VRA 2022: Baltimore!
The Local Planning Committee is excited to welcome many of you to Baltimore next week in-person!Wondering where to eat? Visit the Committee’s Dining Guide. You’ll find helpful links (like this Outdoor Dining list), restaurants in neighborhoods close to the hotel, favorites from around the city, and dietary notations.Planning to spend some time sightseeing? Check out the Committee’s Museum and Attractions list. Do take special note that the Walters Art Museum, a short ~5-8 minute rideshare from the hotel, is open until 8 pm on Thursdays.The Committee is also pleased to announce two informal tours. Please follow the links to Sched for more details. Just ~5-8 minutes rideshares from the hotel, the George Peabody Library (March 29 and March 30) and the Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Library (March 30) will be open for several drop-in tours. Sign up to share a ride at the registration desk in the hotel. No registration is required for the tours themselves.Need some information about transportation? Click here. Specific questions about visiting Baltimore? Email the Local Planning Committee! Questions about the conference itself? Write the conference organizers (Registration/Membership, Conference Program, Conference Logistics/Hotel, Technology, Volunteering, Code of Conduct)!Looking forward to seeing you,VRA Baltimore 2022 Local Planning Committee 
VRA 2022: Sponsors and Land Acknowledgment
Today is the start of the Pre-Conference!As we kick off VRA 2022, we want to bring your attention to our conference Sponsors and the Land Acknowledgment.VRA Sponsors are invested in developing products and offering services that support our community directly. Thank you to vrcHost, Inter-American Institute, and JSTOR Forum for their financial support this year. Everyone will have the chance to thank our commercial partners at the Community Eventon March 31, 3:45-5:15 pm EDT. vrcHost (Gold-level sponsor) and Inter-American Institute (Bronze-level sponsor) will be available to meet with conference attendees at this reception-style event.This year, we are grateful to the members of the VRA 2022 Local Planning Committee and the Equitable Actions Committee, with contributions from Bridget Madden, for the VRA 2022 Land Acknowledgment. While it will be referenced throughout sessions this week and next, please take the time to read it in its entirety and spend a moment reflecting on its message. Then take action. There are resources for everyone.The next post will help you figure out what to experience and what to eat while in Baltimore. Take a sneak peek at a couple of tours recently added to Sched: VRA 2022 Informal Tours.
VRA 2022: Attendee Portal
Are you attending VRA 2022? If so, keep reading. This email covers how to access the online content and provides tips to help plan your schedule.First, whether attending the Pre-Conference, Conference, or both, definitely take advantage of the online program on Sched. Sign in at vra2022.sched.com to:
- select your local timezone;
- filter the schedule by type of content or venue (Zoom or the Conference Hotel);
- and save sessions, workshops, and events you plan to attend to your account.
Under your account settings, you can also:
- personalize your profile, adding information that will help you connect with others;
- and ask Sched to email you each morning to remind you what you planned for the day.
Is what you have planned for the day online? All access to the online conference content during the Pre-Conference and Conference will be through the Attendee Portal, linked at the top of our conference website. Page accessibility in the Attendee Portal is tied to your registration. If you have any issues with access, send an email to info@vraweb.org.Once again this year our online conference platform is Zoom. Most sessions and workshops will be in the Zoom Meeting format, to allow for more interactive Q&A. The Keynote Address, Annual Business Meeting, and Awards Ceremony will be in the Zoom Webinar format."See" you Monday for the start of the Pre-Conference. There is still time to register!
