ARLIS-SC

ARLIS/Southern California Chapter Meeting

Date:  November 6, 2009
Time:  11:00 am
Location:  San Diego State University
In Attendance:  Leslie Abrams, Virginia Allison, Antoinette Avila, Cathy Billings (Treasurer), Laurel Bliss, Maureen Burns, Robert Gore (Past Chair), Janine Henri, Celina Lee, Laurence McGilvery, Chizu Morihara, Lindy Narver, Alyssa Resnick (Vice-Chair/Chair Elect), Trish Rose-Sandler, Sarah Sherman (Chair).

Introductions

Review of Past Minutes
June 12, 2009 Chapter meeting minutes were approved without changes.

Elections
It was announced that the Chapter has two board positions to fill beginning January 1, 2010: Secretary and Vice-Chair/Chair Elect. The Board will issue a call on the Northern/Southern California listserv and ARLIS/SC blog calling for volunteers to serve on a nominating committee. It was noted that the Secretary is a two-year position responsible for the membership database and mailings to chapter members. The Vice-Chair/Chair Elect is responsible for planning events and meetings. Members were referred to the Bylaws on the ARLIS/SC blog for more detailed information about the duties of the two positions.
 
TEI (Technical Enterprises, Inc. – ARLIS/NA’s new management company)
TEI now offers to host chapter websites and listservs under a sub-domain of the ARLIS/NA website.

• Some attendees felt that ARLIS/SC should take advantage of the website hosting service and others pointed out that the existing blog is still in development and that much work recently went into the transition from website to blog format.
• Questions were raised about how the website would be updated if it is hosted by ARLIS/NA. It was noted that currently only Board members are able to post to the ARLIS/SC blog but that the intention is to have the blog open for all members to post. Members would like to see this happen.
• The Texas/Mexico Chapter’s website was given as an example of a website that allows members to contribute and comment as they would with a blog.  It was noted that Trish Sandler-Rose, during her tenure as ARLIS/SC Chapter president, had investigated the technology and determined it was beyond our capability.
• Some members suggested that the Chapter should investigate the listserv hosting because it would provide stability and continuity and the function of the list would not be dependent on one member and their institution. It was noted that because we share a list with the Northern California Chapter we would want to consult with them before making any changes.

TEI can now collect Chapter dues, on a calendar year basis. They collect the dues and issue the chapter a check. The consensus among members was that the ARLIS/SC Chapter should not use this service at this time but wait and see how it goes with other chapters who do use the service. Reasons given for not using the service included:

• They only offer one category of membership and we have more than one category (free students).
• They can’t accept donations to the Chapter and memberships at the same time.
• General lack of flexibility.

It was noted that VRA recently transitioned to a similar process where chapter memberships are renewed online and it was a lot of work and the chapter had to update bylaws.

Starting a collection development group/collaboration
Kathleen Salomon at the Getty Research Institute asked Sarah Sherman to present and gauge interest in the idea of starting a collection development group similar to the catalogers’ group that exists in Southern California. The expectation is that it would operate similarly to this group, with in-person meetings and a listserv as forum for discussing issues and problems. There was a high level of interest among the members present, and it was noted that with the social networking tools available there would be collaboration tools beyond just a listserv. Sarah will tell Kathleen that there is interest and suggest that she reach out to members via the ARLIS/SC listserv.
 
Pasadena 2013 conference proposal update
The contact at the Pasadena Convention Center has spoken with the Executive Director of TEI. The Convention Center contact reported back to Alyssa Resnick that his sense is that TEI feels ARLIS/NA has been planning conferences too far in advance and perhaps that is why the Chapter has not heard further from the Board regarding their proposal. Alyssa has emailed the TEI Executive Director so the “ball is in their court”. She will follow-up.

The layout of the Convention Center was discussed and it was noted that the exhibits would be located in close proximity to the meeting rooms (an issue that is always of concern to the vendors).

Chapter meeting ideas for 2010

• Lynda Bunting made initial contacts at the Torrance Art Museum and Torrance Public Library and they would be interested in having ARLIS/SC visit their venues for a chapter meeting. Alyssa has the contacts for follow up in 2010.
• There is interest in a joint mini-conference type meeting with ARLIS/NC in Santa Barbara. The Board will contact NC to discuss a two-day joint meeting in 2010, perhaps in January because at that time Santa Barbara is cheaper and less-crowded.

Treasurer’s Report
ARLIS/SC bank account balance is $3,183.66.

Secretary’s Report
54 current members; 4 new members joined at the OTIS meeting in June.

Chair’s Report

• The Canvas newsletter is coming out at the end of the year.
• The year long mentoring program, modeled on the ARLIS/NA program, will start in February. The ARLIS/SC chapter is the first trial of the program at the chapter level.
• The mentoring workshop is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 15 at the Getty.
• Calls for mentors and mentees will go out over the listserv and on the ARLIS/SC blog.

Member Announcements

Chizu Morihara: Susan Moon is asking for ideas for uses for the remaining Judy Hoffberg t-shirts which now belong to UCSB. Chizu will find out whether the shirts can be sold to raise funds.

Maureen Burns: The VRA national conference will be in Atlanta in March and reminds us that the following year is the joint ARLIS/NA – VRA conference in Minneapolis.

Robert Gore: Gave us an update on the status of the UCLA Arts Library. It is open for the full academic year. Janine Henri and Robert are on a study team that is looking at options for the library. The study team’s work ends in December and a report with recommendations will be written for the University Librarian Gary Strong.

Laurence McGilvery: In 1970 he created an index to the first 6 years and 4 months of ArtForum. In 2002 he made the index available for free on his website. In the next couple of weeks a new, improved version (easier to use) will be up on the website and still available for free. When the new version of the index is available he will send a post to the ARLIS-L listserv.

Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by Cathy Billings, November 24, 2009.