As president, I have the pleasure of reporting at this membership
meeting some of the Society's accomplishments since our last
conference. At last year's meeting, I posed the question, "Is
ARLIS/NA at the forefront of addressing issues affecting art
librarianship and the visual resources profession?" I can proudly
report to you many achievements in our operations and services which
have helped to strengthen our position in the information world. Some
of the highlights follow.
Society Administration. We created a process to evaluate
headquarters to ensure that member services are of the qualify we
expect; confirmed bylaws changes to establish our first international
chapter, ARLIS/Northwest; and commenced the review and revision of
policies, position descriptions, and other internal documents.
Finances. We established or refined budget lines to
accommodate the Society's needs; underwent audits and reviews to
confirm financial figures; explored options in investing the
Society's reserve funds; created a standing Finance Committee to
advise on and monitor financial transactions; and investigated ways
to coordinate and augment fundraising.
Publications. Through the work of the Publications Committee,
we reviewed, and in many cases revised, many aspects of our
communications program, including mission statements, submission
guidelines, design issues, financial management, advertising, and
coordination processes with headquarters and editors. We created a
Web Site. We appointed Linda Zieper as
Update editor as replacement for Judy Dyki, Deirdre Stam as
Webmaster, and Judy Dyki as guest editor of Art Documentation.
We produced two periodicals, three Occasional Papers, the
Handbook, brochures, and conference publications; and
developed better fiduciary management of publications.
Standards. We created two standards documents, "Staffing Standards
for Art Libraries and Visual Resources Collections" and "Criteria for
the Hiring and Retention of Visual Resources Professionals," and
through the Cataloging Advisory Committee and the AAT Committee
influenced national and international bodies in the setting of
bibliographic standards through the
External Relationships and Advocacy. We established a Public
Policy Committee to educate and provide advocacy in legislative
affairs; created a special liaison to ALA's Art Section; created a
North American Relations Committee to strengthen cooperation with
other library and arts organizations; endorsed affiliation with the
Association of Architecture School Librarians; and, with other
US/IFLA affiliates, endorsed hosting of the 67th IFLA conference in
Boston in 2001.
Awards Program. We created an Awards Committee to administer
the Distinguished Service Award; selected the first winner of the
Society's Publications Award and secured future funding for that
award; initiated the use of a poster to promote the travel awards;
approved a new logo for the Wittenborn Award.
Conference Matters. First the time, we organized a conference
with the full assistance of our management firm. Also, we appointed
Bill Lang and Iris Snyder to join Carol Graney as chairs of the 1998
annual conference, Philadelphia; approved Vancouver as the site of
the 1999 annual conference; created or revised guidelines on
conference site selection and program proposals; and proposed the
creation of a Conference Planning Task Force to address issues of
management, programming, budgeting.
Membership Recruitment and Development. We created a Canadian
Representation Task Force to recommend how best to represent Canada
in ARLIS/NA; created a Chapter Membership Task Force to recommend how
best to recruit new ARLIS/NA members at the chapter level; approved a
Technology Education Committee to facilitate learning new information
technologies in the Society; proposed a Visual Resources Task Force
to explore visual resources membership and program concerns within
ARLIS/NA.
Planning. We created a comprehensive Strategic Plan, covering
the years 1996-99, through a process begun in 1994 which has involved
every facet of our organization.
In summary, we've had a very productive year. One thing we have not
done well is adequately thank all those who keep ARLIS/NA
functioning. It is a challenging task. Counting the board, committee
chairs and members, group leaders, appointments, and chapter
officers, ARLIS/NA has nearly 250 leadership positions!
Is ARLIS/NA at the forefront? There is a more important question: "Is
ARLIS/NA 'relevant' to the needs of its members?" I think we have
done much to make our organization relevant both in the work site and
in the larger information community. With the energy of hundreds of
volunteers and our Strategic Planning initiatives, we have the
resources to make even greater advancements in the year ahead.
Edward H. Teague, University of Florida