VRA Bulletin | Fall/Winter 2022
VRA Bulletin Vol. 49 No. 2 (2022): Fall/Winter
The Fall/Winter 2022 issue of the VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is now available. Explore the new issue of the VRA's fully open access journal.
IN THIS ISSUE
ASSOCIATION NEWSVRA Baltimore Awards: Exceptional Contributions to the Visual Resources Field in 2022Maureen Burns
REVIEWSReview of MHz CurationistAkeem FlavorsReview of "Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources"Briana MeyerCopyright Management by Design: Review of The Copyright Management Guidelines for Cultural Heritage InstitutionsChelsea Stone
PERSPECTIVESDeep Dives into Digital Cultural Heritage Practices: An Interview with Diane ZorichSara Schumacher
Slides as Artifacts of Nostalgia: Personal and Professional RuminationsLael Ensor-Bennett
FEATURE ARTICLESUncovering Connections: CAQDAS and Tropy for Art Historians and ArchaeologistsKayla Olson
About the VRA Bulletin
The VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is the journal of the Visual Resources Association (VRA), a multidisciplinary, international organization dedicated to furthering image management education and research by providing leadership in the field, developing and advocating standards, and offering educational tools and opportunities for the benefit of the community at large. The VRAB is a fully open access journal and issues are available to anyone immediately upon publication. All costs of publishing are borne by the Visual Resources Association; there is no cost to the authors in order to publish.
Interested in publishing in the VRAB? Information about the submission and publication process is available on the VRAB website.
December EAC Community Hour: An Intro to the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources
As we barrel headlong into the busy holiday season, the EAC cordially invites you to our last Community Hour of 2022. Please join us and our guest Devon Murphy on Thursday, December 1 at 2:00pm EST / 11:00am PST for An Intro to the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources.Responding to the lack of attention paid to description of trans materials in GLAMS (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums), a group of trans and gender diverse information professionals convened over the course of a year to create the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources. Murphy, one of several editors on the project, will provide a brief overview of the Best Practices' making and their major guidelines. Discussion is welcomed on how the best practices can fit into your visual resources workflows. Prior reading of the guidelines is not required; simply bring your thoughts and questions.Devon Murphy (they/them) is a white, nonbinary, and chronically ill metadata worker based in Austin, Texas, United States (Tonkawa, Comanche, and Coahuiltecan land.) They currently work as the Metadata Analyst at the University of Texas at Austin Libraries, managing metadata for cultural heritage collections and building metadata aggregation services. They are active in creating ethical guidelines, being an editor/drafter on the Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources, and being an active member of the QMDC (Queer Metadata Collective).Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
Registration Open: ArLiSNAP / VREPS Virtual Conference 2022
Art Library Students and New ARLIS/NA Professionals (ArLiSNAP) and Visual Resources Association's Emerging Professionals And Students Group (VREPS) invite you to save the date for our 2022 Fall Virtual Conference!This conference is open to all, but focuses on the needs of students and new professionals. Attendees interested in art librarianship or visual resource management will have the opportunity to learn from peers and celebrate each other's work through virtual posters and presentations. Via this conference, we're seeking to foster a sense of belonging and growth in our community, and we invite all interested students and new professionals to participate.SAVE THE DATEThe virtual conference will take place on Saturday, November 5th. The full program and registration information will be released on the ArLiSNAP blog and VREPS blog. To stay up-to-date, subscribe to the ArLiSNAP listserv, follow ArLiSNAP on Twitter / Instagram, and check the VREPS blog.Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkf-usrTktE9BJdpSyIBpNVrEoor3jnycxYou will receive a link to join via Zoom when you register. If you have any questions, please send an email to arlisnap.na@gmail.comSchedule1:00 pm ET | 10:00 am PT - Welcome!1:10 pm ET | 10:10 am PT - Fresh Eyes 2.02:00 pm ET | 11:00 am PT - Posters/Break2:30 pm ET | 11:30 am PT - Poster Q&A + Social3:30 pm ET |12:30 pm PT - The End!