VRA 2022: Social Events
An important part of the conference experience is socializing with colleagues and friends. The VRA Conference Planning team has created several opportunities to mingle in-person and online.In Baltimore, coffee breaks are scheduled throughout the day so you can squeeze in a quick catch-up or introduce yourself to someone new. Other opportunities to get to know the VRA community include the Welcome Reception on Tuesday (5/29) at 5:30 pm ET, the Membership Business Meeting Breakfast on Thursday (5/31) at 9 am, and the Vendor and Poster Session Event on Thursday (5/31) at 3:45 pm. No doubt folks will also linger after the Convocation Keynote on Wednesday (5/30) at 4:30 pm, and the Awards Ceremony and Celebration on Thursday (5/31) at 5:15 pm.Are you looking for a dining companion on someone with whom to visit Baltimore museums and attractions? Stop by the VRA reception desk at the hotel to leave a note on our bulletin board. Or, send a message over the VRA-L if you like to plan ahead.During the online Pre-Conference, we will once again use the VRA Wonder Room (aka VRA Lounge) as our primary online social space. It is also the place to hang out if you are attending the Baltimore Conference remotely or are more comfortable socializing from your room at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Hotel. Do you want to try it out in advance? The VRA Lounge is always open! This week, we will have hosted hours on Wednesday (3/16) and Thursday (3/17) from 5:00-7:00 pm PDT/8:00-10:00 pm EDT. The Wonder Room is accessible via a web browser. If you haven’t visited before, click here to check out our help guide, then click here to enter the VRA Lounge. Participants in the VRA Lounge are expected to adhere to the VRA 2022 Code of Conduct.Keep an eye out for the next VRA 2022 email this Thursday. We will be linking the Attendee Portal to the VRA 2022 website, which you will use to access the Pre-Conference and online/hybrid Conference content.
VRA 2022: DEIA Program Highlights
Greetings from the Equitable Action Committee!We would like to highlight the numerous Pre-Conference and Conference events that relate to the VRA’s equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts. We hope you are able to join us virtually and/or in person.VRA 2022 Pre-ConferenceMonday, March 21
- 10:00am – 12:00pm EDT EAC Cash Rules Everything Around Me: Salary Negotiation Workshop
- 12:30pm – 2:30pm EDT Accessibility Guidance for Digital Cultural Heritage Workshop
- 4:00pm – 5:00pm EDT Major New Initiatives of the VRA Core and CCO Subcommittees
Tuesday, March 22
- 9:00am – 12:00pm EDT Accessibility Part Two: Building in Accessibility in Your Digital Collections Workflow
- 1:00pm – 2:00pm EDT Individual papers: Description Specialists and Artist’s Archive
- 2:45pm – 3:45pm EDT Balancing Acts: User Community Expectations and Art Information Transparency in a Shared Database
- 4:00pm – 5:00pm EDT Anti-Racist Work and the Solo Visual Resources Professional
VRA 2022 ConferenceTuesday, March 29
- 4:30pm – 5:30pm EDT Critical Cataloging Conversations in Teaching, Research, and Practice
Wednesday, March 30
- 10:00am – 11:00am EDT Community Building
- 4:30pm – 5:30pm EDT Convocation Keynote: Ashley Minner, “Repatriating the Archives: An Urban Reservation Reunion”
Thursday, March 31
- 11:15am – 12:15pm EDT Disrupting Our Teaching: Visual Literacy and Social Justice
- 12:30pm – 1:30pm EDT EAC Community Hour: Empowering Future Advocacy
Can’t attend this year? Not to worry! The EAC welcomes your suggestions for ongoing year-round initiatives; you may submit your ideas and comments here (https://tinyurl.com/2p8y6ca9), or email us at ea@vraweb.org.Contributed by Equitable Action Committee Co-chairs:Lael Ensor-Bennett, Johns Hopkins UniversityLesley Chapman, Colgate University
VRA 2022: Keynote Speaker Ashley Minner
Repatriating the Archives: An Urban Reservation ReunionThe place now known as Baltimore, like the rest of what is now known as the United States of America, has always been home to Native peoples. Baltimore is part of the ancestral homelands of the Piscataway and the Susquehannock, and a diverse host of American Indian folks from many nations have passed through or lived here at different times, and still do. In the mid-twentieth century, thousands of Lumbee Indians and members of other tribal nations migrated to Baltimore City, seeking jobs and a better quality of life. On the east side of town, they created a vibrant, intertribal American Indian community, which they affectionately referred to as their "reservation." In the decades since, due to a complex set of factors ranging from upward mobility, to Urban Renewal, to gentrification, most American Indian people moved away from the area, which continues to transform. In collaboration with her elders, Ashley Minner has been mining archives to repatriate their heritage and reconstruct East Baltimore's "reservation." She sees this as an urgent project of reclamation of history, space, and belonging.
