VREPS Virtual Spring Meeting
Registration Open! VRA Webinar: Stories from the Start
EAC Community Hour: Strategizing Together: Navigating Remote Work Boundaries
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our first Community Hour--we had a really great discussion! One main takeaway was that folks were interested in strategies for navigating discussions with their supervisors and administration in their unique institutional work situation.For our next hour, to be held on Tuesday, May 5th, 2 pm EST/ 11 am PST, we would like to give everyone an opportunity to work together to address our specific concerns in the following areas:
- Chronic illnesses
- Privacy
- Work/Life Separation
- Consensus bias
- Admin/Supervisor Relations
- Inappropriate Appearance Expectations
'How do we ask for more privacy without having to share why we don’t want to show our space during a video call or disclose the details of our personal/home life?'Send any specific questions in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your concerns to the Hour (where you can still be anonymous via private chat to the moderator)! We will discuss the issues and work out targeted responses or plans of action (including role play situations, as warranted).
EAC Community Hour: Acknowledging Employee and Student Privacy During Quarantine
Greetings All,
VRA 2020 Virtual Annual Business Meeting
The Visual Resources Association will be hosting their Annual Business Meeting on March 25, 2020 at 11 am Eastern Time (US and Canada). This will be a virtual meeting hosted in Zoom. Members have been provided additional details to attend.
VRA 2020 Baltimore Cancelled
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the VRA Executive Board has cancelled the VRA 2020 Baltimore annual conference. A more detailed message has been sent to conference registrants. If you have any questions, please email board@vraweb.org.
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Update
As many of you know the situation surrounding the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been changing day by day. The VRA Executive Board has been in constant communication regarding the multiple moving pieces in the program and arrangements, and the impact of changing travel plans. We are aware that many institutions are now restricting travel. A more detailed message has been sent to conference registrants. If you have any questions, please email board@vraweb.org.
Call for Peer Reviewers
Dear VRA Colleagues,Do you enjoy giving constructive feedback? Are you looking for new ways to expand your resume and skills? Volunteer to be a peer reviewer for the VRA Bulletin! In preparation for my term as Content Editor, I am currently seeking a pool of reviewers for upcoming issues. The time commitment is relatively low (a few hours at most per article) and the reward of contributing to the literature of our field is extremely high. Turnaround time for an article is 2-3 weeks.If you are interested in putting your name on the list, please send me an email at jburns@cornell.edu with a list of at least three topics from the Bulletin categories (column on the right) in which you might consider yourself an expert (don’t be modest, you are an expert!).There are at least three articles in our queue that need peer reviewing ASAP, so if you have availability to review in the next month please indicate that in your email as well.Many thanks,JasmineJasmine BurnsVisual Resources Metadata LibrarianLibrary Technical ServicesCornell University
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Events
Greetings All,The Equitable Action Committee invites you to attend the many events during VRA 2020 that are related to the VRA’s equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts.
- Incorporating Diversity in our Workplace: All are Welcome, but How Do We Get There? - Tuesday, March 24 • 10:30am - 11:45am
- How to GLAM in "Charm City:" Community Building between Baltimore and Its Cultural Institutions - Wednesday, March 25 • 10:15am - 11:45am
- VRA Convocation with Visual Resources Association Foundation Legacy Lecture speaker Ashley Minner presenting “Repatriating the Archives: An Urban Reservation Reunion” - Wednesday, March 25 • 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
- American Visionary Art Museum Tour ($) - Wednesday, March 25 • 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Introduction to Critical Cataloging for Visual Resources Professionals Workshop ($) - Thursday, March 26 • 8:15am - 12:15pm
- Stories from the Start - Thursday, March 26 • 10:45am - 11:45am
- Equitable Action Committee Meeting - Thursday, March 26 • 12:30pm - 1:15pm
- Accessibility and Universal Design - Thursday, March 26 • 1:30pm - 2:30pm
- Anticipating Future Needs of Visual Literacy - Thursday, March 26 • 3:45pm - 4:45pm
- Oral Histories for the Uninitiated: Transcribing, Copyright, Metadata and Everything in Between - Friday, March 27 • 9:30am - 10:30am
- Community - Friday, March 27 • 11:00am - 12:00pm
