Organization > Chapters > Great Lakes > Minutes and Reports
VRA Great Lakes Chapter Fall Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2005, Michigan State University, East Lansing
In attendance: Suzanne Buchanan, Lesley Chapman, Julia Chytil, Mary Duff-Silverman, Marlene Gordon, Dane Johnson, Jean Koeller, Eleanor Mannikka, Lorrie McAllister, Derrick Meads, Sue Morris, Alex Nichols, Astrid Otey, Carole Pawloski, Joseph Romano, Jan Simpson (member emerita and special guest), Carli Smith
Attending members convened for coffee and pastries at the Kresge Art Center, and were welcomed by hosting member Sue Morris. Professor Thomas Berding, Chair of the MSU Department of Art and Art History, greeted members and spoke briefly of the simultaneous challenges and opportunities presented by digital media, and of the continuing necessity for top quality images (regardless of their form) and image professionals in art education. David Gift, MSU Vice-Provost of Libraries, Computing, and Technology, provided many insights into the collaborative intellectual and financial efforts necessary to make digital instructional technologies a reality on campus and in the classroom. In a nutshell, he said that digitization has brought many changes in the way we work, perhaps the most exciting of which for image professionals is the changing relationship of the VR collection/curator to the university as a whole. While once we were departmental resources, we now must relate to the entire campus, which, again, brings simultaneous challenges and opportunities. In order to negotiate the new ways of thinking and working and teaching brought on by new technologies, we must strive to find ways of working together with libraries, technology departments, and instructors in order to find increased support for our efforts.
Following Mr Gift's inspiring talk, members were treated to a tour of MSU's Visual Resources facilities by VR Curator Sue Morris and Digital Imaging Specialist Alex Nichols. Members then proceeded to the State Room Restaurant at the Kellogg Hotel and Convention Center for a lovely lunch.
The Chapter business meeting was called to order by President Joe Romano, who welcomed members and thanked Sue Morris for hosting. After approval of the spring meeting minutes, Treasurer Astrid Otey submitted her report. Currently, our chapter has $798.16, reflecting an increase of $60 in membership dues since the last meeting.
Membership fees and renewals:
The next item on the agenda was the issue of membership fees and the membership renewal schedule. After discussing the various issues involved, the general consensus was that for many image professionals in the area, the Great Lakes Chapter is the only financially feasible way of participating in the VRA, and that we should take this into account when deciding on fees and renewal schedules, so that the cost of membership is not prohibitive, yet supports the growth of chapter resources to help carry the financial burden for our members in the form of travel assistance or professional education reimbursements.
For the 2006 membership year, members who submitted dues after the spring chapter meeting (March 8, 2005) do not have to pay again, but do need to re-submit membership forms for record-keeping purposes. Members who submitted 2005 membership dues and forms between October 2004 and March 2005 are encouraged to renew for the 2006 membership year by December 15, 2005. 2006 membership forms will be available on the VRA Great Lakes Chapter website and through the chapter listserv.
In order to build up our treasury to serve our members, it was also decided that the dues for the 2007 membership year be raised from the current amount of $10 to $15. As our primary objective as a chapter is to support image professionals in the Great Lakes region through the exchange of knowledge and experience, we always want this to be our priority. Therefore, if membership dues present an obstacle to becoming part of our chapter community, anyone wishing to participate in the chapter may request a waiver of the fee on the basis of financial or professional hardship.
Elections of officers:
Discussion then turned to the issue of officers. The terms of both the president and secretary end in December, and in accordance with chapter by-laws, a nominating committee will be formed and elections held for both positions. Jean Koeller and Sue Morris volunteered to serve on the nominating committee; anyone interested in nominating a candidate, self-nominating, or serving on the nominating committee is strongly encouraged to do so, and may contact Jean or Sue for more information.
Education reimbursement/Workshop Award Committee:
As we increase our treasury funds from membership dues, we hope to begin sponsoring members to attend workshops at the VRA Annual Conference, much as the VRA Education Committee does now. Not only will this benefit our current members, it may serve as an incentive for other image professionals in our area to join the chapter. In order to determine the amount of money to be designated for this purpose, as well as the implementation of the criteria and application process for the award(s), a Workshop Award Committee has been formed. Astrid Otey, Jean Koeller, Joe Romano, and Marlene Gordon volunteered to sit on the committee, and thus are excluded from applying for the awards. Eleanor Mannikka also suggested that current members be given the option to make donations towards the workshop award fund, perhaps as additional contributions when renewing for the 2006 membership year.
Spring meeting venue:
Although the spring chapter meeting has been held in conjunction with the annual conference for the past few years, this is merely the default venue. Often, fewer chapter members are able to attend the national conference, and thus the spring meeting, because of financial obstacles, whereas a chapter meeting in the region is more feasible. Late spring/summer meetings present some obstacles, as the planning for them must take place during the busiest time of the academic year, and many of us are vacationing once our spring semesters are over. On the other hand, a spring/summer meeting at a venue other than the annual VRA conference allows the members who attended the conference to share what they have learned with those who were not able to do so, which is one way the chapter is meant to benefit all of its members. Any chapter member may volunteer to host a spring meeting this year. If no one is able to do so, the spring meeting will automatically be held at the National Conference in Baltimore, March 6-11, 2006.
Contact Us! Any member who was unable to attend the fall meeting is encouraged to volunteer for committees or to host a meeting, and/or to contribute to the discussion of these and any other pertinent issues via the chapter listserv.
"CCO Bootcamp" report:
In the final item on the business agenda, Astrid Otey presented a summary of the CCO (Cataloguing Cultural Objects) workshop she attended at the 2005 VRA conference in Miami. The ALA will be publishing the CCO soon, and it will be removed from the VRA site, so if you would like to read about CCO before this time, go to: http://www.vraweb.org/ccoweb/index.html. Basically, the CCO guide seeks to create a standard cataloguing vocabulary for image databases. Whereas the VRA Core Categories (or other system such as Dublin Core) define the fields for data in image cataloguing, CCO seeks to standardize the data itself. Workshop participants catalogued a variety of images using CCO as the model, and much discussion ensued about the difficulties of creating such a standard vocabulary.
Workshop: The business meeting was then adjourned and members returned to the Kresge Art Center for Eleanor Mannikka's workshop, "New Tips and Tricks for Art Imaging". Eleanor provided members with a packet with great tips for improving digital images from a variety of sources using Adobe Photoshop, as well as an exhaustive list of online art image databases. Thanks to Eleanor for putting together a professional and informative presentation! If you would like a copy of the packet, contact Eleanor at: Eleanor Mannikka, Department of Art, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 115 Sprowls Hall, Indiana, PA 15705, Phone: 724/357-2142, mannikka@iup.edu.
All in all, the fall chapter meeting was a day full of camaraderie and information, and was a great success. Many thanks to Sue Morris for organizing such a wonderful meeting on the beautiful campus of MSU, and to Jan Simpson for dropping by to visit the chapter.