VRA 2022: Back to Baltimore
The cancelation of VRA 2020 was a huge disappointment. Not only did we miss out on our collegial gathering, but many of us were also looking forward to exploring Baltimore. Fortunately, VRA 2022 is the return of the in-person conference and the return to Baltimore, Maryland.
Baltimore’s location and proximity to Washington DC makes travel easy. Flying? Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) is only 9.8 miles away from the conference hotel, the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore, and Baltimore Penn Station (BAL-Amtrak/MARC), is only 1.9 miles away.See the Travel Details page on the conference website for complete information on flying, rail, driving, ride sharing, and parking. Valet and self-parking at the hotel will be available to conference attendees at discounted rates.When you’re ready to explore, take the free Charm City Circulator to all of the downtown tourist spots. Feeling adventurous? Take the MTA MARC Train to Washington DC for only $16 round trip. Feeling not so adventurous? Walk across the street from the conference hotel and investigate all of the attractions in the Baltimore Inner Harbor.
Lael Ensor-BennettLocal Planning Coordinator, 2022 Baltimore Local Planning CommitteeCurator, Visual Resources Collection, Johns Hopkins UniversityJodi Hoover2022 Baltimore Local Planning CommitteeManager, Best & Next Department, Enoch Pratt Free Library
VRA 2022: Pre-Conference Highlights
VRA 2022 is around the corner! We are just three weeks out from the Pre-Conference (March 21–22) and one month from the start of VRA 2022 in Baltimore (March 29–31). As we gear up for this annual event, we will be sending emails on Mondays and Thursdays with information about the conference program and Baltimore.Today we want to highlight the VRA 2022 Pre-Conference program, a new addition to our annual conference schedule. These two days of workshops and sessions are fully remote (over Zoom) the Monday and Tuesday before the Baltimore Conference. The $50 Pre-Conference rate is available to everyone, members and non-members. If you register for the Conference in Baltimore, the Pre-Conference is included!Do you want to learn more about salary negotiation?Why don’t you check out the AAUW Work Smart / EAC Cash Rules Everything Around Me: Salary Negotiation workshop on March 21, 10:00am–12:00 pm ET.Are you wondering how to make your collections more accessible?There are two workshops that will help you to evaluate your data and manage your workflow. Accessibility Guidance for Digital Cultural Heritage is scheduled for March 21, 12:30–2:30 pm ET (this workshop is capped at 30. sign up when you register). Accessibility Part Two: Building in Accessibility in Your Digital Collections Workflow is scheduled for March 22, 9:00am–12:00 pm ET. We also suggest you attend Major New Initiatives of the VRA Core and CCO Subcommittees' session March 21, 4:00–5:00 pm ET, to learn about the exciting plans for VRA Core schema and Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) that include built-in support for accessibility.Are you curious about new work in the visual resources profession?Sometimes it is nice to step back and see what others are doing and how they are doing it. Don’t miss these three sessions on Tuesday: Individual Papers: Description Specialists and Artist’s Archive March 22, 1:00–2:00 pm ET, Balancing Acts: User Community Expectations and Art Information Transparency in a Shared Database March 22, 2:45–3:45 pm ET, and Anti-Racist Work and the Solo Visual Resources Professional March 22, 4:00–5:00 pm ET.Is retirement on your radar?Stories from the Start is always one of our most popular sessions. Now you can hear about the other end of the spectrum from our seasoned professionals who are retired or whose retirements are pending. Join them for Stories from the Stop (and Re-Start): Visual Resources Professionals Face Retirement March 21, 2:45–3:45 pm.You can sign up for the Pre-Conference at this link. If you are attending the Pre-Conference and the Conference, sign up using the VRA 2022 Conference link—remember, the Pre-Conference programing is included!