- Navigating International Intellectual Property Rights for Teaching and Publishing in the Humanities - Friday, March 27 • 11:00am - 12:00pm
- Highlights of Hopkins Tour ($) - Friday, March 27 • 2:00pm - 4:30pm
Additionally, this newly formed committee will be at the Community Partnership Event collecting your concerns related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. If you are unable to attend VRA2020 and have suggestions, you may fill out the form here (http://bit.ly/EAC2020).Contributed by:Equitable Action Committee Co-chairs:
Reminder: Call for New VREPS Co-Chair
With the planned departure of VREPS Co-Chair, Kendra Werst, by the end of the VRA 2020 conference in March, VREPS is seeking applications for a new Co-Chair!!Co-Chair terms are two years, starting from the annual conference and ending at the conference 23 months later (2020-2022). Terms are staggered so there is always one chair with one year of experience. Some of the duties include coordinating the VRAF Host Institution List for the VRAF Internship Award, organizing the ArLiSNAP x VREPS Annual Virtual Conference, as well as, developing conference programming and promoting professional development opportunities for emerging professionals and students.If you're interested in helping emerging professionals and students in the visual resources field (and beyond) please send a brief statement of interest to Julia Murphy, VREPS Co-Chair, at murphyjl@si.edu.Best regards,Julia Murphy and Kendra WerstVREPS Co-Chairs
Exciting VRA Bulletin News
Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) announces the Winter 2020 Professional Development Grant Recipient
The Board of Directors of the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce the Winter 2020 VRAF Professional Development Grant in the amount of $1000 to Meghan Lyon, a MSLIS Student Graduate Assistant at the Pratt School of Information's Semantic Lab, and a NYARC Web Archiving Fellow at the Frick Art Reference Library.Meghan Lyon, plans on utilizing the funds to attend the 2020 Society for American Archivists (SAA) National Conference, which will be in Chicago, Illinois from August 3-8, 2020. Lyon will be a co-presenter at a session titled, "Digital Access and preservation in Artists' Archives: Challenges, Strategies, and Solutions". She will be discussing research regarding the ontology development that supports the Semantic Lab Wikibase, otherwise known as DADAlytics, a prototype toolchain that converts text-based content from images to knowledge graphs. The intention is to make a publicly accessible and community driven DADAlytics toolchain along with the research datasets created by the Semantic Lab and place them on their Wikibase and Github instances.The VRAF Professional Development Grant Program reflects the broad mission of the VRAF to support professional development in the field of visual resources and visual information management. The grant can be used to participate in a professional development opportunity of the grantee’s choosing (such as a conference, symposium, workshop, online education), or to enroll in relevant research activities (such as hands-on field work or a site visit for scholarly purposes). For more information about the VRAF, the VRAF Professional Development Grant, and other VRAF programs, please visit vrafoundation.org.On behalf of the VRAF Board of Directorsvrafoundation@gmail.comvrafoundation.orgtwitter.com/vrafoundationfacebook.com/visrafoundation/
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Night Out at the Walters Art Museum & A Note About Thursday
Hieronymus Francken II and Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Archdukes Albert and Isabella Visiting the Collection of Pierre Roose, ca. 1621-1623, oil on panel, Walters Art Museum (Creative Commons Zero)
You might have noticed Dinner and Night out at the Walters Art Museum on the Sched---the fabulous Walters Art Museum is always free and open until 9 pm on Thursday nights! Located on historic Mt. Vernon Place with the Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church, the George Peabody Library, the Washington Monument, and just a few blocks from the Maryland Historical Society, the Walters is an encyclopedic collection of 36,000 objects covering more than seven millennia, from 5,000 BCE to the 21st century.
While some of you may be attending the The Walters Art Museum: Chamber of Wonders Tour at 4 pm (as of this post, there are still spots left, email join@vraweb.org to add a tour!), other conference attendees interested in spending a casual evening with other VRA’ers should meet in the hotel lobby at 5 pm or at 6 pm to find other interested parties. From there, it’s just a short $8-10 Lyft ride or free Charm City Circulator ride to Mt. Vernon. Please note that the visitor entrance to the Walters is on Centre Street. Once there, attendees may explore the museum at their own pace. Exhibitions up during our visit will include The St. Francis Missal, Excursions through the Collection, and From Mucha To Morris: Books of the Art Nouveau.
