Meet the 2020 Executive Board Candidates: Christopher Sawula, Vice President for Conference Program

About the Candidate:Christopher Sawula has been the Visual Resources and Spatial Art History Librarian in the Art History Department at Emory University since 2017. From 2014 to 2017, he was the Director of Research and Academic Programs in the A.S. Williams III Collection at The University of Alabama. He received his PhD in History in 2014 and his scholarly work examines the origins of laboring identity in early America. In his capacity supporting spatial art history projects, he focuses on digital publishing, GIS mapping, data visualization, and archival data curation.Goals:I believe that annual conferences are critically important to the health and growth of any organization. They allow participants to share their innovations and achievements, to foster interpersonal connections, and to chart future developments in the field. In my capacity as Vice President for Conference Programs, I hope to help overcome the challenges posed by Covid-19 and ensure that the Visual Resources Association is able to hold the Annual conference and Mid-Year meeting either in person or virtually in some capacity. These events are especially important for the professional development of early-career members, and I want to make sure these individuals have the opportunity to engage with our organization and benefit from the support of their peers. If I were elected to this position, I would build upon the work already undertaken to create conference experiences that benefit attendees from many different backgrounds and at various stages of their career.

Meet the 2020 Executive Board Candidates: John Trendler, President-Elect

About the Candidate:John Trendler is the Curator of Visual Resources at Scripps College in Claremont, California, where he has served on committees such as the Multimedia Literacy Committee and the Claremont Colleges Digital Library Advisory Committee and has presented in workshops including “Digital Assets in the Classroom” and “Aim to Achieve: Visual Literacy and Special Collections.” From 2003 to 2005 John served as Secretary of the VRA’s Southern California Chapter and between 2007 and 2011 served as Chapter Chair. John joined the VRA’s executive board as Public Relations and Communications officer from 2012 to 2016.John has presented at a variety of conferences and events, including but not limited to the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, the College Art Association, as well as ARLIS/NA and VRA annual conferences. John is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an avid bicyclist and bicycle advocate who began road racing in 2018.Goals:It would be an honor to serve as the VRA’s President. VRA has been my primary mentor throughout my career in the visual resources landscape. Having served in various positions at the chapter level and on the executive board has shown me so much about the association; it’s roots, the intricate components that make it function, as well as all the amazing work by incredible people.VRA possesses an abundance of knowledge that can and should be shared in ways that strengthens our identity and piques the interest of those working alongside of us. I believe we can increase the number of members, create paths to robust leadership and continue to inspire and inform, and if elected, I would do my best to serve both efficiently and attentively.  

VRA Spotlight: VREPS

VRA Spotlight: VREPS (Visual Resources Emerging Professionals and Students Group)October 14, Wed, 2-3 pm ESTZoom meetingVREPS is committed to the dissemination and promotion of employment, professional development, and networking opportunities specific to the needs of new professionals and students. New to the visual resources professional field? Seasoned professional looking to share your wisdom or collaborate with up-and-comers? Come to this session to meet with other students and early-career professionals and learn what this active group is doing on behalf of the VRA (and what we can do for you!).Email info@vraweb.org for the Zoom link or find it on the MyVRA Calendar.

VREPS and ArLiSNAP Virtual Conference: Visualizing Your Future Art Information Career

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 2020 Virtual Conference: Visualizing Your Future Art Information Career.

This conference is open to all, but focuses on the needs of students and new professionals. It will provide attendees interested in art librarianship or visual resources management the opportunity to learn about pursuing a career in art information, present their work through virtual posters, and discover projects and research seeking to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field.

Our calls for students, new professionals, and experienced professionals to present in different sessions are outlined below. If you have any questions in the meantime, please send an email copying the ArLiSNAP and VREPS emails: arlisnap.na@gmail.com, vreps@vraweb.org.

EAC Community Hour: Institutional Responses to Black Lives Matter- Advocating as Staff

Good morning, All,Please join EAC for a continued conversation and brainstorm session at our Community Hour “Institutional Responses to BLM: Part 2 - Advocating as Staff” on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 at 2:00-3:00 pm EST/ 11:00am-12:00pm PST. The intent of this Community Hour is to discuss actionable steps that GLAM professionals can take within their institutions to create tangible momentum for change. We hear often about steps we can take as individuals or in our communities, but less so as GLAM staffers. We hope to provide support to anyone seeking to advocate for their institution to do more.Discussion Prompts:

• Does your institution have a diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility (DEIA); and/or racial equity; and/or anti-racism action plan in place? If so, when was this plan created - pre- or post-uprisings?
• Does your institution have any DEIA training for staff, leadership, and/or your board? If so, is this training required or encouraged?
• Are any DEIA goals built into your institutional strategic plan?

