Mid-Atlantic Chapter
Visual Resources Association (VRA)

Minutes of the Business Meeting held at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
July 29, 2011

Chair, Jacqueline Protka
Secretary-Treasurer, Jessica Bailey
Attendees: Jessica Bailey, Ann Burns, Jodi Hoover, Jennifer Kniesch, Jacqueline Protka, Sherrie Rook, Lucie Stylianopoulos, Steve Tatum, Christina Updike, Ross Wolcott, Ann Woodward, Sam Wright

The VRA Mid-Atlantic Chapter and the ARLIS DC-MD-VA Chapter coordinated a joint meeting at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Attendees were able to participate in workshops that introduced tools developed at the Rosenzweig Center, including Omeka and Zotero.

Call to Order, Introductions & Approval of Spring 2011 Minutes

The business meeting was called to order by the Chair. There were 12 attendees at the meeting. All attendees introduced themselves. The minutes from the business meeting at the 2011 joint conference with ARLIS were approved.

Report from the Chair

Jacqueline announced that the Chapter membership is at a high of 40 (confirmed later to be 32—still a larger group than in previous years).

Jacqueline reported that the option to have another joint conference with ARLIS in Washington, DC in 2014 had been rejected by the VRA Board. The Board cited vague “issues” as the reason for the rejection. Ann Woodward pointed out that the last time VRA tried to hold a conference on its own in DC, VRA could not afford to do so and ended up holding the conference in Baltimore. A joint conference with ARLIS in DC would probably be the only way for VRA to ever visit the nation’s capital.

The Chapter moved to have the Chair write a letter to the VRA Board encouraging them to change their decision and meet with ARLIS in 2014. The letter will also express the Mid-Atlantic Chapter members’ willingness to help with local preparations for a conference in DC.

Jacqueline reported that during the Chapter Chairs meeting at the VRA conference she found out that there are not strict guidelines for creating awards at the Chapter level. Jennifer, Jodi and Jessica volunteered to form an ad-hoc committee and create a top-up award to help a chapter member attend the 2012 conference in Albuquerque.

Report from the Treasurer

The balance of the chapter bursar account, as of June 30, 2011, is $1,183.53. Jessica passed around a letter of thanks from ARLIS for our donation of $250.00 to the welcome party at the annual conference.

Jessica contacted Billy Kwan about the Chapter’s previous discussion of whether or not the bursar account funds could earn interest. Billy’s response (received after the business meeting) was that he didn’t think the bursary system could help the Chapters in additional ways. Billy said that, “under the current bursary and bookkeeping systems, there is no way to separate the interest income generated from the chapters vs. the Association. In fact, as we are having a business account, the interest we receive from Bank of America doesn't even cover 5% of the fees they charge us.”

Update on SECAC

Tina made general announcements about SECAC 2011, which is being held November 9-12 in Savannah, GA. The VRA Affiliate Group Session is entitled “Rich Texture: New Resources for Teaching and Learning in an Image-Centric World” and will be co-chaired by Tina and Kathe Hicks Albrecht.

Location and Date of Fall Meeting

Jennifer offered to host the Chapter’s fall 2011 meeting at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. This could be a chance to reach out to VRA members who were part of the now-dissolved Greater Philadelphia Chapter. Jennifer would be able to give attendees a tour of her renovated facilities and reserve a new computer lab that can host 15-20 people for an instructional session or two. Ross offered to try and replicate Howard Brainen’s LightRoom session from the 2011 Summer Education Institute (with Howard’s permission). Jacqueline will contact Chapter members and propose October 21 as the date for the fall meeting, with October 28 as a second choice.

Future Meetings

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Richmond Botanical Garden were suggested as possible sites for future Chapter meetings. Ann Woodward suggested the Library of Congress, and trying to get a member of staff to talk to the Chapter about image cataloging and Library of Congress subject headings. Jacqueline added that the Library of Congress crowd sourcing and Flickr Commons projects could also be of interest to the Chapter if we can schedule a visit.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.