Walters Art Museum Building, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)
Feel free to stay at the museum until the doors close at 9 pm! But, if you’re wanting to grab dinner at one of the marvelous restaurants in Mt. Vernon with other conference attendees, sign up here for one of our Dinearounds at 7:30 or 8 pm. If you have signed up for a Dinearound, please meet at the Walters Art Museum gift shop at the noted meeting time on the signup. If you’d rather explore this culinary neighborhood on your own, we recommend:
B&O Brasserie, Brewer’s Art, Cazbar Turkish, Dukem Restaurant, the Helmand, Homeslyce, Hotel Indigo, Indigma Modern Indian Bistro, Maisy's, Mick O'Shea's Irish Pub, Minato, Mt. Vernon Marketplace, Owl Bar, Tabor Ethiopian, Topside
While the Walters is always open until 9 pm on Thursdays, this particular Thursday is also a big day for the downtown areas of Baltimore. Orioles Opening Day at 3:05 pm will draw a large number of folks to the harbor area and other areas of downtown Baltimore from early in the day through late in the evening. While you will see Yankee fans, as well, you will also see a sea of orange clad baseball fans filling many of the sidewalks and streets. The largest concentration will likely be around Pickles Pub, but expect traffic delays and larger crowds.
Contributor:Lael Ensor-BennettVRA Vice President for Conference ArrangementsJohns Hopkins University
Reminder: Kress Scholarships for SEI 2020 due on March 9
This is a reminder to apply for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Scholarships to attend the 2020 Summer Educational Institute for Digital Stewardship of Visual Information (SEI), to be held June 23-26, 2020 at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.The Samuel H. Kress Foundation is once again generously funding six scholarships for SEI 2020. This intensive workshop is designed to serve a wide range of information professionals eager to learn about best practices and new technologies and/or update job skills in the realm of digital collections management, as well as to provide significant networking and professional development opportunities. The comprehensive curriculum seeks to address the requirements of today's cultural heritage information professional, including hands-on and lecture modules presented by expert instructors. SEI provides new professionals, current library school students, and mid-career professionals from a wide range of related fields the opportunity to stay current in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Museum professionals, archivists, visual resources professionals, digital librarians, art and architecture librarians, digital project managers, current and recent graduate students, and others in related fields are all encouraged to attend.Details:
- The six Kress Scholarship recipients will each receive $1000 towards the cost of SEI.
- Kress Scholarship applications are due by Monday, March 9, 2020.
- Recipients will be notified no later than Monday, March 30, 2020.
- Each Kress Scholarship recipient will be required to write a report detailing how they benefitted from SEI and the scholarship upon completion of SEI 2020.
Instructions:
- Submit a resume or curriculum vitae and a cover letter (no longer than two pages) describing the effect attending SEI would have on your studies and/or your career.
- All applications will be evaluated by three SEI co-chairs based on the criteria established for the award (including current or future career goals as well as financial need) and any additional directions from the Kress Foundation staff.
- Submit your application materials via e-mail in a single document (PDF preferred), using the following file naming convention: LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_KRESS2020 to SEI 2020 Senior Co-Chair Courtney Baron at courtney.baron@louisville.edu.
Best wishes,Bridget Madden, SEI 2020 Co-Chairbridgetm@uchicago.edu
VRA Foundation Regional Workshop: Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media
The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) is pleased to announce that Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media will be held on March 13, 2020 at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media is one of the four workshops being offered in the fifth year of the VRAF Regional Workshop Program. The VRA Foundation is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of this exciting opportunity to partner with cultural heritage and educational institutions.How do I know whether something is protected by copyright? What is fair use and how can I apply it? What copyright exceptions are available for library or archival use? How can I clear a copyright? How do I navigate and negotiate licensing agreements? If you’ve asked yourself these questions, this workshop is for you! Aimed at providing real-world applications within the academic, archival, library, gallery and museum environments, we will use relevant case studies to explore issues such as educational and scholarly usage, securing academic publication rights (including for online use), creative reuse, fair use guidelines, VARA and moral rights, licensing from vendors and rights holders, and the public domain. Participants will also be introduced to tools and resources to help them and their constituents in making decisions regarding appropriate use and dissemination of visual media. will be taught by Cara Hirsch, Deputy General Counsel at The Virtual Reality Company, a studio focused on the creation of content for virtual reality film and other experiences. At VRC, Cara oversees all intellectual property matters relating to the company's business. She is the former Associate General Counsel at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, where she supported Guggenheim’s legal affairs in a wide variety of areas including intellectual property. Prior to the Guggenheim, Cara was Deputy General Counsel for Artstor, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching, and learning in the arts, humanities and other fields. Among her duties at Artstor, Cara collaborated in refining Artstor's intellectual property and other legal strategies for the organization. She also supervised the rights review and clearance process for media collections in the Artstor Digital Library, a digital image resource that makes available to nonprofit institutions over 1.7 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. Cara also worked as an Associate at the law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Andrews Kurth LLP, where she practiced in the field of intellectual property. She served as Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Rights Committee of the Visual Resources Association from 2011-2014. Cara received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.Registration for Can We Do That? Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media is open until February 28, 2020. The fee for the workshop is $125. For more information about the workshop and to register, visit here. If you have any questions about registration, please feel free to contact Beth Haas, VRAF Director, bwodnick@princeton.edu. For questions about the venue, please contact Anne Mar, Assistant College Archivist/Metadata Specialist, amar@oxy.edu.