We hope to collectively gain a better understanding of where we stand in the broader GLAM field as it relates to racial equity through the lens of these solidarity statements and action plans.Please send any specific questions or concerns in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your questions to the Hour (where you can still be anonymous via private chat).Click here to register and here to view the Community Hour doc.Best,Lael + KendraEAC Co-Chairs

EAC Community Hour: Institutional Responses to Black Lives Matter

Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 2:00-3:00 pm EST/ 11:00am-12:00pm PST

The intent of this Community Hour is to discuss as a field how leadership in galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAM), and other institutions where VRA professionals work have responded to police brutality and the corresponding Black Lives Matter protests and uprisings. We are currently planning for this to be (at least) a two-part series, with the first discussion focusing on institutional statements (both externally and internally published) and the second focusing on concrete action plans. We hope to collectively gain a better understanding of where we stand in the broader GLAM field as it relates to racial equity through the lens of these solidarity statements and action plans. We also hope to provide support to anyone seeking to advocate for their institution to do more, especially in our second discussion on action plans.

We welcome folks to bring any institutional statements and/or action plans that their employing institution has created. Institutional Responses to BLM Community Hour doc

VREPS & EAC: Investing in Yourself and Your Career

VREPS & EAC Community Hour: Investing In Yourself and Your Career

Wednesday, August 12, 2020 2:00-3:00 pm EST/ 11:00am-12:00pm PST

VREPS and EAC are teaming up to co-facilitate a roundtable discussion about advocating for yourself in a new or changing role and identifying skills which visual resources emerging or job-seeking professionals might need in future positions. We’ll discuss various methods on how to learn new skills or freshen up existing skills, either on your own time and dime or using limited funds. We’ll discuss how to advocate for yourself when given more responsibilities or different responsibilities due to layoffs or the switch to a virtual work environment. We’ll also explore ways to find free or low-cost professional development opportunities and how to hone your skills while experiencing virtual fatigue. VREPS x EAC Community Hour doc

VRA 2021: Call for Proposals

Call for proposals for the VRA 2021 Conference! Accepting papers, workshops, discussion sessions, and SIGs! All proposals are due by July 27th. Submit here: https://surveymonkey.com/r/cfpvra2021Img Source: NARA, ID: 26335507

EAC Community Hour: Critical Cataloging Pt 2

Greetings All,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend Part 1 of our Critical Cataloging Community Hours. Part 2 will be held on July 15th at 2 pm EST / 11 am PST.  Additionally, we have updated our committee page on VRAweb! You may now view previous Community Hour documents, submit topics for future Community Hours, or apply to join EAC!

Our guest moderator for Part 2 will be Treshani Perera, who will be giving a brief overview of her work in the Critical Cataloging arena. The Community Hour doc includes resources to get folks started with Critical Cataloging. We encourage attendees to look at the readings and resources provided in advance of the Hour if possible. This session is meant to be a space for you to bring general questions and concerns from your own work. Our guest moderators from Part 1, Karen Hwang, Devon Murphy, Brian M. Watson, and Alanna Radlo-Dzur, will be in attendance as well.

 Discussion Prompts:

• What is your experience with critical cataloging in your institution or work? What thoughts, observations, or projects come to mind (if you are or are not familiar with CC)?

• What are the diverse communities in your workplace, collections, and service areas? How are they represented and served?

• Is there a way to elevate local terms that we update in our own collections to the national/international level?

• How do we enlist enthusiasm from co-workers to tackle the changes in cataloging?

• Is it possible to represent concepts in controlled vocabularies, subject heading/name authorities, or in thesauri that are from different knowledge systems? Are there affordances/concessions that have to be made to include terms? Should vocabs/subject headings/thesauri be reconsidered as a structure of organizing info?

Please send any specific questions in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your concerns to the Hour.

Click here to register for EAC Community Hour: Critical Cataloging, Part 2

Best wishes,Kendra & Lael

EAC Community Hour: Critical Cataloguing Pt 1

Greetings All,

Thank you again to everyone who has been able to attend the EAC’s Community Hours. We are pleased to announce that by popular demand our next two Hours will be focused on Critical Cataloging.

The first hour will be on June 24th at 2 pm EST / 11 am PST, but, please do mark your calendars in advance for Part 2 on July 15th at 2 pm EST / 11 am PST.

