Organization > Chapters > Mid-Atlantic > Minutes and Reports
VRA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting Minutes
Friday, June 7, 2002
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Attendees:
Kathe Albrecht, American University (Chapter President)
Ann Burns, University of Virginia
Robin Churchill, Baltimore Museum of Art
Cindy Frank, University of Maryland
Elizabeth Gushee, University of Richmond
Chris Hinojosa, University of Maryland
Chris Kirwan, University of Maryland
Beth Ryan, Baltimore Museum of Art
Christina Updike, James Madison University
Robert Willis, Catholic University of America
Catherine Zabriskie, University of Maryland
Minutes of the VRA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Business Meeting
Held in the U. of MD School of Architecture, Room 111
11:10 - 11:50 a.m.
I. Welcome and Introductions:
Kathe Albrecht opened the meeting with words of "Welcome" and a "Thank You" to all attendees. She stated a special "Thank You" to the organizers of the meeting, Cindy Frank and Chris Kirwan. All present were then invited to introduce themselves.
II. Old Business:
A. Approval of the Minutes: Kathe distributed copies of the minutes from the fall chapter business meeting held Friday, November 2, 2001 at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC as reported by Susanne Ridenour, Secretary/Treasurer. Since there were no additions or corrections to the minutes, they were approved unanimously.
B. Chapter Website Update: Kathe reported that Johns Hopkins University has volunteered to host our chapter website on their server. As soon as the URL is established, Kathe will forward it to the membership. Website plans include posting membership information, our chapter bylaws, links to chapter members' websites, the list of officers, chapter activities, etc.
C. Report on 2002 VRA-ARLIS/NA Annual Conference held in March in St. Louis, MO: http://library.wustl.edu/%7Ebeth/Conference.html. Kathe reported on her experiences attending this joint conference and the high quality of the sessions and activities held there. She informed everyone of the VRA funded leadership workshop held for chapter chairs. A second leadership workshop will be held at the upcoming 2003 VRA conference in Houston, Texas and Kathe invited other chapter members to take advantage of this opportunity. She also stated that there was a special Chapter Chairs' meeting held at the St. Louis venue, which Kathe attended as our representative. At that meeting, there was a discussion on charging chapter dues and she reported that other ways of handling the dues issue may be tackled by the national organization. Kathe invited other members present to comment on their experiences at the annual conference. Memorable activities included the NINCH town meeting on the public domain, the plenary session on digital image database issues, the keynote address, the silent auction fundraiser, and the presentation of the VRA Distinguished Service Award to Sandra Walker of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville -- http://www.vraweb.org/conferencephotos.html.
III. New Business:
A. Message from Ann Whiteside, VRA Past President: Kathe reported that Ann was unable to attend our meeting today, but sent her greetings and a message to the chapter in an email. The VRA Executive Board will be holding its mid-year meeting in Houston, July 18-21st, at the upcoming conference hotel. The Board will approve committee and chapter reports, work on the conference, and will discuss the new Strategic Plan submitted by the members of the special task force. Kathe Albrecht and Margaret Webster served as task force co-chairs. Ann then gave an update on the Guide to Cataloging with the VRA Core 3.0. The four editors, Linda McRae, Murtha Baca, Elisa Lanzi and Ann Whiteside, are working on a partial draft for the six-member Advisory Committee to review in July. After the editors meet with the Advisory Committee, work will progress based on those discussions. The first phase should be completed in January 2003.
B. Next Meeting: A joint meeting of our chapter and the ARLIS/DC-MD-VA chapter is planned for Friday, July 26, 2002. We will be meeting at the University of Virginia and Monticello, with Jack Robertson as the host. There will be a morning session on UVA's digital projects and the afternoon session will be at the Monticello Library with an after hour's tour of Jefferson's home, which will include the dome room, normally closed to the public. Kathe encouraged members and guests to attend and to plan for a full day of activities.
Meeting ideas for fall 2002: Kathe announced that the SECAC annual conference would be held in Mobile, Alabama, October 23-26, 2002. For more information, visit the website at http://www.furman.edu/secac. Since this meeting site is outside of our chapter region, Kathe asked for ideas for venues for fall and spring meetings. Discussion was held on meeting in the Richmond area or at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. Liz Gushee agreed to check with her colleagues in Richmond to see what the possibilities are for hosting a chapter meeting there.
C. Upcoming Election for office of Chapter Chair 2003-05: Kathe's term of office will be ending this year. She talked about the duties of Chapter Chair and encouraged attendees to consider running for office. She reminded everyone that Susanne Ridenour would continue as Secretary/Treasurer until 2004, thus providing lots of support to a new Chapter Chair.
D. Cluster Group Leaders: Kathe stated she would like to help facilitate the idea of forming less-formal "cluster group" events within our chapter. These events, for 5 or more members, could be lunches with a special discussion topic, a visit to a local gallery or museum exhibit, after hour's gatherings at a restaurant, etc. The attendees were enthusiastic about the idea and Kathe asked members to consider serving as cluster group leaders.
IV. Other Business:
A. Open Discussion:
Bob Willis asked a question about the status of the ArtSTOR project -- http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/2001/0035.html -- and information was shared from the VRA conference that, Max Marmor, ArtSTOR Director stated that it was approaching the beta test phase. Kathe urged attendees to visit the Mellon Foundation website to seek the latest information -- http://www.mellon.org/artstor%20announcement.html.
Tina Updike extended an invitation to the chapter members to visit James Madison University for a demonstration of the Madison Digital Image Database on Monday, June 24, 2002. A JMU art history faculty member is teaching a summer school course using the MDID and has agreed to allow visitors to sit in on her lecture. This is a unique opportunity to see the MDID in the classroom. A demonstration of the web-based components of the system will follow the lecture, along with a question and answer period. Tina asked members to contact her by email if they were planning to attend.
B. Closing Remarks: Kathe thanked everyone for their participation in the business meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
Respectfully submitted, Christina Updike, VRA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Member (for Susanne Ridenour, Secretary/Treasurer, who was unable to attend the meeting).
Following the business meeting, attendees were given a tour of the technology classroom/auditorium in the School of Architecture. Then the program featured a keynote luncheon presentation and discussion led by the nationally renowned intellectual property rights and policies expert, Rodney Petersen, http://www.oit.umd.edu/users/rodney/, who addressed copyright issues in the digital imaging world. It was an informative and fascinating discussion on the topic. Lastly, attendees were treated to a guided tour of the new and highly acclaimed Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland campus -- http://www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/cs/index.cfm. The chapter meeting ended at 3:00 p.m.
