VRA Professional Status Survey Now Available.
You are invited to participate in the 2015 Visual Resources Association (VRA) Professional Status Survey . The purpose of the 2015 Visual Resources Association (VRA) Professional Status Survey survey is to gather information that will assist VRA in understanding recent changes in the profession, improving membership benefits to serve current members and attract new ones, and advocating for the profession.You should participant in the survey if you work with or have worked with or are planning to work with: Image Media [Digital Images, Slides, Photographs, Film/Video, Multimedia, PDFs]As a: Cataloguer / Curator / Librarian / Archivist / Instructor/ Instructional Designer / IT Specialist / Digital Media Specialist / Photographer / Vendor / Support StaffAnd/ or with expertise or responsibilities in any of these areas:Collection Development / Collection Management / Database Management / AV Support / Tech Support / Instructional or Research Support / Metadata / Administration / Rights and Reproductions / Graphic Design / Social Media / Web DevelopmentYou should take the survey if the above describes you even if you are a student, unemployed, or retired. There are questions that will be relevant you.For those who responded to previous VRA Professional Status Surveys, the 2015 edition has been streamlined and updated to reflect changes in image management and related professions. Survey questions ask who you are, where you work, what you personally do in your position, what services your unit provides, and your needs for professional development. For those who work with collections, there is a section with questions specific to collection management. Respondents will be directed to answer sections of the survey appropriate to their situations based on responses to questions. The survey will take 10 to 30 minutes to complete.The Survey is here: http://z.umn.edu/vraprofstatussurveyThe survey will close at 11:59 pm, Friday, October 30.If you experience technical difficulties with the survey please contact Rebecca Moss at mossx014@umn.edu.Thank you for participating!The VRA Professional Status Task ForceJen Green and Macie Hall, Co-chairs
Survey Summary from Slide and Transitional Media Task Force
In late 2014, the Slide and Transitional Media Task Force conducted a survey about the state of slide collections. The survey summary contains quantitative data as well as responses to open-ended questions.More resources from the Task Force coming soon.
Call for Applications - VRAF Internship Award
The Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) invites applications for the third Kress Foundation funded Internship in visual resources and image management.You can find information about the application process and relevant deadlines here - note that applications are due July 31, 2015.We are grateful to VREPS for providing a current list of institutions that are offering internships in visual resources and image management. We hope that this list will be useful to VRAF internship applicants; however, applicants may propose other appropriate internship sites.We look forward to receiving your applications. Please forward this message to others who might be interested. Finally, I am happy to answer questions about the internship should you have them.All the best, MargaretMargaret N. WebsterVRAF Director & Chair, Internship Award CommitteeVisual Resources ConsultantDirector Emerita, Knight Visual Resources FacilityCornell University109 Iroquois RoadIthaca, NY 14850
Announcement: VRA + DLF Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant for the DLF Forum, October 26–28
The Visual Resources Association (VRA) and the Digital Library Federation (DLF) are pleased to support a Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant for the DLF Forum in Vancouver, British Columbia from October 26–28.The purpose of this grant is to extend the opportunity to attend the DLF Forum to a visual resources professional who would not typically go, but who can envision and articulate a connection with their work and who sees great value in building a dynamic and diverse peer network. The goal of the VRA + DLF Travel Grant is to bring a cross-pollinator—a visual resources professional working in a library, archive, museum, or academic setting who can provide a unique perspective with DLF and share a vision of the digital library world from their perspective—to the conference.THE AWARDOne award up to $1,000 to go towards the travel, board, and lodging expenses of attending the DLF Forum. Additionally, the awardee will receive a complimentary full registration to the Forum ($675). The recipient will be required to write a blog post, subsequent to the Forum, about their experience; this blog post will be published by DLF and VRA.ELIGIBILITYThe applicants should be VRA members who are seeking more exposure to the trends in digital libraries, have not attended the DLF Forum, and are willing to share their perspective with the DLF community by representing VRA and serving as an ambassador for the VR profession.APPLICATIONThe applicant will be required to supply contact information as well as to indicate how access to the the DLF Forum may assist the applicant in achieving an expansion of their professional horizons. It is important for the applicant to describe what he or she can uniquely bring to the conference.Send an email containing the following items (in one document) to egallivan@clir.org, with the subject “VRA Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant: [Your Name]”Personal statement from the candidate (ca. 500 words) explaining how attending the DLF Forum will expand your professional horizons, what you can bring/offer to the Forum, and how you see yourself and the visual resources profession benefiting from the DLF Forum.A current résumé.Applications must be submitted before 4:00pm EDT on Monday, June 15, 2015. Applicants will be notified of their status in July. The winning applicants must be able to travel to Vancouver, British Columbia from October 26–28, 2015.ABOUTThe Cross-Pollinator Travel Grant is a reciprocal program with the Visual Resources Association. The program will also bring a digital library practitioner who typically attends the DLF Forum to the 2016 ARLIS/NA + VRA conference in Seattle, March 8-12.The 2015 DLF Forum will be in Vancouver, BC from October 26-28, 2015.