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Hotel Rates Ending, Add Workshops and Tours
550 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202(410) 234-0550 / 1-800-766-3782Block Name: Visual Resources Association 2020 Annual ConferenceGroup Code: 0329VSRSAS$149 per night, single/double occupancy, plus taxes and fees
Please contact the VP for Conference Arrangements with any questions about reservations.
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Very Close to Washington, D.C.
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Very Close to Washington, D.C. Consider taking a quick trip to D.C. after the conference! D.C. is only a 45-minute train ride away! Read on for travel tips, museum information, and food picks!GETTING TO D.C. MARC Train
- MARC Schedule and Timetable
- Tickets can be bought in advance online or at the station. You will have to purchase tickets each way. It’s $8 each way from Penn Station-Baltimore to Union Station-Washington, D.C. The MARC train leaves 1x or 2x per hour until 9pm.
Drive
- 1 hour. Driving to D.C. is recommended after or before rush hour. Rush hour is typically 7-10am and 3-6pm on weekdays. Street parking in D.C. can be tricky around the National Mall, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown so garage parking is recommended ($25-50 for 6hrs+).
GETTING AROUND D.C.Metro Rail or Bus: Residents and commuters frequently take the Metro Rail or Bus. Metro Rail fares are determined by destination and time-of-day (peak hours are 5am-9:30am and 3-7pm), starting at $2.25. Metro Bus is a flat $2 fee for each ride. Metro Rail runs 5am-11:30pm (M-Th), 5am-1am (Fri), 7am-1am (Sat) and 8am-11pm (Sun).All riders need a MetroCard. Cards can be purchased (cash or credit card) in any Metro station and costs $5 minimum with $4 to spend immediately (there’s a $1 fee for new cards). These are plastic cards and can be refilled at any station. Ronald Reagan National Airport is accessible by Metro Rail. Take the Yellow Line towards Huntington. All station managers are eager to help D.C. visitors so they’ll answer any questions you may have!D.C. Circulator: $1 flat-fee bus service along certain routes in D.C. Check the routes and schedule to see if it goes where you’re going. They accept MetroCards. Insider Tip: Take the National Mall route to enjoy a ride around the monuments for only $1. Capital Bikeshare: Find a docking station (they’re red and everywhere) and start biking! A 30-min ride costs $2 without having to sign up for a membership. Or you can buy a 24-hour pass for $8. Pick up a bike from any docking station, start biking, and return it to any docking station near your destination. Insider Tip: These are great alternatives to walking along the National Mall. Electric Scooters: You’ll find these everywhere in D.C. You’ll need the corresponding App to use any of these. Brands include Lyft (convenient because you can use the Lyft app), Spin, Skip and Jump. You can base your decision on whichever you see first on the sidewalks or pick one, download their App, and locate one nearby. Or you can look on Google Maps to see if one, of any brand, is nearby. Insider Tip: Stick to wide sidewalks otherwise use bike lanes.Walk: D.C. is a very walkable city and if the weather is nice, I highly recommend walking! Cars: D.C. is flooded with Lyft and Uber options. Costs depend on time of time (meaning traffic) and popular areas. When it rains in D.C., everyone rushes to their Lyft and Uber Apps so costs will surge suddenly. There usually is no cost difference between Lyft and Uber. Cabs: There are plenty of cabs around town especially near the Mall and airport. These will add up quickly if there’s traffic but can also cost the same, just depends on where you go. They accept cash and credit cards.STAY IN D.C.If you want to extend your stay after the conference, there are plenty of hotel options in D.C. and most, if not all, are close to a Metro stop. Some popular options that D.C.’ers even choose for staycations are the Conrad Hotel in City Centre and The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan area. Don’t forget that Arlington and Alexandria make great alternatives to D.C. and both are only 10-20 minute Metro rides away from downtown D.C. Check out AirBNB for opportunities to stay in a historic Capitol Hill townhouse or apartment with a view of the Washington Monument.WHILE IN D.C.D.C. is home to plenty of one-of-a-kind museums! There’s plenty to see and do during the day ending with a plethora of great dining options. Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian Institution is made of 19 museums, education and research centers and a zoo! All museums are free and open 364 days of the year. Here are just a few:
- National Museum of African American History and Culture - The newest museum on the mall! You will need to reserve passes ahead of your visit (free!) if you plan to visit before 1pm on weekdays otherwise there will be entrance lines. Same-day passes are available at 6:30am Mon-Sun or ahead of time the first Wednesday of each month. Click for more info about passes. Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Food options available indoors. Federal Triangle Metro Stop (Blue Line).