In Part 1, we will be having guest moderators Karen Hwang, Devon Murphy, and Alanna Radlo-Dzur, in attendance. Guest moderators will be giving a brief overview of their work in the Critical Cataloging arena, and the Community Hour doc includes resources to get folks started with Critical Cataloging. We encourage attendees to look at the readings and resources provided in advance of the Hour if possible. This session is meant to be a space for you to bring general questions and concerns from your own work.

Discussion Prompts:

• What is your experience with critical cataloging in your institution or work? What thoughts, observations, or projects come to mind (if you are or are not familiar with CC)?
• What are the diverse communities in your workplace, collections, and service areas? How are they represented and served?
• Does your institution have a history of collaboration with these communities? Ways to improve?
• How can we interrogate systems of classification and knowledge organization in image and visual resource management? (What are their histories in your area? How can they be changed or adapted for others? Is that possible? What are the limitations and how can those be described?

Please send any specific questions in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your concerns to the Hour.

Click here to register for EAC Community Hour: Critical Cataloging, Part 1 --we will send out the registration for Part 2 closer to the date of that Hour.

Best wishes,Kendra & Lael

VRA/VRAF Joint Solidarity Statement

The VRA and VRAF condemn all violence, and acts of racism, including police brutality, against Black people, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Unacknowledged structural, institutionalized, and legislated racism can no longer be tolerated. Our Black colleagues, their lives, their work, and their sense of belonging to this community matter. As a members’ organization (VRA) and a foundation (VRAF), we strive to create an inclusive community that values and encourages diversity in its membership and work. Our mission is not only to promote knowledge sharing, skill development, and best practices, but also to foster open, inclusive communication; to offer a supportive community; and to advocate for all people who engage in the management of visual assets. We have an obligation to do the work necessary to live up to this mission. Inclusion requires that we acknowledge the intergenerational history and persistence of systemic racism and actively work to counter racism and its lethal effects. We must disrupt the roles that our institutions and practices play in perpetuating injustice and racism by asking what we need to change in hiring and promotions, in curricula, in collecting policies, in description of materials, and in making our knowledge and materials accessible. We must acknowledge that the leadership and membership of VRA and VRAF is disproportionately white and that writing this statement does not resolve long-standing injustices. We must also examine ways in which our organizations can advocate meaningfully and concretely for equity and justice. It is incumbent on us to support people who work in the field by advancing the perspectives of people who have been marginalized by fostering open forums for discussion and ensuring that people of color fill leadership positions, working to dismantle the effects of structural racism in our varied professions, and taking stands against racism and racist practices when we see them. Far from being neutral, visual assets and the institutions and people that provide access to them have a great deal of power to shape and reinforce power structures. A key part of our work as visual assets and cultural heritage professionals is to address ways in which our practices must change to challenge and dismantle, rather than support or permit, white supremacy.The VRA and the VRAF call on all our colleagues to move forward with action and purpose just as we will ourselves. We implore you to reexamine your own practices and policies as individuals, as committees, and as local chapters. We, the VRA and VRAF board members, acknowledge that we need to make measurable changes in the structure of our organizations and are committed to undertake this work.What members of VRA can do:

• Join the Equitable Action Committee (newly established in November 2019) - Fill out the application here
• Sign up to be a mentor and/or Peer reviewer for resumes and cover letters - httpS://vraweb.org/opportunities/mentorship/ (the mentor application form is paused at the moment) 
• Support the hiring, retention, and promotion of your BIPOC colleagues - Watch ARLIS/NA’s webinar on the Recruitment, Retention, and Experiences of Art Library Professionals
• Question your language of cataloging - Register to attend EAC’s Community Hour on Critical Cataloging on Wednesday, June 24, 2020
• Propose, facilitate, and support workshops/sessions for VRA 2021 that will prompt the difficult conversations we all need to have - Submit a proposal here

Donation Links:

• Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
• Black Lives Matter 
• Black Visions Collective
• National Bail Fund Network or local bail funds across the US
• American Civil Liberties Union
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• We Here

Resources for Self-Education: 