VRA 2022: CfP Poster Session
Proposals are now being solicited for the VRA 2022 Poster Session in Baltimore, MD! The Poster Session is part of our VRA Community event scheduled for March 31, 2022, 3:00–4:30 pm ET. Remote presenters will be able to participate in the session alongside in-person participants. Proposals are due by 11:59 ET March 7, 2022. Notifications will go out by the end of the day March 9, 2022.The Poster Session is an opportunity to present a professional topic both graphically and through direct interaction with conference attendees in Baltimore. In addition to the traditional 30” x 42” poster, the VRA Executive Board will also accept “digital posters” consisting of a series of no more than three presentation slides on a laptop. We hope this format will also encourage the one-on-one discussions and self-paced viewing of physical posters, while also easing some of the inconveniences of bringing a physical poster to the conference. Regardless of format, posters may depict workplace initiatives, research works in process, and other library/visual resource topics of contemporary interest.Submit your poster proposal via our online submission form.A poster consists of a visual display accompanied by pertinent handouts. The physical poster display can take any form or look, provided it is confined to the 30” x 42” area. The digital poster may contain up to three slides (PowerPoint, Keynote, PDF, etc.), displayed on a laptop, and may include embedded audio and video. Creating the opportunity for conversation is the main goal of the poster session.Beyond the display panels and certain basic mounting supplies, poster presenters will be required to bring all materials and mount their own display at the designated time. Presenters opting to display digital posters in-person are responsible for their own laptop and technical troubleshooting. Full details will be provided in March, following selection and confirmation of poster presenters.Please contact vpcp@vraweb.org if you have any questions regarding the poster formats or proposal process. Thank you and we look forward to your submissions!
VRA 2022: Registration is Open
Registration for VRA 2022 Baltimore is open! We invite you to join us for five days of presentations, workshops, discussions, and events divided into a fully remote Pre-Conference (3/21-3/22) and a hybrid Conference in Baltimore, Maryland (3/29-3/31). Topics include digital asset management, intellectual property rights, digital humanities, metadata standards, coding, imaging best practices, and more! We also have a wonderful keynote speaker, Ashley Minner, a community-based visual artist and Curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.You can browse our online program, where you can view sessions, workshops, and create your custom schedule at https://vra2021.sched.com. Sign up for VRA 2022 on our conference website at http://vraweb.org/2022-baltimore/. Direct links to the registration forms are also included below. Please note: the registration fee for the Conference in Baltimore (in-person or remote) includes access to the Pre-Conference programming. If you are only able to attend the Pre-Conference, you can register for it separately.VRA welcomes all attendees, new and returning. We are committed to strengthening our community by creating an equitable environment that values and encourages diversity in its membership and work. While the VRA Equitable Action Committee, formed in 2019, serves as a resource to the organization, members are expected to take an active role in promoting and supporting our BIPOC colleagues, colleagues with disabilities, and colleagues who have been historically discriminated against or excluded for any reason.Direct link to sign up for the Pre-Conference ONLY: https://vra.memberclicks.net/2022vra40preconference Direct link to sign up for the Conference (which includes the Pre-Conference): https://vra.memberclicks.net/2022VRA40
VRA 2022: Call for Proposals
Call for ProposalsBaltimore 2022The Visual Resources Association’s 2022 Annual Conference will include both an online Pre-Conference and an In-Person Conference. The In-Person Conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland from Tuesday, March 29th through Friday, April 1st, 2022 at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore. Presenting at the VRA Conference provides you with the opportunity to see how your ideas, research, work, and passion connect to those of other dedicated professionals while building networks and friendships in an open, collaborative environment.The VRA Executive Board is soliciting proposals for papers, sessions, special interest/user groups, workshops, posters sessions, and committee meetings for the 2022 program until Friday, September 24th. All proposals are welcome, and if you have other conference ideas or suggestions that do not fit the conference proposal form, please reach out to the Vice President for Conference Program, Christopher Sawula. The conference proposal form also includes a section where you can specify whether you are only interested in presenting online, in person, or either. Please note a call for Lightning Round presenters will go out in the fall/winter, so that we can better accommodate recent innovations and activities, as well as students and emerging professionals.