October EAC Community Hour: Personal & Professional Positionality
Join the EAC and our special guest Sara Schumacher on Wednesday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. EDT / 11:00 a.m. PDT to discuss how you can create your own social identity profile by using positionality maps and power wheels. We will reflect on how our identities impact how we perceive images and thereby our jobs as visual resources professionals. When we understand our unconscious biases and relationship to power, what responsibilities do we have and what actions can we take?To learn more about intersectionality, positionality, and privilege, visit this infographic from the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Solutions.Sara Schumacher is the Architecture Image Librarian at Texas Tech University. Her research interests include visual literacy instruction, ethics, and bias.Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
Announcing the Fall 2022 VRA Professional Development Grant Recipient
Yolanda developed an in-house digitization program at the museum and has digitized over 10,000 assets. In reviewing the current efforts, she has identified three areas that would enhance the success of the department's efforts: Taxonomies, Resource and Metadata Sharing, and Grant Writing.Taking advantage of support from VRA, she will attend Heather Hedden's "Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies" online course as well as two offerings from the Library Juice Academy. We hope she enjoys the courses a great deal and look forward to a report of how they will help the museum's digitization plans.The VRA Professional Development Grant Program reflects the broad mission of the VRA 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 VRA, the VRA Professional Development Grant, and other VRA programs, please visit vraweb.org.
VRA Quarterly Newsletter | Fall 2022
Fall 2022 Association News
Conference Update
The VRA’s 2023 Annual Conference will take place September 26-28, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas. Be on the lookout for a call for proposals! An updated annual calendar of association events and activities will be provided to leadership this month.
2022 Workshop Season Underway
The VRA’s 2022 Workshop Season kicked off in September with Learning to Look and Looking to Learn: A Workshop on Visual Literacy. Don’t miss the upcoming workshops included in the event listings below! Thank you to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of the VRA Regional Workshop Program and to the VRA’s Regional Workshop Implementation Team for their work developing this programming.
VRA Internship Award
Sagan Thacker of Asheville, North Carolina, is the recipient of the 2022-2023 VRA Internship Award. Through their internship at the Black Mountain College Museum, Sagan will help launch the museum’s first online portal, which will help make its holdings viewable to the general public. The VRA Internship is generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
VRAB Call for Reviewers
The VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is seeking reviewers for the Fall/Winter 2022 issue. Check out the list of resources available to review and sign up by October 7th!
Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting
The VRA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter held an in-person meeting on August 12th at Penn State hosted by the university’s Center for Virtual/Material Studies. The day included an introduction to the Center’s new space, business meeting, visit to the Matson Museum of Anthropology, and visit to the School of Theatre Fashion Archive.
Leadership Updates
Intellectual Property Rights Co-Chair
Donna McClendon was appointed Co-chair of the Intellectual Property Rights Committee. Donna is Imaging Services Librarian at the Menil Collection in Houston. If you would like to get involved with the committee, contact Donna and Chair Kerry Annos at IPR@vraweb.org.
Current Opportunities
Executive Board Openings
The VRA Executive Board is seeking volunteers for three Board positions: President-Elect, Secretary, and Junior Director of Events and Initiatives. Executive Board Officers are elected by the Board. Terms of office will begin in Spring 2023 following a period of shadowing the current officers. Benefits of serving on the Board include complimentary membership and conference registration. Contact board@vraweb.org to find out more.
Upcoming Events
VREPS Welcome HourOctober 5th, 4 p.m. Pacific/7 p.m. EasternGet to know the Visual Resources Emerging Professionals and Students (VREPS) at their Fall Virtual Welcome Hour!Can We Do That?: Intellectual Property Rights and Visual MediaFridays, October 14th and 21st (register by October 7th!), 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. EasternThis workshop is aimed at helping information, academic, archives, and cultural heritage professionals navigate the murky waters of US copyright law as it relates to visual media.Registration fee: $50Something Mappy This Way Comes: An Introduction to Digital Mapping TechnologiesTuesday, November 1st and Wednesday, November 2nd, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. EasternA crash course in available digital mapping technologies including: ArcGIS, Carto, StoryMaps developments, and free open source technologies.Registration fee: $50ArLiSNAP / VREPS 2022 Fall Virtual ConferenceSaturday, November 5thThis one-day conference is open to all, but focuses on the needs of students and new professionals. Attendees interested in art librarianship or visual resource management will have the opportunity to learn from peers and celebrate each other’s work through virtual posters and presentations.Collaborating Across the Institution and Beyond: Creating Professional Partnerships to Support Cultural HeritageFridays, December 2nd and 9th, 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. EasternThis workshop will provide concrete strategies for building stronger professional collaborations by exploring the benefits and barriers to creating collaborations and offering specific techniques to build successful partnerships.Registration opening soon!