• Anti-racism Resource List for White People
• Social Justice and Museums Resource List 
• Anti-Racist Educational Reading & Viewing Lists
• Dear White People, This Is What We Want You To Do
• For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
• Research-based Solutions to Stop Police Violence (Twitter thread)
• Articles:
  • Maintaining Professionalism In The Age of Black Death Is….A Lot
  • What Not to Say to Your Black Colleagues Right Now
  • My Role in the Social Change Ecosystem
  • 10 Books About Race To Read Instead Of Asking A Person Of Color To Explain Things To You
• Courses + Curriculums:
  • Recruiting and Retaining Librarians from Underrepresented Minoritized Groups - Library Juice Course ($175) July 6 - August 2
  • Allyship, Anti-Oppression Practices, and Building Inclusive Libraries - Library Juice Course ($175) August 3 - August 30
  • Cultural Competence for Librarians -  Library Juice Course ($175) September 7 - October 4
  • Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism–from Ferguson to Charleston

VRA Webinar: Incorporating Diversity in our Workplace

Registration is still open for the Friday, June 12, 3:00-4:30 pm EST, VRA Webinar Incorporating Diversity in our Workplace. Originally part of the Baltimore conference program, this session has been moved online. It is free of charge to members and non-members, although advanced registration is required. Please sign up using the MyVRA link. Your confirmation email will include information on how to access the Zoom webinar. Contact tech@vraweb.org with any technology concerns.We hope that you can join us! Please forward to your colleagues or anyone else who may be interested in learning more about VRA and the work of its members.Friday, June 12, 2020Incorporating Diversity in our Workplace: All are Welcome, but How Do We Get There?3:00pm - 4:30 pm ESTRegister: vra.memberclicks.net/vrawebinar_0612#/Moderator: Andrew WangPresenters: Heidi Raatz, Cindy Frank, Meghan RubensteinWebinar Description: As keepers of information in the art, architecture and other cultural heritage fields, we need to be mindful of all the cultures represented in our world. This is apparent in the art that is created and in the various bodies that study it and care for it. As Visual Resources professionals we have the opportunity to respect and celebrate all the diversity that all these cultures represent. At the local level this may mean adjusting our hiring practices. It may mean exploring the way we catalog the work of art and the artist or architect, so that a student can find the representative of themselves in the collection. At the institution level, it may mean formalizing the hiring practices of an equitable process, or training to be aware of microagressions. This session proposes to share direct experiences and then enter a discussion with session attendees to share ideas. We intend to present on the topics of recruiting and hiring a diverse group of student employees and how this creates a dynamic work environment and welcoming public center. We intend to discuss how museums and cultural heritage organizations can develop ethical and respectful methods of collecting, standardizing, and expressing artist/creator data as part of a larger ethical and empathetic practice, and how museums can use artist/creator data to convey factors such as experience, personal identity, environment and status.How can cultural heritage organizations develop ethical methods of collection, standardizing and expressing artist/creator data as part of a larger ethical and empathetic practice? How can we adjust our hiring practices to reach new audiences? How do we remove the “white male” filter from an image search?

