Organization > Chapters > Greater New York > Minutes/Reports
Minutes from the Fall 2006 Meeting
Visual Resources Association Greater New York Chapter
Notes from the Fall 2006 Meeting
Friday, 6 October 2006
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Attending: Sherman Clarke, Chair; Johanna Bauman, Vice Chair; Barbara Treitel, Secretary/Treasurer. Don Beetham, host; Ching-Jung Chen, Polly Giragosian, Nancy Harm, Joy Kestenbaum, Suzanne Ogden, Chris Spinelli, Krista White. Jenni Rodda, note taker.
I. Sherman opened the meeting with thanks to Don Beetham and our hosts at Rutgers for providing such a wonderful venue and program for our fall meeting. Introductions of attending members followed.
II. The minutes of the spring 2006 meeting were approved by consensus; these appear on the Chapter’s web site and are available there for review.
Barbara reported that there are now 45 members in the Greater New York Chapter, the highest number on record. Those present at the fall meeting were reminded that dues for the 2007 calendar year are due before 15 February 2007, and Sherman noted that everyone should make sure they are also members of the national Association. 2007 VRA/NY membership forms were distributed at the meeting. The membership report is attached as Appendix II.
As a tangent to the membership report, Jenni reported that there are currently 54 subscribers to the local discussion forum, VRANY.
The Treasurer’s report is attached as Appendix I..
III. Eric Wolf’s web master’s report was reviewed and approved (see attached Appendix III). Chapter members are encouraged to send reports, such as Chris Spinelli’s SEI report, to Eric for mounting to the Chapter’s web site. Don Beetham was thanked for continuing to program and host the Chapter’s members’ directory. It was noted that Eric has basic editorial control over what appears on the Chapter’s web site.
IV. Sherman reviewed the Board’s concerns about the Chapter’s by-laws revisions. After some discussion about the nature of voting (e.g., electronic vs. hard-copy), it was agreed by consensus that the 2/3rds provision could be returned to our by-laws text. Sherman will poll the rest of the Chapter’s membership via e-mail about their views before revisiting the revision.
V. Polly outlined the CCO workshop she attended at the Association’s annual meeting in Baltimore, and provided those attending with a number of useful handouts. Her presentation dovetailed well with the main program later in the morning (see below).
VI. Johanna reminded everyone of the CCO workshop to be held at the Metropolitan Museum later in the month (27 October). Anyone wishing to register for this workshop who has not already done so should contact either Johanna or Billy Kwan at the Met.
VII. Suzanne suggested that the program of the spring meeting should center on budgeting, specifically, potential sources of grants or other funding to help build digital collections. Although neither a venue nor a date for the spring meeting were set, it was agreed that we should meet at such time that it did not conflict with VRA, ARLIS, or CAA. Johanna volunteered to check into space/time availability at the BGC.
The meeting adjourned at 11:15. We re-convened for a presentation titled “Journey from Simple Automation of Slide Labels to Core 4.0 Compatibility at Rutgers towards Goal of Sharing Metadata,” given by Don; Kevin Ford, who programmed the Rutgers database to import/export Core 4.0 compatible XMP coding; and Chad Mills, Rutgers Libraries Systems, who spoke about converting the revised database into Luna Insight. [Note taker’s comment: This was a truly productive and valuable meeting! Our Mongolian buffet lunch was great, too!]
Webpage for meeting: http://arthistory.rutgers.edu/vrc/vrc_october6.php
Appendix I: Treasurer’s Report (Submitted by Barbara Treitel, Secretary Treasurer)
$1047.14 savings account balance as of last statement on 19 September 2006.
$530.00 expenses in fiscal 2006, including:
$475.00 for two Chapter awards to the 2006 VRA annual conference in Baltimore. The 2 recipients were Barbara Treitel, awarded $300.00 to defray the overall cost of the conference; and Trudy Jacoby, who was awarded $175.00 towards registration fees.
$25.00 for the license of the image of the Brooklyn Bridge used as the background wallpaper on the new New York Chapter web site.
$50.00 for the VRA/NY sponsorship to New York Technical Services Librarians group (NYTSL) spring meeting to give exposure to the VRA/NY chapter.
$5.00 bank service fee.
Appendix II: Membership Report (Submitted by Barbara Treitel, Secretary/Treasurer)
42 paid up members as of the spring meeting 24 April 2006, hosted by Andy Gessner and the MMA Image Library staff;
45 paid up members as of the fall meeting 4 October 2006 hosted by Don Beetham and the Rutgers University Visual Resources staff.
A note on applicable by-laws: Article III, section A: All members of VRA who are living within the New York metropolitan area and its environs are eligible to join the Greater New York Chapter of the Visual Resources Association (VRA/NY).
Article III, section B: Dues are payable annually by February 15th.
Article III, section C: All members in good standing may hold office, are entitled to receive announcements of meetings of the Chapter, may vote, and may apply for any chapter awards.
A note on dues: Dues were increased to $15.00 per year at the meeting held at Princeton 17 June 2005.
Appendix III: Webmaster’s Report (Submitted by Eric Wolf, Webmaster)
The Chapter website is being regularly updated featuring announcements of upcoming events (this meeting, the forthcoming CCO raining workshop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) as well as reports on past events (Christopher Spinelli’s report on the Summer Educational Institute). All past events will be archived on the “minutes/Reports” page. The webmaster welcomes announcements from members for events and other news to be posted on the page. Also available are the current Chapter bylaws and the proposed new Chapter bylaws.
Special thanks are due to Donald Beetham for maintaining the secure members email directory at Rutgers.
The webmaster encourages submission of photographs for the site’s Image Gallery: images from any Chapter or VRA National events are welcome. Additionally, links to any collections or other information belonging to our constituent institutions are welcome for the Resources page.
Any additional ideas for improvement are welcome, and do not hesitate to contact me with them: eric@nysid.edu, 212-472-1500 x216.