VRAF Accepting Applications for Future SEI Host Sites
The Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) and the Visual Resources Association Foundation (VRAF) are seeking host sites for Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources and Image Management (SEI) for 2016 and beyond.SEI, which provides information management professionals with a substantive educational experience that addresses the requirement of today’s visual resources and image management professionals, has a history of successful partnerships with academic host institutions, dating to the first SEI at Duke University in 2004.Working with the SEI implementation team, the local hosts provide the on-the-ground presence necessary to execute this important educational opportunity, while bringing a prestigious event to their campus.If you are interested in hosting a future SEI, fill out an application and submit it to Karen Kessel (karen.kessel@sonoma.edu) or Shalimar White (WhiteS@doaks.org) by June 12, 2015. If you’d like to learn more about what the opportunity entails, you may also contact Karen or Shalimar.
New Board appointments: Slide and Transitional Media Task Force Chair and Website Content Manager
The VRA Executive Board is pleased two announce two new appointments.First, the Board has appointed Jacob Esselstrom, University of Wisconsin-Madison, as chair of the Slide and Transitional Media Task Force. We thank Jacob for taking on this important role for the Association. Our gratitude also goes to Jenni Rodda, whose year-long term as the task force's chair ended with the 2015 conference. Jenni will remain a member of the task force in the coming year.The Board has also appointed Heather Rayl, Indiana State University, as our new Website Content Manager. This position is responsible for managing authorized website users, editors and contributors, posting and editing content for publication on the website, and handling general website maintenance. The Website Content Manager works with and reports to the Public Relations and Communications Officer.Heather has been creating and managing websites for over 12 years. She has experience with both creating sites from scratch as well as working with content management systems, like Drupal and WordPress. At the County of Los Angeles Public Library, where she was Internet Services Coordinator, she managed three servers for the library: the public facing internet, the staff intranet, and the catalog server. She was responsible for creating content for the sites, maintaining existing content, migrating to new platforms when needed, and performing upgrades. As the Emerging Technology Librarian for Indiana State University, she designed and implemented a site re-design. She is familiar with both Unix and Windows servers. She also on the website committee for the Indiana Online Users Group. She is extremely comfortable with HTML, CSS, Javascript (and jQuery), PHP and MySQL.Heather is a new VRA member, and we warmly welcome her to the Association and thank her for her willingness to serve. Any requests for updates to the VRA website can be sent to Heather at webadmin@vraweb.org.
NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2015 VRA EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTIONS
Three key positions on the VRA Executive Board come vacant at the 2016 annual conference:
- Vice President for Conference Arrangements
- Treasurer
- Public Relations and Communications Officer
The Nominating Committee is actively seeking nominations for these positions. Running for office is an excellent way to serve the Visual Resources Association, get to know more of your colleagues in the field, and give yourself an opportunity to grow professionally. If you are interested in serving on the VRA Executive Board please feel free to contact any previous or current officer; they would be happy to share their experiences and reflections of their time in office. The Committee encourages members to place themselves, or other qualified individuals, in consideration for nomination by contacting the Chair or any member of the Committee.The VRA Bylaws provide additional information about the terms and duties of each officer position. Additional information, including the VRA Organizational Policies and Procedures Manual and Board Compensation Policy is found in the Organizational Leadership and Management section of MemberClicks.Thank you,VRA 2015 Nominating CommitteeJolene de Verges, Southern Methodist University (Chair)Marcia Focht, Binghamton UniversitySteven Kowalik, Hunter College/CUNY