Reminder: VRA Webinar Managing Rights Data

Registration is still open for the June 2, 12:00-1:30 pm EST, VRA Webinar Managing Rights Data. Originally part of the Baltimore conference program, this session has been moved online. It is free of charge to members and non-members, although advanced registration is required. Please sign up using the MyVRA link. Your confirmation email will include information on how to access the Zoom webinar. Contact tech@vraweb.org with any technology concerns.We hope that you can join us! Please forward to your colleagues or anyone else who may be interested in learning more about VRA and the work of its members.---Tuesday, June 2, 2020Managing Rights Data12:00pm - 1:30 pm ESTRegister: vra.memberclicks.net/vrawebinar_0602#/Moderator: Chelsea StonePresenters: Douglas McCarthy, Heidi Raatz, and Summer ShetenhelmWebinar Description: Managing rights data is an institutional choice that affects collections access and use. How we choose to present and share our collections changes directly affects how our audiences and community of users can interact with our collections. Conveying that rights data information to our users creates a unique lens through which to view intellectual property rights. Rights data can serve the end users to the extent that they have access to the content, generally understand how they are allowed to use the digital objects for what specified purposes, and enlighten them about the rights held in the underlying content for which they may still be responsible. What are the implications of our rights data management decisions on our collections and our users? What are some of the ways that various institutions have decided to manage their collections and rights data? The RightsStatements.org standard offers a powerful standardization tool: a system of standardized interoperable rights and reuse information under the guidance of an international member based consortium. Open access or "no rights reserved" CC0 dedication grants more freedom to our users and visibility to our collections though it may leave unanswered questions about underlying rights. And what are the ethical and policy issues surrounding reproduction licensing of works in the public domain? Four institutions will discuss how they approach managing data rights data at their institutions from both policy and technical implementation perspectives.Should ethical issues be considered when making decisions regarding managing rights data? Do you think standardization, for example, using Creative Commons licenses or RightsStatements.org standard statements, is important? Is rights data transparency a valuable ethos when working with patrons?Douglas McCarthy What principles do we need for open access to cultural heritage?The forthcoming Declaration on Open Access to Cultural Heritage is a major initiative that seeks to support and inform accurate and culturally appropriate practices for the licensing of digitized public domain works. Douglas will present the context, purpose and approach of the community developing the Declaration, seeking to raise awareness and elicit engagement with VRA conference delegates.Heidi Raatz Mia & RightsStatements.org: a user-centered data standard for managing rights informationThe Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) recently implemented the RightsStatements.org standardized rights statements for online cultural heritage, aiming to clarify what website users can do with the art images Mia shares. RightsStatements.org provides a standard set of user-friendly statements in three main rights categories: In Copyright, No Copyright, and Other. The RightsStatements.org standard aids Mia’s mission to make accessible outstanding works of art from the world’s diverse cultures and helps users engage with cultural heritage online.Following a brief introduction to the standard, Heidi will share how Mia uses the RightsStatements.org statements to communicate more effectively and clearly what we know about the copyright and reuse status of our art collection images, touching on the standards’ benefits and challenges.Summer Shetenhelm Copyright Statements in Plains to Peaks Collective Digital CollectionsAmbiguities about copyright status of digitized resources limit users’ understanding of what can or cannot be done with these resources. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: what rights statements are included in Colorado/Wyoming regional records that have been ingested by DPLA, what rights statements are included for public domain objects, and what creation date information is included in these records? This study hopes to shed light on the state of rights representation in digital collections in the greater Colorado area.

EAC Community Hour: Sketching the Road Ahead: Examining Gaps in Support

As discussions continue about university and GLAM reopenings, join the EAC in a discussion of the questions below as we consider what support we need during this time and what support has been available to us. Our 3^rd EAC Community Hour (Sketching the Road Ahead: Examining Gaps in Support) will be held on Wednesday, May 27, at  2 pm EST/ 11 am PST.Discussion Prompts:

• What support do YOU need during this time? Are there gaps in what your institution is able to provide? How could this committee advocate for you? In what ways could your professional organizations support you?
• IS there a way to suggest actions that we can control within our jobs? How can we as individuals be proactive? How can we as a community offer additional support?
• What new concerns are worrying you? How will hybrid reopening plans affect staff and students across institutions differently?

Send any specific questions in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your concerns to the Hour (where you can still be anonymous via private chat to the moderator)!Click here to register for our next Community Hour!

VREPS Virtual Spring Meeting

The sign-up link for the VREPS Virtual Spring Meeting is now live! Register today and catch up with all your emerging professional/student buddies on May 20th, 2:00 pm EST!