- A paper is an individual idea submission, which will be reviewed for possible grouping into a session. Your ideas, whether they come to us alone or in a group, are equally valued in the Board’s proposal and selection process.
- A session is a maximum 60-minute moderated panel, usually consisting of no more than 3 presenters each, speaking for 15 to 18 minutes, followed by a brief facilitated question and answer period. If you feel your session topic requires more time, consider dividing it into two sessions, consisting of a Part I and a Part II.
- A special interest/user group is a 60-minute informal, community-driven, facilitated group discussion on topics related to a specific segment of the VRA membership.
- A workshop is a 2-, 4-, or 8-hour workshop to develop skills and experience in the field of visual resources with hands-on activities.
- A poster session presents a topic both visually and through direct interaction with conference attendees. Posters can depict workplace initiatives, research in progress, and other topics of contemporary interest.
What should you propose?Past conference schedules can give you an idea of the range of topics presented in previous years; you may also wish to read through the list below of suggested topics compiled from the 2019 and 2021 post-conference survey responses to find inspiration. Please, do not be afraid to deviate and propose something new or highlight an area of concern that you feel has not been adequately addressed previously, as you may find new collaborators and colleagues. Moderators may put out calls for presenters within a proposed topic before or after the submission of a proposal. The VRA Executive Board will be looking for articulate and concise submissions with lists of presenters, but submissions without presenter lists are encouraged as well.Click here to access the conference proposal form.Suggested topics:
- Coding (PHP, Python, SQL, etc.)
- Community outreach
- Copyright/Intellectual property
- Digital asset management, digital curation, digital preservation, etc.
- Digitization (workflows, digital capture and imaging technologies)
- Digital scholarship and digital humanities
- Diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural competencies, social justice
- Project management (communication, grant writing, prioritization, leadership, etc.)
- Linked data
- Materials/Objects collections
- Metadata/Cataloging ethics (decolonizing vocabularies, radical cataloging)
- Storytelling and oral history
- Technologies (GIS and mapping, 3D imaging, etc.)
- Tools: open source, evolution, future trends
- Workplace cultures and professional transitions (academic departments, libraries, cultural heritage institutions, archives, corporate, etc.)
The Equitable Action Committee (EAC) will be available to assist in providing guidance for annual conference session organizers and all presenters. Accepted organizers and presenters will be invited to consult the EAC to incorporate equity and inclusion best practices. Depending on the extent of support requested, the EAC will be able to provide one-on-one consultations to evaluate and discuss specific aspects of organizers’ in-progress plans. Discussions can involve (but are not limited to): assessing inclusivity in panelists and perspectives; identifying gaps in accessibility; addressing concerns about contentious topics; and directing organizers, moderators, and speakers to additional resources. This initiative will help promote VRA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as create a more welcoming space for civil and critical engagement at the annual conference.Please contact the Vice President for Conference Program, Christopher Sawula at vpcp@vraweb.org with any questions or concerns.Again, the proposal deadline is Friday, September 24th, 2021. Click here to access the conference proposal form.We look forward to hearing your ideas!Christopher SawulaVice President for Conference ProgramVisual Resources Associationvpcp@vraweb.org