- National Museum of American History - Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Food options available indoors. Federal Triangle Metro Stop (Blue Line) or Metro Center Metro Stop (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
- National Museum of Natural History - The newly renovated Dinosaur Hall is a must-see! Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Food options available indoors. Federal Triangle Metro Stop (Blue Line) or Metro Center Metro Stop (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
- National Museum of African Art and Freer & Sackler Galleries - These two museums and galleries are next to each other and below the Smithsonian Castle Visitor Center. Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Smithsonian Metro Stop (Blue/Orange/Silver Lines) or Metro Center Metro Stop (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
- Smithsonian Castle Visitor Center - A great way to start your Smithsonian adventure. Check-out a sampling of each museum’s collection in the west wing gallery or pick-up some souvenirs. Open Mon-Sun, 9am-5:30pm. Food options available indoors. Smithsonian Metro Stop (Blue/Orange/Silver Lines) or Metro Center Metro Stop (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Experience modern and contemporary artwork inside and outside the Hirshhorn. Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Coffee shop available indoors. Smithsonian Metro Stop (Blue/Orange/Silver Lines) or L’Enfant Metro Stop (Yellow/Green/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines). (Our Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden tour is currently full, but what’s to stop you from going on Friday, too?)
- National Air and Space Museum - Half of the museum is undergoing renovations but plenty of the collection remains on view! Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. L’Enfant Metro Stop (Yellow/Green/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
- National Museum of American Indian - Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. L’Enfant Metro Stop (Yellow/Green/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines).
National Gallery of Art: Also along the mall and made up of the East Wing, West Wing, and the Sculpture Garden. Open Mon-Sun, 10am-5:30pm. Food options available indoors. Archives Metro Stop (Yellow/Green Lines) or Judiciary Square Metro Stop (Red Line).Library of Congress: Take a free one-hour tour in the Thomas Jefferson Building offered everyday at every hour 10:30am - 3:30pm. Capitol South Metro Stop (Blue/Orange/Silver lines). National Botanical Garden: Escape the cold and some crowds by visiting the Botanical Garden between the National Museum of American Indian and Capitol. Open everyday 10am - 5pm. Free. Federal South Metro Stop or Capitol South Metro Stop (Blue/Orange/Silver lines). A quick walk north from the National Mall is the National Archives Museum to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill or Rights. Free. Open everyday 10am - 5:30pm. In Penn Quarter/Chinatown area is the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. Free. Open everyday 11:30am - 7pm. Chinatown/Gallery Place Metro Stop (Red/Orange/Silver/Blue/Green/Yellow lines). MUSEUMS - Off-The-Beaten-PathJust south of the National Mall is the newly built International Spy Museum, worth a visit with families and/or kids. $24.95/adults, $14.95/7-12y.o. 's, FREE for 6 and under. Open everyday 9am - 6pm. Get off at L’Enfant Plaza Metro Stop or take the FREE Wharf Shuttle. Don’t miss the National Women in the Arts Museum located in the Metro Center area. $10/adults, $8/65y.o and students, FREE for 18y.o and under. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm and Sun 12-5pm. Metro Center Station (Red line).A 25-minute walk from the National Zoo (FREE, open every day 9am-4p.m) is the National Cathedral where you can take the Self-Guided Tour, Gargoyle Tour, Behind-the-Scenes Tour or catch a performance indoors. Tours and performances may have a fee. Open everyday. FOODJosé Andres is a D.C. celebrity and owns several restaurants in the Penn Quarter area including Oyamel, Jaleo, Zaytinya, and China Chilcano. Stop by Songbyrd Cafe in Adams Morgan for brunch, coffee, record shopping, and some live music up in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.Old Ebbitt Grill is a historic D.C. favorite across from the White House. Go for oysters and stay for a martini or burger.Don’t forget to have a second breakfast at Nellie’s Sports Bar’s drag brunch, in the U Street Corridor, on the weekends.Dupont Farmers Market open year-round on Sundays is one of the largest ones in the district.Eastern Market is an indoor market by Capitol Hill featuring butchers, florists, and The Market Place (great for pancakes!). There is also an outdoor market on weekends.Every D.C.’er has their favorite taco and ramen place so try them all and make your own decision! Tacos: Surfside, District Taco, Taco Bamba, Taqueria Nacional, El Centro, Espita and more. Ramen: Daikaya, Toki Underground, Haikan, Sakuramen Ramen Bar and more. Enjoy D.C.! Contributed by:Julia Murphy, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Mentoring Spotlight: Allan Kohl