Register here: http://ow.ly/3QP050zCU5k

https://vreps.wordpress.com/

Registration Open! VRA Webinar: Stories from the Start

Registration is now open for the Wednesday, May 6, VRA webinar Stories from the Start. Originally part of the Baltimore conference program, this one-hour moderated discussion has been moved online. It is free of charge to members and non-members, although advanced registration is required. Please sign up by the end of the day on May 5 using MyVRA. You will receive an email with information on how to log into the Zoom session the morning of the webinar. Please contact tech@vraweb.org with any technology concerns.We hope that you can join us next week! Stay tuned for future VRA Webinar offerings. We look forward to sharing more of your work and ideas. Please forward to your colleagues or anyone else who may be interested in learning more about VRA and its members.---Stories from the StartMay 6, 20202 pm–3 pm EST via ZoomRegistration Link: https://vra.memberclicks.net/vrawebinar#/Moderators: Julia Murphy and Kendra WerstSpeakers: Marcia Focht, Julie Irick, Margaret McKeeHave questions about starting out in the Visual Resources field? Interested in hearing other VRA members’ backstories? Join VREPS for an informal conversation with experienced professionals. Speakers will share stories from the beginning years of their careers and discuss the challenges they faced. An open discussion will follow, allowing all attendees to ask questions.Marcia Focht is the Curator of the Visual Resources Center at Binghamton University, starting this position in 1986. In this 30+ year career, she has experienced major transitions in image practice, technology, media, usage, and scholarship. Marcia has presented her experiences at numerous conferences, including the VRA (Visual Resources Association), CIT (Conference on Instructional Technology), EVA (Electronic Visualization in the Arts), and CAA (College Art Association). Current projects include a series of Digital Humanities presentations and workshops for graduate students, faculty, and staff across disciplines and units. These sessions emphasize hands-on experimentation, sharing knowledge, and implementing current standards and best practices. Above all, Marcia encourages an atmosphere of collaboration in which we are unafraid to make mistakes and together add to communal skill sets, thereby increasing competency and confidence for all involved. Currently on the VRAF (Visual Resources Association Foundation) Board of Directors, Marcia also served two terms as VRA Secretary on the Executive Board and 13 years as VRA Mentor Coordinator, as well as done instruction for the ARLIS/NA-VRA Summer Educational Institute. Her educational credentials include a BFA in Printmaking and an MA in Art History from the University of Denver.Julie Irick has been a photo archivist for nearly 20 years. She has worked in public and private archives on both coasts and has been the City Photo Archivist at the City of Seattle for the last 14.5 years. Julie received her MLIS from Queens College in 2003. Having gone to graduate school thinking she would be a public librarian, halfway through the program Julie found herself working part-time in the Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections at the New York Historical Society and loved it! She never looked back and has carved out a successful career in a very niche and competitive profession – public records photo archives.Margaret C. McKee is the Digital Asset Manager at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. A work-study position in a slide library in college ended up being the inciting incident for a career spent working with images. In her current role at the Menil, Margaret oversees photography of collection objects, digitization of analog photography, rights and reproductions, and soon the implementation of a digital asset management system. Previously, she worked in photographic and imaging services at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She began her professional career as the Slide Librarian at Southwestern University. She holds an AA from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, a BAFA in Art History from the University of New Mexico, and an MS in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Margaret has served as co-chair of the VRA’s Intellectual Property Rights Committee.

EAC Community Hour: Strategizing Together: Navigating Remote Work Boundaries

Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our first Community Hour--we had a really great discussion! One main takeaway was that folks were interested in strategies for navigating discussions with their supervisors and administration in their unique institutional work situation.For our next hour, to be held on Tuesday, May 5th, 2 pm EST/ 11 am PST, we would like to give everyone an opportunity to work together to address our specific concerns in the following areas:

• Chronic illnesses
• Privacy
• Work/Life Separation
• Consensus bias
• Admin/Supervisor Relations
• Inappropriate Appearance Expectations

'How do we ask for more privacy without having to share why we don’t want to show our space during a video call or disclose the details of our personal/home life?'Send any specific questions in advance to Lael or Kendra (if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) or bring your concerns to the Hour (where you can still be anonymous via private chat to the moderator)! We will discuss the issues and work out targeted responses or plans of action (including role play situations, as warranted).

We would like to focus this Hour on discussion and activity. Below, we provide some readily available resources and articles that you may find relevant or helpful. If you have any suggestions on readings or resources, please feel free to share.

• ADHD Brains Working at Home: A Beginner’s Guide to Telecommuting
• Job Accommodation Network - Accommodation Toolkit
• Protecting Your Job While Coping With a Chronic Illness
• Workplace Culture and the ADA

Click here to register for our next Community Hour!Best wishes,Lael & Kendra

EAC Community Hour: Acknowledging Employee and Student Privacy During Quarantine

Greetings All,

Join the VRA Equitable Action Committee (EAC) for our new series of learning and open discussion, EAC Community Hour! Each Community Hour will address a different theme affecting our membership, field, and community.

On Wednesday April 22nd at 2pm EST, we will be discussing student and employee privacy during this time of quarantine and remote learning. What are some best practices for navigating remote privacy challenges? How do we advocate for student privacy and equity while also navigating similar issues as employees? We will use these readings (optional) and discussion prompts as a starting point for conversation--we will summarize the readings at the beginning of the session.

Click here to register for our first Community Hour!

Email ea@vraweb.org with any questions. To suggest a theme or volunteer to moderate an upcoming session, please fill out this Google Form.

Best regards,

Kendra & Lael

VRA 2020 Virtual Annual Business Meeting

The Visual Resources Association will be hosting their Annual Business Meeting on March 25, 2020 at 11 am Eastern Time (US and Canada).  This will be a virtual meeting hosted in Zoom.  Members have been provided additional details to attend.

VRA 2020 Baltimore Cancelled

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,  the VRA Executive Board has cancelled the VRA 2020 Baltimore annual conference.  A more detailed message has been sent to conference registrants.  If you have any questions, please email board@vraweb.org.