Organization > Chapters > Greater Philadelphia > Minutes and Reports
Annual Report 2002
Carol W. Campbell, Chairperson
February 3, 2003
Accomplishments:
Seven of twelve members attended the St. Louis ARLIS/VRA national conference at the end of March. The Chairperson attended the Chapter Chairs' meeting.
The spring meeting, Wednesday June 19, 2002, was held at Bryn Mawr College with a picnic lunch in a historic garden. Nine members attended and one ARLIS colleague. Jeannine Keefer was chosen delegate to the national Membership Committee.
Program:
- Demo: "Digital Media and Visual Resources Image Collection," by Joan Beaudoin of the College's Digital Media Department. The slide collection database now has a web site for which 132,000 records will go on line in a three year project. Joan demonstrated how searches could be carried out. The functionality of the system will have to be determined when it is tested by users.
- Round table discussion "Interdisciplinary imaging needs and database investigations," accompanied by a two-page survey (databases in use, authorities, standards, imaging progress, institutional support, etc.) which was filled out by members representing seven local education institutions with slide libraries and one institution with object collections, and one member polled by tel/com for her museum's slide and object collections=nine responses, compiled in a 4-page report handed out at January 14 meeting.
The fall meeting was postponed due to heavy academic schedules until Tuesday January 14, 2003 at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Five members of the reduced membership of nine attended. Three plan to go to the Houston conference in April. Of the three, one is a session speaker. Another is expected to apply for the $ 100 offered by the national Education Committee for attending a workshop. The Secretary-Treasurer's position (open for the next two-year term 2003, 2004) was filled by Alice Bampton who accepted a second two-year term. The Chairperson's position will open in the fall for 2004, 2005.
Program:
- The Database Survey of June 19, 2002, compiled by the Chairperson, was distributed in a four-page report to members. It was determined that the eight local institutions represented are using six different database systems (FileMaker Pro, MDID, Access, EmbARK, Voyager, and Sirsi (soon). Three of the larger institutions with inter-departmental cooperation or in consortiums having obtained or seeking grant support are advancing on class presentation imaging. However there are smaller institutions still only able to offer traditional slide library services. There are staffing and monetary limitations to having smooth transitions with the new technologies, and this is putting performance pressure on the limited staff in both categories who have mostly acquired skills on their own on the job, or sometimes in workshops.
- Jeannine Keefer , an advocate for ICONCLASS, which she learned at the University of Virginia, gave a talk and web site demo about ICONCLASS to show how this authority is applied by her to the slide holdings at the University of the Arts.
For local communications, the Chapter has a web page for its membership list, bylaws, minutes and reports: http//www.brynmwar.edu/Admins/DMVRC/vrap and a local listserve: vrap-l@brynmawr.edu. Meeting information is shared between ARLIS/DVC officers and VRAP officers so that joint endeavors might be considered as appropriate.
Goals:
The chapter's members continue an interest in educational meetings, drawing on the expertise at each hosting institution, with an emphasis on sharing information for coping with rapid technological change. The spring meeting of 2003 will be at the University of Pennsylvania in mid-June. There will be an election of a new Chairperson in the fall which is on a two-year cycle alternating with the term of the Secretary-Treasurer.
Board Action Requested:
No issues have been expressed by the chapter's membership.
A question was raise at the January meeting whether there is any mechanism whereby national informs the chapter if someone comes into their area, prior to the publication of the next directory.
Miscellaneous (Financials, Membership Action Requests, etc):
The dues issue was discussed at both chapter meetings in June '02 and January '03 (the belated fall meeting) and the collection has been waived for 2003 in lieu of members' membership within VRA. (The Chapter is small and $50 is required to open a checking account). The opportunity to submit a budget request at Mid-Year was discussed at the June meeting. For the rest of 2002 and 2003 the chapter decided to draw on its own members' resources or local experts for programs and not to submit a budget request until the chapter has some specific plans.
Membership recruitment is a concern to our small chapter, which has recently lost three members to retirement, job changes, and moves. Our notices go e-mail to other Greater Philadelphia institutions with visual resources, to regional VRA members listed in directory. One of our members, Mary Wassermann of PMA represented VRA at an outreach session to library students at Drexel University on January 14. She took some new brochures. The session was sponsored by the Special Libraries Association, with speakers also for Academic, Public, and Museum libraries. There will be a similar event at Drexel in April.
The VRA Strategic Plan 2003 -2008 was mentioned at the January 14th meeting. The Chairperson asked members to follow news about it, especially for those going to the conference at Houston. The Chapter has no formal comments at this time, but the Chairperson notes some common topics which surfaced as part of the June meeting's Database survey.
There is a need for training opportunities (ongoing workshops important and publications) as most have learned their skills on the job. There is growing pressure and high expectations for mastering new technologies and becoming "image management specialists", while still running a traditional slide library ---not necessarily with additional support staff. The complexities and time to build image collections in the new technologies is not fully understood by administrators and faculty. How to get informed enough to assume a leadership role is critical. The potential for membership growth needs expansion in new professional areas. For the Chairperson's duties, there is usefulness for a speakers' bureau and a chapter sourcebook.
List of Members of Chapter:
The officers of this chapter are:
Carol W. Campbell, Chairperson
Alice E. Bampton, Secretary-Treasurer.
Joan Beaudoin, web master (ex officio)
The nine chapter members are:
Alice Bampton, Joan Beaudoin, Carol Campbell, Heather Glaser, Amy Herman, Jeannine Keefer, Virginia Restemeyer, Mary Wassermann, and Laura Grutzeck, replacing Tessa Izenour (institutional rep.).
Removed: Karen Anne Glick (transferred to Mid-Atlantic), Elizabeth McKenty (special project in area ended), Anne Trotter (retired), Tessa Izenour (further education).
Respectfully submitted,
Carol W. Campbell
Chairperson
