Dear VRA colleagues,
With the winter holiday season underway and the new year just around the corner, I'd like to update you on Visual Resources Association news and the recent work of the VRA Executive Board.
First a reminder: If you have not yet renewed your VRA membership, why not take a moment to do so now (
httpS://vraweb.org/membership/join/). We value each of you as a member of our professional community and a vital supporter of the Association's activities in the development of standards, advocacy for the profession, and offering educational tools and opportunities for the benefit of the community at large.
Please also invite colleagues at your institution who may be interested in VRA's mission and work to join us. Our international, multi-disciplinary organization is relevant to a broad range of information specialists, including archivists; art, architecture, film, video, metadata, and digital librarians; digital image specialists; museum professionals; architectural firms; galleries; publishers; vendors; rights and reproductions officials; photographers; art historians; artists; scientists; and academic technologists. The more diverse our membership is, the richer our organizational perspective becomes.
Your VRA membership provides you with a significantly reduced registration rate for our annual conference. The Executive Board and the Local Arrangements, Education, Development, and Travel Awards Committees have been working diligently for many months to bring you a fantastic annual conference in Denver, March 11-14, 2015. Be sure to register by February 6 to receive the substantial Early Bird discount. Have a look at the excellent preliminary program if you haven't yet had the chance to do so (
http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra33/). Between the conference and the many cultural attractions found in the Mile High City, you'll want to consider staying an extra day or two to take it all in.
With all eyes turning toward the Rocky Mountains, the timing could not be better for the following announcement. I am delighted to share the news that the Executive Board has approved the charter and Bylaws of the new VRA Wild West Chapter, comprising the Mountain West and Plains states of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The Wild West name connotes innovation, unconventionality, and new frontiers within the profession. The chapter represents a large geographic area, and members held their first meeting in October by combining in-person and remote attendance with web conferencing software. They voted on bylaws, selected officers, and offered programming to attendees, demonstrating that while in-person interactions undoubtedly have their advantages, it is indeed possible to build meaningful regional community virtually when travel is not feasible. Join me in welcoming Anna Bernhard as Chair and Heather Seneff as Secretary/Treasurer of the Wild West Chapter.
JOINT CONFERENCE PLANNING
As many of you already know, Seattle has been selected as the site of the 2016 joint conference with ARLIS/NA. I am happy to report that after working together for several months the ARLIS/NA and VRA Boards have finalized the Joint Conference Implementation Plan. This document will serve as a roadmap for joint conference planning. It proceeds from the recommendations of the ARLIS/NA-VRA Joint Conference Task Force, which has been discharged with gratitude by both organizations' Boards. Expertly chaired by Ann Whiteside, its members included Greta Bahnemann, Mark Pompelia, Elizabeth Schaub, and myself. As a participant, I witnessed firsthand the impressively dedicated and thoughtful work of my colleagues in this group and the great care with which every element of conference planning was considered. I am confident that these efforts will be reflected in a smooth planning process and an outstanding program in 2016. Seattle locals Josh Polansky and Alan Michelson are serving as our Joint Conference Co-Chairs. Specific dates will be announced as soon as we have a contract signed with the conference hotel. Please stay tuned!
A teaser for you: The VRA Board has also been looking ahead to the 2017 conference. Our two Vice Presidents have recently conducted site visits in a candidate city new to VRA conferences. Following negotiations and the signing of a hotel contract, we should be able to announce the location of the 2017 conference within the next few months.
OTHER BUSINESS IN 2015
In 2015 the Professional Status Task Force, co-chaired by Jen Green and Macie Hall, will gather and analyze information that will assist VRA in understanding recent shifts in the profession, improving membership benefits to serve current members and attract new ones, and advocating for the profession. Their report, due at the end of the year, will provide critical information to which the Association can respond in its next strategic plan (with a task force being charged at the beginning of 2016). A large part of their efforts will be surveying our membership to better understand employment factors and job duties, the nature of the digital and analog collections our members oversee, and membership demographics. When the task force launches the survey portion of its activities, I urge every member to participate. This is an extremely important project that will inform the Association about how to best serve our members' needs. Your input in the process will be vital.
On the topic of member feedback, a Board priority in 2015 will be collecting your opinions about the issues and opportunities that are important to you as members. The Board has been considering various ways to accomplish this. One method we will pursue is holding online meetings with any members interested in participating. Mark your calendars: the first is scheduled February 12 at 12:00pm PST/3:00pm EST. More details to come.
As recently announced, at the Annual Business Meeting in Denver we will welcome three new Executive Board members (Jen Green as President-Elect, Chris Strasbaugh as Vice President for Conference Program, and Jasmine Burns as Secretary). The Board has begun working with them to ease them into their new roles. We also welcome Stephen Patton as the Association's new Communications Technology Advisor. We look forward to working with each of them in the coming year.
As our journal of professional practice, the
VRA Bulletin (
http://online.vraweb.org/) remains a priority for the Association. With our team of editors wrapping up work on Volume 41 Issue 1, I encourage you to contribute to future issues. This is your publication, and it's a wonderful way to share the innovative work you are doing with both colleagues in VRA and the larger world of information professionals. In addition to feature articles, consider writing opinion pieces, reviews, facility or project profiles, commercial partner updates, affiliate news, reports on VRA business. Please contact Content Editor Maureen Burns with questions or ideas (
moaburns@gmail.com). Maureen is highly approachable and very happy to help you develop your ideas. For information about the aims and scope of the VRAB, see
http://online.vraweb.org/vrab/aimsandscope.html.
Of course, the Board will be attending to many other pieces of Association business in 2015. I will keep you updated as the year unfolds, and as always, please don't hesitate to contact me or other Board members with questions or concerns.
Happy holidays to you and yours. I wish each of you the very best in the coming new year, and on behalf of the Executive Board, I thank you sincerely for your membership and participation in the Visual Resources Association.
