Professional Development Committee Meeting

ARLIS/NA Annual Conference

Saturday, May 6, 2006

6:00-7:30 p.m.

Angus Room, Banff Springs Hotel

Chair: Heidi Hass

Attendees:

Heather Ball, Tom Caswell, Sarah Falls, Heidi Hass, Louise Kulp, Amy Lucker (guest), Angelica Moyes, Tony White

Introductions – Heidi Hass

The meeting began with the introduction of committee members and guest, Amy Lucker, Head of Technical Services and Slides and Digital Imaging, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library. Amy and Eileen Fry chair the Summer Educational Institute (SEI) long-range planning committee. Amy reported they are exploring accreditation through library schools and are discussing the mission of SEI beyond the digital transition.

Core Competencies sub-committee report – Angelica Moyes

• Communication has started with the Visual Resources Division (VRD) of ARLIS.
• While in Banff Angel will meet with Hemalata Iyer, Associate Professor, SUNY/Albany. Hemalata is presenting a poster session on an IMLS grant-funded research project for “determining professional competencies and guidelines for graduate education in visual resources management.”
• At Angel’s request Louise Kulp agreed to rejoin the Core Competencies sub-committee since the majority of work can be accomplished during the summer months and won’t interfere with an anticipated hectic start of the 2006-2007 academic year.
• Angel explained that case studies and outreach need to be added to the report. “Outreach” means to library schools; Sarah Falls is working on a list of library school contacts relevant to visual resources, and Heidi will check with the Membership Committee to see if they have current library school contact information.
• As PDC Executive Board Liaison, Heather Ball advised against making the document “tool specific;” for example, don’t specify an application such as MS Word. It was suggested that specific tools could be listed in a supplementary document.
• It was decided that the Core Competencies report draft be submitted to Heather by August 1.
• Amy Lucker asked that we keep her informed about the work of the PDC Core-Competencies sub-committee.

Careers in Art Librarianship and Visual Resources brochure distribution – Tom Caswell

• Tom expressed dismay that the cover is the same color as the Membership brochure, although the difference between the two brochures becomes slightly apparent when opened—the Careers brochure is white type on a black ground. The Membership brochure will be reprinted soon, and Tom will ask that it be done in a cover color that will distinguish it from Careers.
• Approximately 450 to 500 brochures were printed and Tom is already getting some requests for them. Sarah Falls suggested sending a package of brochures to chapter presidents to use as recruitment tools and perhaps to distribute to library schools in their regions. Tom offered to take care of this relatively low-cost initial distribution; Heidi will write a letter to accompany the mailings to chapter presidents.
• Tom suggested that a special funding request could be made next year to support reprinting and additional mailing costs.

LOEX membership – Heidi Hass

• Heidi expressed a “use it or lose it” attitude toward ARLIS/NA’s membership in LOEX, a database of instruction materials for which we pay $75.00 per year. Sarah Falls suggested that materials in a resource such as EDUCAUSE might be more appropriate/useful than those in LOEX. In reviewing the LOEX documentation, it appears that new materials are not even being added to its collection. Louise Kulp, who does bibliographic instruction as part of her job, will examine the usefulness of LOEX to the ARLIS membership and write a report with recommendations/alternative resources. Louise will submit the report to Heidi by July 1.

Report on Assessment Task Force – Heather Ball

• As Executive Board Liaison Heather hinted at the next stage in the development of ARLIS/NA: a richer educational program for members; certification programming (for example, for members who cannot afford to attend annual conference); mentorship program; organizational-structure changes. She also mentioned an effort to get sections and divisions to sponsor conference programs.
• Heidi inquired about the status of the proposed revision to the PDC Charge which was submitted to the Executive Board 5/1/2006. The issue has been tabled for post-conference meeting and Heather will look into why the first proposed revision was rejected by the Board.

Membership Task Force report on Workshop and AskARLIS session; Year-long Pilot Program – Heidi Hass, Tony White

• The Membership Task Force report was published in Art Documentation last fall.
• Workshop
• Tony reported on ARLIS/NA Mentoring Initiative: a Workshop for Mentors and Mentees, held Friday, May 5, from 1-5 p.m. Three mentors, nine mentees and one “drop-in” attended. Margaret Law, Associate Director of the Libraries, University of Alberta, conducted the workshop with Heidi and Tony as co-moderators. Margaret included role-playing and breakout sessions. Heidi and Tony will edit a videotape of the workshop, and they discussed with the committee strategies and a timetable for distribution—DVD? streaming video?
• Some individuals have expressed interest in mentoring next year; they would be prospects for a similar workshop at the 2007 annual conference in Atlanta. Heidi explained the difficulty of getting mentors for the pilot program—she and Tony really had to work their contact lists.
• Suggestions for next year: try not to have the workshop at the very beginning of the conference; communicate to membership/interested individuals the clear distinction between the year-long mentoring program and the conference-only mentor/mentee matches.
• AskARLIS session
• Attendance was light. Heidi gave an introduction and Tony gave highlights from the Task Force report and the SurveyMonkey survey. Margaret Law talked about the benefits to society of mentoring programs. There was excellent Q&A, and Elizabeth O’Keefe served as recorder, so there will be very thorough documentation of the session.
• Future
• Heidi and Tony will run the workshop next year in Atlanta.
• It was suggested that a poster session next year might include an evaluation of the pilot year and a questionnaire for facilitating mentor/mentee matching.
• The workshop DVD and a support package made up of materials that Heidi and Tony prepare for next year’s workshop may be distributed to regional chapters.
• Heather will approach the Board about the issue of a liability statement covering mentor/mentee relationships.

Program ideas for 2007 Atlanta conference; Funding requests; New business – PDC

• Sarah Falls will propose a 2007 program on writing resumes and cover letters with the same structure that this year’s workshop—The Big Step Forward: Building the Perfect Resume for Art/Visual Resources Library Professionals—had. She suggested bringing in Mary Marsh(?), a human resources professional from UNC.
• Heidi suggested that we think of ways to welcome new ARLIS/NA members beyond merely giving them the Web site URL when they join; in other words, communicate in a more personal and welcoming way. She will work with Membership and Diversity on this issue.
• It was mentioned that the roster of internship opportunities is still linked from the PDC Web site. The link to the roster should be more prominent and perhaps be hosted elsewhere.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

Respectively submitted,

Louise Kulp

5/26/2006

rev. 6/16/2006