Call for Reviewers for VRAB Fall/Winter 2022 Issue
Want to be more involved in the VRA Bulletin (VRAB)? Sign up to be a reviewer! Check out the list of resources available to review for the Fall/Winter 2022 issue below, and email Sara Schumacher with your selection by October 7th. You can also suggest additional resources for review. Reviews will be due by November 1st. Learn how to submit.
Available resources to review for the Fall/Winter 2022 Issue:
Books
- Moore, Rountrey, A., & Kettler, H. S. (2022). 3D Data Creation to Curation. Association of College & Research Libraries. Open access link.
- Sandy Hervieux, & Amanda Wheatley. (2022). The Rise of AI: Implications and Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Academic Libraries. Association of College and Research Libraries.
Standards/Guidelines/Best Practices
- The Trans Metadata Collective, Burns, Jasmine, Cronquist, Michelle, Huang, Jackson, Murphy, Devon, Rawson, K.J., Schaefer, Beck, Simons, Jamie, Watson, Brian M., & Williams, Adrian. (2022). Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6686841; https://hdl.handle.net/2152/114788
- Europeana Copyright Community. (2022). Copyright management guidelines for cultural heritage institutions. Europeana. https://pro.europeana.eu/post/copyright-management-guidelines-for-cultural-heritage-institutions
- Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2022). The Framework for Visual Literacy in Higher Education. https://acrl.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=66818292
- Klosek, Katherine. Copyright and Contracts: Issues and Strategies. Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, July 22, 2022. https://doi.org/10.29242/report.copyrightandcontracts2022.
Scholarly Articles
- Travis Wagner (2022) Body-Oriented Cataloging as a Method of Inclusive Gender Representation, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2022.2089795
- Treshani Perera (2022) Description Specialists and Inclusive Description Work and/or Initiatives—An Exploratory Study, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2022.2093301
- Brian Dobreski, Karen Snow & Heather Moulaison-Sandy (2022) On Overlap and Otherness: A Comparison of Three Vocabularies’ Approaches to LGBTQ+ Identity, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2022.2090040
- Cho, H., Pham, M.T.N., Leonard, K.N. and Urban, A.C. (2022), "A systematic literature review on image information needs and behaviors", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 78 No. 2, pp. 207-227. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2020-0172
Technologies/Tools
Digital Exhibitions
September EAC Community Hour: Virtual Coffee Break
How is it [halfway through] September already!? If you are anything like us, you've had an exceptionally busy summer and things don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon! The EAC cordially invites you to a "virtual coffee break" at our next Community Hour, on Tuesday, September 27 at 2:00pm EDT / 11:00am PDT. Bring your beverage and/or snacks of choice to take a breather, decompress a bit, and take a look ahead. We have some great ideas for our Community Hours in 2022-2023, but we want to hear from you too! What can the EAC community do for you to help promote DEI in our field? What would you like to learn more about in the coming months? What challenges are we all facing right now? Hope to see you in the Zoom "break room"!Do you have a specific question or topic to discuss? Add it to the discussion prompt section in the Community doc here.Click here to register for EAC's Community Hour! Have an idea for a future Community Hour? Share your idea with this form!Best,Lael and LesleyEAC Co-Chairs
VREPS Fall Virtual Welcome Hour
🍁 Join VREPS for a Fall Virtual Welcome Hour on October 5 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET! 🍁Get to know us, what we do, and the professional development opportunities we can bring to the group! The mission of VREPS is to provide opportunities and resources to support the needs of students and new professionals in the Visual Resources field. We host virtual meetings, conference sessions and spaces for new professionals to present their work, as well as social and educational programming such as resume reviews and mock interviews. We also offer opportunities to lead an event and share your ideas.We want to hear from you and what types of programming you’re looking for to develop your work in the field! Many VREPS events are open to attend, though we encourage involvement with the wider VRA community too!Register for this event at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Yb6ttgbfklIRtdIQLRaDifOjyAkJ1fEpJU8QY8a6KeU/edit?usp=sharingIf you additional questions email us at VREPS@vraweb.org.Best regards,Karissa Hurzeler and Allie Scholten, VREPS Co-ChairsWant to turn your course research into an article? Consider submitting to VRAB. Contact Sara Schumacher to discuss how to turn your ideas into a think piece, how-to article, technology/collection review, or even a peer-reviewed research article.