Allan Kohl is the Librarian, Visual Resources and Library Instruction, at Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD), and has been a VRA member for 26 years.Can you tell us a little bit about your background, and how you got into the field of visual resources?Over the past half-century, I’ve been a high school English teacher; then “Audio-Visual Services Librarian” in my first higher education job; then slide librarian and adjunct instructor in art history here at MCAD, gradually evolving into my current position, which is closer to many aspects of traditional library work, along with helping to manage the College's Archives.Which VRA mentoring activities did you participate in recently?Conference Mentor, Year-Round Mentor, and Year-Round Mentor for the Midwest Chapter Student Membership Scholarship Award.What services did you provide during your mentoring activities?Networking, professional guidance, and VRA Midwest Chapter Student Membership Scholarship Award mentoring. The latter seemed like a natural fit, in that I’m part of the selection committee for this award, and in looking over the applications I sometimes see specific ways I might help an applicant, based on that person’s career objectives.Briefly tell us about who you were matched with.I have tended to be matched with individuals who may be completing graduate degrees while also working at least part-time (on granted projects, etc.).What was your motivation for participating in the mentoring activities?Recruiting new, younger members to VRA to refresh our membership base, and helping first-time conferees have a rewarding experience.What aspects of the activities did you find the most valuable, and why?The opportunity to answer questions one-on-one. This is similar to what I do in reference work as part of my MCAD Library job, and it’s a natural segue into helping younger professionals navigate their integration into a peer community.Do you have any words of advice or wisdom for any of our members who may be thinking about participating in VRA's mentoring activities?Try it -- you'll like it!
You can meet Allan at VRA 2020 in Baltimore! Want to learn more about becoming a VRA mentor? Visit our Mentorship page! httpS://vraweb.org/opportunities/mentorship/Have you had a great VRA mentoring experience? We would love to hear about it! Contact the Mentor Coordinator to find out to share your story here!
Greetings from the VRA Equitable Action Committee
Greetings from the VRA Equitable Action Committee, formerly known as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, we are pleased to announce that after several engaging discussions, our newly formed committee arrived at a new name and charge.As a committee, we believe that equity should be prioritized as an important mission of our professional organization. Equitable solutions are accomplished not only by engaging in critical discussions on issues of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility within our community, but also by actively developing strategies that create equitable opportunities for our members.Our new name, The Equitable Action Committee, was selected to reflect our active commitment to finding and instituting equitable solutions to these pressing issues.In addition, our new charge serves to communicate our commitment to action:
"The committee will advance and support an equitable, diverse, accessible, and inclusive association. With critical reflection and a steady eye on the future, this committee seeks to strengthen the association’s membership by welcoming, embracing, and supporting historically marginalized people, voices, and narratives. The committee also aims to educate and empower the association’s membership on issues of accessibility and disability inclusion opportunities. This committee will advise the Executive Board on creating equitable and inclusive practices."
Please consider joining our committee meeting at VRA 2020 in Baltimore or dropping by our table at the Community Partnership Event where we will be collecting your concerns related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts. If you are unable to attend VRA2020 and have suggestions, you may fill out the form here (http://bit.ly/EAC2020).--The Equitable Action Committee (ea@vraweb.org)Lael Ensor-Bennett, Jackie Fleming, Katherina Fostano, Cindy Frank, Bonnie Rosenberg, Chelsea Stone, Andrew Wang, & Kendra Werst
VRA 2020 Baltimore: Save $100 off Conference Registration
550 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202(410) 234-0550 / 1-800-766-3782Block Name: Visual Resources Association 2020 Annual ConferenceGroup Code: 0329VSRSAS$149 per night, single/double occupancy, plus taxes and fees