival, from ADI, attended the meeting and reported on activities of the new management company. In this transition phase between management companies, ADI is still ironing out membership issues such as the Membership Directory, the ARLIS/NA web site, and conference planning.

The Executive Board will hold pre-conference and post-conference meetings in Pittsburgh. If there are issues which you wish brought up at these meetings, please let me know as soon as possible (Pat Lynagh, Asst. Librarian/Reference Librarian, National Museum of American Art/National Portrait Gallery Library, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560; (202)357-1886; PLynagh@nmaa.si.edu).