Save the Date: VRA 2023
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) invites you to
Save the Date for
VRA's 2023 Annual Conference
September 26-28, 2023
San Antonio, Texas
Be on the lookout for a call for proposals!
Questions? Contact initiatives@vraweb.org.
VRA Fall 2022 Workshop Season
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) is pleased to announce its 2022 Workshop Season! Workshops will cover a variety of topics relevant to those working with images in cultural heritage institutions and other fields. All workshops will be held virtually on Zoom in two parts. The fee for each workshop is $50.
Now open for registration!
Learning to Look and Looking to Learn: A Workshop on Visual Literacy (ZOOM)Fridays, September 23rd and 30th5:30 to 7:30pm ESTInstructors Jessica Sack and Rachel Thompson are a powerhouse duo from Yale and the Guggenheim, respectively. They're coming together again to teach attendees the ins and outs of Visual Literacy, which continues to grow as a relevant skill in today's world.Please register by Friday, September 16thCan We Do That?: Intellectual Property Rights and Visual Media (ZOOM)Fridays, October 14th and 21st11:30am to 2:00pm ESTThis workshop, taught by Cara Hirsh has sold out in past years and is coming back for an encore. Attendees will learn the basics of IPR concepts and work through real-life scenarios to gain a better understanding of how to handle these concerns.Please register by Friday, October 7th
Save the dates for these upcoming workshops! Registration will open soon!
- Something Mappy This Way Comes: An Introduction to Digital Mapping Technologies (ZOOM) Tuesday, November 1st and Wednesday, November 2nd, 5:30pm-7:30pm EST. Instructor: Justin Madron
- Collaborating Across the Institution and Beyond: Creating Professional Partnerships to Support Cultural Heritage (ZOOM) Fridays, December 2nd and 9th, 11:30am-2:00pm EST. Instructor: Maureen Burns
We'd like to thank the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for their continued support of the VRA Regional Workshop Program.If you have any questions, please send an email to the Regional Workshop Implementation Team at vraf.rwit@gmail.com.Beth Haas, Workshop CoordinatorJanice Shapiro Hussain, Senior Workshop LiaisonMichelle Schierburg, Junior Workshop Liaison
Announcing the 2022-2023 VRA Internship Award Recipient
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) is pleased to announce the 2022-2023 VRA Internship Award in visual resources and image management. This award was generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.Sagan Thacker of Asheville, North Carolina, is the recipient of the 10th Internship Award. They will receive $3,000 to work a minimum of 200 hours at the Black Mountain College Museum. Through their internship, Sagan will help launch the museum’s first online portal, which will make its holdings viewable to the general public. In the course of their work, Sagan will describe artworks and other objects held by the museum, digitize objects, and update public-facing records.The Association is pleased to support the education and practical training of emerging professionals through this internship award. The Internship Award Committee (Linda Callahan, Bonnie Rosenberg, Robb Detlefs, and Andrew Weymouth, our previous awardee) appreciates the careful thought that went into every proposal. We are grateful to the Kress Foundation for its assistance and for recognizing the potential of this award to foster the next generation of visual resource professionals.